The Letters of Cassiodorus
committed to them, others the care of the Treasury, he receives the
ensigns of his dignity in order that by him his Sovereign's fame may
be spread abroad through the whole world.'
15. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[On the election of Pope Felix III, 526.]
[As this letter has an important bearing on the royal rights in
connection with Papal elections, it is translated in full.]
[Sidenote: Election of Pope Felix III (or IV).]
'We profess that we hear with great satisfaction that you have
responded to the judgment of our glorious lord and grandfather in your
election of a Bishop. It was right in sooth to obey the will of a good
Sovereign, who, handling the matter with wise deliberation, although
it had reference to a form of faith alien from his own[526], thought
fit to select such a Pontiff as could rightfully be displeasing to
none. You may thus recognise that his one chief desire was that
Religion might flourish by good priests being supplied to all the
churches.
[Footnote 526: 'Qui sapienti deliberatione pertractans quamvis in
aliena religione.']
'You have received then a man both admirably endowed with Divine grace
and approved by royal scrutiny. Let no one any longer be involved in
the old contention. There is no disgrace in being conquered when the
King's power has helped the winning side. That man makes him [the
successful candidate] his own, who manifests to him pure affection.
For what cause for regret can there be, when you find in this man,
those very qualities which you looked for in the other when you
embraced his party?
'These are family quarrels[527], a battle without cold steel, a
contest without hatred: by shouts, not wounds, a matter like this is
decided.
[Footnote 527: The words of Cassiodorus are, 'crinea sunt ista
certamina.' No one seems able to suggest a meaning for _crinea_. The
editors propose to read _civica_, which however is very flat, and not
exactly in Cassiodorus' manner. I suspect some recondite classical
allusion, which has been missed by the transcribers, has led to the
corruption of the text.]
'For even though the person who is desired be taken from you, yet
naught is lost by the faithful, since the longed-for priesthood is
possessed by them. [They have a Pope, if not just the Pope whom they
wished for.] Wherefore on the return of your Legate, the Illustrious
Publianus, we have thought it right to send to your assembly these
letters of salutation. For we taste one of our highest pleasures when
we exchange words with our nobles; and we doubt not that this is very
sweet to you also, when you reflect that what you did by our
grandsire's order is personally agreeable to ourselves.'
[For remarks on this important letter see Dahn's 'Koenige der Germanen'
iii. 239. He makes it a simple appointment of the Pope by the bare
will of Theodoric, afterwards confirmed by Athalaric. To me it seems
more probable that there had been a contest, threatening the election
of an antipope (as in 498 in the case of Symmachus and Laurentius),
and that the matter had been, as on that occasion, referred to the
arbitration of Theodoric.]
16. KING ATHALARIC TO OPILIO, COUNT OF THE SACRED LARGESSES (527).
[Sidenote: Opilio appointed Comes Sacrarum Largitionum.]
'It is generally necessary to weigh carefully the merits of a new
aspirant to the honours of the Court (aulicas dignitates); but in your
case the merits of your family render this examination needless. Both
your father and brother held the same office[528] which we are now
entrusting to you, and one may say that this dignity has taken up its
abode in your house.
[Footnote 528: 'Pater his fascibus praefuit sed et frater eadem
resplenduit claritate.']
'You learned the duties of a subordinate in the office under your
brother; and often did he, leaning upon you as on a staff, take a
little needful repose, knowing that all things would be attended to by
you. The crowds of suppliants who resorted to him with their
grievances, shared the confidence which the people had in you, and saw
that you were already assuming the character of a good judge.
'Most useful also were your services to the throne at the commencement
of the new reign, when men's minds were in trouble as to what should
happen next. You bore the news of our accession to the Ligurians, and
so strengthened them by your wise address that the error into which
they had been betrayed by the sun-setting was turned into joy at the
rising of our empire[529].'
[Footnote 529: 'Nam cum ... auspicia nostra Liguribus felix portitor
nuntiasti, et sapientiae tuae allocutione firmasti, in errorem _quem
de occasu conceperant_, ortum nostri imperii in gaudia commutabant.'
Does this obscure passage indicate some revolutionary movements in
Liguria after the death of Theodoric, perhaps fomented by the Frankish
neighbours of Italy?]
'We therefore confer upon you the dignity of Count of the Sacred
Largesses from this sixth Indiction (Sept. 1, 527). Enjoy all the
privileges and emoluments which belonged to your predecessors. God
forbid that those whose own actions are right should be shaken by any
machinations of calumny. There was a time when even Judges were
harassed by informers (delatores); but that time is over. Lay aside
then all fear, you who have no errors to reproach yourself with, and
freely enjoy the advantages of your dignity. Imitate your brother:
even though a little way behind him you will still be before most
holders of the office. He was a man of the highest authority and of
proved constancy, and the highest testimony to his merits was afforded
by the fact that even under a successor who was hostile to him the
whole official staff of the palace was loud in his praises[530].'
[Footnote 530: 'Quando sub ingrato successore palatinum officium
praeconia ejus tacere non potuit.']
[This letter is of great importance, as containing indirectly the
expression of Cassiodorus' opinion on the trial of Boethius, and the
tendency of that opinion seems to be against him and in favour of his
accusers. Comparing this letter with v. 40, addressed to Cyprian,
Cornes Sacrarum Largitionum and _son of Opilio_, we may with something
like certainty construct this genealogical table:
OPILIO,
C.S.L. (? son of the Consul of 453).
