The Letters of Cassiodorus
unable to bear the worries of a Praefecture; an eloquent tongue may
shun the weight of a Quaestorship. In these cases the laws have wisely
ordained that we may give such persons the rank which they merit by
_Codicilli Vacantes_. It must always be understood, however, that in
each dignity those who thus obtain it rank behind those who have
earned it by actual service. Otherwise we should have all men
flocking into these quiet posts, if the workers were not preferred to
men of leisure[446].
[Footnote 446: 'Alioqui omnes ad quietas possunt currere dignitates,
si laborantes minime praeferantur ociosis.']
'Take therefore, by these present codicils, the rank which you
deserve, though you have not earned it by your official career.'
11. FORMULA BY WHICH THE RANK OF AN ILLUSTRIS AND THE TITLE OF A COMES
DOMESTICORUM ARE CONFERRED, WITHOUT OFFICE.
[Sidenote: Illustratus Vacans.]
'The bestowal of honour, though it does not change the nature of a
man, induces him to consider his own reputation more closely, and to
abstain from that which may stain it[447].
[Footnote 447: 'Noblesse oblige.']
'Take therefore the rank (without office) of an Illustrious Count of
the Domestics[448], and enjoy that greatest luxury of worthy
minds--power to attend to your own pursuits.
[Footnote 448: 'Cape igitur ... Comitivae Domesticorum Illustratum
Vacantem.']
'For what can be sweeter than to find yourself honoured when you enter
the City, and yet to be able to cultivate your own fields; to abstain
from fraudful gains, and yet see your barns overflowing with the fruit
of your own sweet toil?
'But even as the seed and the soil must co-operate to produce the
harvest, so do we sow in you the seed of this dignity, trusting that
your own goodness of heart will give the increase.'
12. FORMULA FOR THE BESTOWAL OF A COUNTSHIP OF THE FIRST ORDER,
WITHOUT OFFICE.
[A similar honour to that which is conferred on an English statesman
who, without receiving any place in the Ministry, is 'sworn of the
Privy Council.']
[Sidenote: Comitiva Primi Ordinis.]
'It is a delightful thing to enjoy the pleasures of high rank without
having to undergo the toils and annoyances of office, which often make
a man loathe the very dignity which he eagerly desired.
'The rank of _Comes_ is one which is reached by Governors (Rectores)
of Provinces after a year's tenure of office, and by the Counsellors
of the Praefect, whose functions are so important that we look upon
them as almost Quaestors.
'Their rank[449] gives the holder of it, though only a _Spectabilis_,
admission to our Consistory, where he sits side by side with all the
Illustres.
[Footnote 449: Betokened by the expression 'Ociosum cingulum.']
'We bestow it upon you, and name you a _Comes Primi Ordinis_, thereby
indicating that you are to take your place at the head of all the
other Spectabiles and next after the Illustres. See that you imitate
the latter, and that you are not surpassed in excellence of character
by any of those below you.'
13. FORMULA FOR BESTOWING THE [HONORARY] RANK OF MASTER OF THE BUREAU
[MAGISTER SCRINII] AND COUNT OF THE FIRST ORDER, ON AN OFFICER OF THE
COURTS (COMITIACUS) IN ACTIVE SERVICE.
[Sidenote: Honorary promotion for a Comitiacus.]
'Great toils and great perils are the portion of an officer of the
Courts in giving effect to their sentences. It is easy for the Judge
to say, "Let so and so be done;" but on the unhappy officer falls all
the difficulty and all the odium of doing it. He has to track out
offenders and hunt them to their very beds, to compel the contumacious
to obey the law, to make the proud learn their equality before it. If
he lingers over the business assigned to him, the plaintiff complains;
if he is energetic, the defendant calls out. The very honesty with
which he addresses himself to the work is sure to make him enemies,
enemies perhaps among powerful persons, who next year may be his
superiors in office, and thus subjects him to all sorts of accusations
which he may find it very hard to disprove. In short, if we may say it
without offence to the higher dignitaries, it is far easier to
discharge without censure the functions of a Judge than those of the
humble officer who gives effect to his decrees.
'Wherefore, in reward for your long and faithful service, and in
accordance with ancient usage, we bestow on you the rank of a Count of
the First Order, and ordain that if anyone shall molest you on account
of your acts done in the discharge of your duties, he shall pay a fine
of so many [perhaps ten = L400] pounds of gold.'
[This letter will be found well worth studying in the original, as
giving a picture of the kind of opposition met with by the men who
were charged with the execution of the orders of the Rectores
Provinciarum, and whose functions were themselves partly judicial,
varying between those of a Master in Chancery and those of a Sheriff's
officer. Throughout, the Civil Service is spoken of in military
language. The officer is called _miles_, and his duty is _excubiae_.]
14. FORMULA BESTOWING RANK AS A SENATOR.
[Sidenote: Senatorial rank.]
'We desire that our Senate should grow and flourish abundantly. As a
parent sees the increase of his family, as a husbandman the growth of
his trees with joy, so we the growth of the Senate. We therefore
desire that Graius should be included in that virtuous and
praiseworthy assembly[450]. This is a new kind of grafting, in which
the less noble shoot is grafted on to the nobler stock. As a candle
shines at night, but pales in the full sunlight, so does everyone,
however illustrious by birth or character, who is introduced into your
majestic body. Open your Curia, receive our candidate. He is already
predestined to the Senate upon whom we have conferred the dignity of
the Laticlave.'