_________________|_________________
| |
CYPRIAN, OPILIO,
C.S.L. 524. C.S.L. 527.
Now Cyprian, whose ready wit and ingenious eloquence had rendered him
a favourite with Theodoric, is represented to us in the 'Philosophiae
Consolatio' of Boethius (I. iv.) and in the 'Anonymus Valesii' (85) as
the informer by whom Albinus and Boethius were accused of high
treason. Opilio too (no doubt the same as the receiver of this letter)
is described by Boethius (loc. cit.) as a man who on account of his
numberless frauds had been ordered by the King to go into banishment,
had taken refuge at the altar, and had been sternly bidden to leave
Ravenna before a given day, and then had purchased pardon by coming
forward as a _delator_ against Boethius.
Against all this passionate invective it is fair to set this
remarkable letter of Cassiodorus, written it is true in the young
King's name and presenting the Court view of these transactions, but
still written after the death of Theodoric, and perhaps republished by
Cassiodorus in the 'Variarum' after the downfall of the Gothic
Monarchy. In any case the allusions to _delatores_ in this letter,
considering the history of Opilio and his brother, are extraordinary.]
17. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
This letter, though it does not mention the name of Opilio, is
evidently written on his promotion to the office of Comes Sacrarum
Largitionum. It enumerates his good qualities, and declares that it is
marvellous and almost fortunate for Athalaric that so suitable a
candidate should not have been promoted in the reign of his
grandfather. The father of Opilio was a man of noble character and
robust body, who distinguished himself by his abstinence from the
vices of the times and his preference for dignified repose in the
stormy period of Odovacar[531].
[Footnote 531: 'Adjectis saeculi vitiis, ditatus claris honoribus.'
The text is evidently corrupt. 'Abjectis' seems to be required; but
some MSS. instead of 'vitiis' read 'Odovacris.' In any case Odovacar's
government is evidently alluded to. Cf. the words used of the same man
in the letter announcing the elevation of his other son, Cyprian (v.
41): 'Nam pater huic, sicut meministis, Opilio fuit, vir quidem
_abjectis temporibus_ ad excubias tamen Palatinas electus.']
'He was reputed an excellent man in those times, when the Sovereign
was not a man of honour[532]. But why go back to his parentage, when
his brother has set so noble an example. The friendship, the rivalry
in virtue of these two brothers, is worthy of the good old times. Both
are true to their friends; both are devoid of avarice. Both have kept
their loyalty to their King unspotted, and no marvel, since they have
first shown themselves true to their friends and colleagues.
[Footnote 532: 'His temporibus habitus est eximius, cum princeps non
esset erectus.']
'Distinguished by these virtues, our candidate has been fittingly
allied by marriage with the noble family of Basilius[533].
[Footnote 533: This is probably the Basilius who was concerned in the
accusation of Boethius (Phil. Cons. I. iv.); possibly the Consul of
541, who fled to Constantinople when Totila took Rome in 546 (Procop.
De Bello Gotthico iii. 20, and Anastasius Lib. Pontif. apud Murator.
iii. 132); and perhaps the Basilius whom we find in trouble in
Variarum iv. 22, 23: scarcely the Basilius of Variarum ii. 10, 11.]
'He has managed his private affairs so as to avoid the two extremes of
parsimony and extravagance. He has become popular with the Goths by
his manner of life, and with the Romans by his righteous
judgments[534]; and has been over and over again chosen as a referee
(Judex privatus), thus showing the high opinion in which his integrity
is held.
[Footnote 534: 'Gentiles victu (?), Romanos sibi judiciis obligabat.']
'The Conscript Fathers are exhorted to endorse the favourable judgment
of the King, by welcoming the new Count of Sacred Largesses into their
body.'
[In view of these letters I do not understand what Gibbon means by
saying (cap. xxxix. _n._ 95), 'The characters of the two delators,
Basilius ('Var.' ii. 10, 11; iv. 22) and Opilio (v. 41; viii. 16), are
illustrated, not much to their honour, in the Epistles of
Cassiodorus.' This is quite true of Basilius, if the person alluded to
in the references given by Gibbon be the same as the informer against
Boethius, of which there may be a doubt; but Opilio is mentioned, as
we see, with the highest honour by Cassiodorus. So, too, is Decoratus,
whom in the same note Gibbon too hastily stigmatises as 'the worthless
colleague of Boethius.']
18. KING ATHALARIC TO FELIX, QUAESTOR (527).
[This cannot be the same as the Consul of 511, nor even his son; for
that Felix was of Gaulish extraction, and came from beyond the Alps.]
[Sidenote: Promotion of Felix to the Quaestorship.]
'It is desirable that those who are appointed as Judges should know
something of law, and most unfitting that he whom so many officials
(_milites_) obey should be seen to be dependent for his law on some
one of his subordinates.
'You long ago, when engaged in civil causes as an Advocate, were
marked out by your Sovereign's eye[535]. He noted your eloquence, your
fidelity, your youthful beauty, and your maturity of mind. No client
could ask for more devotion than you showed in his cause; no Judge