[Footnote 450: A conjectural translation of 'Sic nos virtutum
jucundissimas laudes incinctum Graium desideramus includere.' Perhaps
'incinctum' means, 'though _not_ girded with the belt of office.'
Graium must surely be a proper name, and this document is therefore,
strictly speaking, not a 'Formula.']
15. FORMULA OF THE VICARIUS OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Vicariate of the City of Rome.]
'Though nominally only the agent of another [the Praefectus Urbi] you
have powers and privileges of your own which almost entitle you to
rank with the Praefects. Suitors plead before you in causes otherwise
heard only before Praefects[451]; you pronounce sentence in the name
of the King[452] [not of the Praefect]; and you have jurisdiction even
in capital cases. You wear the chlamys, and are not to be saluted by
passers-by except when thus arrayed, as if the law wished you to be
always seen in military garb. [The chlamys was therefore at this time
a strictly military dress.] In all these things the glory of the
Praefecture seems to be exalted in you, as if one should say, "How
great must the Praefect be, if his Vicar is thus honoured!" Like the
highest dignitaries you ride in a state carriage[453]. You have
jurisdiction everywhere within the fortieth milestone from the City.
You preside over the games at Praeneste, sitting in the Consul's seat.
You enter the Senate-house itself, that palace of liberty[454]. Even
Senators and Consulars have to make their request to you, and may be
injured by you.
[Footnote 451: 'Partes apud te sub Praetoriana advocatione confligunt'
(?).]
[Footnote 452: 'Vice sacra sententiam dicis.']
[Footnote 453: 'Carpentum.']
[Footnote 454: 'Aula libertatis.']
'Take therefore this dignity, and wield it with moderation and
courage.'
16. FORMULA OF THE NOTARIES.
[Sidenote: Notaries.]
'It is most important that the secrets of the Sovereign, which many
men so eagerly desire to discover, should be committed to persons of
tried fidelity. A good secretary should be like a well-arranged
_escritoire_, full of information when you want it, but absolutely
silent at other times. Nay, he must even be able to dissimulate his
knowledge, for keen questioners can often read in the face what the
lips utter not. [Cf. the description of the Quaestor Decoratus in v.
3.]
'Our enquiries, keen-scented as they are for all men of good life and
conversation, have brought your excellent character before us. We
therefore ordain that you shall henceforth be a Notary. In due course
of service you will attain the rank of Primicerius, which will entitle
you to enter the Senate, "the Curia of liberty." Moreover, should you
then arrive at the dignity of Illustris or at the [Comitiva] Vacans,
you will be preferred to all who are in the same rank but who have not
acquired it by active service[455].
[Footnote 455: I think this must be the meaning of the sentence:
'Additur etiam perfuncti laboris aliud munus, ut si quo modo ad
Illustratum vel Vacantem meruerit pervenire, omnibus debeat anteponi,
qui Codicillis Illustratibus probantur ornari.']
'Enter then upon this duty, cheered by the prospect of one day
attaining to the highest honours.'
17. FORMULA OF THE REFERENDARII.
[Sidenote: Referendarii.]
[We have no word corresponding to this title. Registrar, Referee,
Solicitor, each expresses only part of the duties of the
Referendarius, whose business it was, _on behalf of the Court_, to
draw up a statement of the conflicting claims of the litigants before
it. See the interesting letters (v. 40 and 41) describing the useful
services rendered in this capacity by Cyprian in the King's Court of
Appeal. His duties seem to have been very similar to those which in
the Court of the Praetorian Praefect were discharged by the officer
called _Ab Actis_ (See p. 107).]
'Great is the privilege of being admitted to such close converse with
the King as you will possess, but great also are the responsibilities
and the anxieties of the Referendarius. In the midst of the hubbub of
the Court he has to make out the case of the litigant, and to clothe
it in language suitable for our ears. If he softens it down ever so
little in his repetition of it, the claimant declares that he has been
bribed, that he is hostile to his suit. A man who is pleading his own
cause may soften down a word or two here and there, if he see that the
Court is against him; but the Referendarius dares not alter anything.
Then upon him rests the responsibility of drawing up our decree,
adding nothing, omitting nothing. Hard task to speak _our_ words in
our own presence.
'Take then the office of Referendarius, and show by your exercise of
it to what learning men may attain by sharing our conversation. Under
us it is impossible for an officer of the Court to be unskilled in
speech. Like a whetstone we sharpen the intellects of our courtiers,
and polish them by practice at our bar[456].'
[Footnote 456: 'Sub nobis enim non licet esse imperitos; quando in
vicem cotis ingenia splendida reddimus, quae causarum assiduitate
polimus.' Strange words to put into the mouth of a monarch who could
not write.]
18. FORMULA OF THE PRAEFECTUS ANNONAE, AND HIS EXCELLENCY.
[Sidenote: Praefectus Annonae.]
'If the benefit of the largest number of citizens is a test of the
dignity of an office yours is certainly a glorious one. You have to
prepare the Annona of the sacred City, and to feed the whole people as
at one board. You run up and down through the shops of the bakers,
looking after the weight and fineness of the bread, and not thinking
any office mean by which you may win the affections of the citizens.
'You mount the chariot of the Praefect of the City, and are displayed
in closest companionship with him at the games. Should a sudden tumult
arise by reason of a scarcity of loaves, you have to still it by
promising a liberal distribution. It was from his conduct in this