The Letters of Cassiodorus
stand still or increase at the sound of the human voice, as if the
fountain itself desired to listen to the sermon.
'Thus hath Lucania a river Jordan of her own. Wherefore, both for
religion's sake and for the profit of the people, it behoves that good
order should be kept among the frequenters of the fair, since in the
judgment of all, that man must be deemed a villain who would sully the
joys of such happy days.'
BOOK IX.
CONTAINING TWENTY-FIVE LETTERS, ALL WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF ATHALARIC
THE KING.
1. KING ATHALARIC TO HILDERIC, KING OF THE VANDALS (A.D. 527).
[Sidenote: Murder of Amalafrida, widow of King Thrasamund and sister
of Theodoric.]
'Friendship and relationship are turned to bitterness by the tidings
that Amalafrida, of divine memory, the distinguished ornament of our
race, has been put to death by you[574]. If you had any cause of
offence against her, you ought to have sent her to us for judgment.
What you have done is a species of parricide. If the succession, on
the death of her husband, passed to another [yourself], that was no
reason why a woman should be embroiled in the contest. It was really
an addition to your nobility to have the purple dignity of the Amal
blood allied to the lineage of the Hasdingi.
[Footnote 574: With reference to this event Victor Tunnunensis writes:
'Cujus (Trasamundi) uxor Amalafrida fugiens ad barbaros congressione
facta Capsae juxta Heremum capitur, et in custodia privata moritur.'
Procopius (De B. Vandalico i. 9) says: [Greek: Kai sphisi (tois
Bandilois) xynenechthe Theudericho te kai Gotthois en Italia ek te
symmachon kai philon polemioi genesthai ten te gar Amalaphridan en
phylake eschon kai tous Gotthous diephtheiran hapantas epenenkontes
autois neoterizein es te Bandilous kai Hilderichon]. Both Victor and
Procopius seem to place the conflict before the death of Theodoric;
Victor says A.D. 523. Probably therefore the fighting, the capture of
Amalafrida, and the death of her countrymen, took place in that year,
the year of her husband's death and Hilderic's accession. Three or
four years later (526 or 527), when her brother Theodoric was dead,
the imprisoned princess was murdered--a grievous insult to the young
Sovereign of the Goths, her great-nephew.]
'Our Goths keenly feel the insults conveyed in this deed, since to
slay the royal lady of another race is to despise the valour of that
race and doubt its willingness to avenge her.
'We send you two ambassadors to hear what your excuses are. We hear
that you pretend that her death was natural. And you also must send
ambassadors in return to us to explain the matter, without war or
bloodshed, and either pacify us or acknowledge your guilt. If you do
not do this, all ties of alliance between us are broken, and we must
leave you to the judgment of the Divine Majesty, which heard the blood
of Abel crying from the ground.'
2. EDICT OF KING ATHALARIC.
[Sidenote: Oppression of the Curiales.]
'The body of the Republic is so tempered together that if one member
suffers all the members suffer with it. The Curiales, whose name is
derived from their care (cura) and forethought, are, we are told,
molested by hostile proceedings, so that what was bestowed upon them
as an honour turns out rather to their injury. What scandalous
injustice! What an insupportable evil! that he who ought to have
benefited the Republic by his services, should often lose both fortune
and liberty.
'Wherefore by this edict we decree that if any Curialis suffer
oppression, if anyone, without the express warrant of ourselves or the
high officers of State whose business it is, inflict upon a Curialis
any injury or loss of property, he shall pay a fine of 10 lbs. of gold
(L400), to go to the benefit of the person thus oppressed; or, if his
property be insufficient to pay this fine, he shall be beaten with
clubs. The Curialis must then give additional diligence to the
discharge of his public duties, since his debt to the State is, as it
were, increased by the protection which we are thus affording him. As
for the farms of Curiales, in connection with which the greatest
frauds are practised on poor men, let no one seek to obtain them by an
unlawful purchase; for a contract cannot be called a contract when it
is in violation of the law[575]. The Judges must help the Curiales
against the molestations of Sajones and other officials. It is a
grievous offence, when the very person to whom is entrusted the duty
of defending the weak, himself turns oppressor.
[Footnote 575: 'Praedia Curialium, unde maximae mediocribus parantur
insidiae, nullus illicita emptione pervadat. Quia contractus dici non
potest nisi qui de legibus venit.']
'Raise your heads in hope, oh ye oppressed ones! lift up your hearts,
ye who are weighed down with a load of evils! To each citizen his own
city is his Republic. Administer justice in your cities in conformity
with the general will. Let your various ranks live on a footing of
justice. Do not oppress the weak, lest you in your turn be deservedly
oppressed by the strong. This is the penalty of wrong-doing, that each
one suffers in his own person what he has wantonly inflicted on
another.
'Live then in justice and moderation. Follow the example of the
cranes, who change the order of their flight, making foremost
hindmost, and hindmost foremost, without difficulty, each willingly
obeying its fellow--a commonwealth of birds.
'You have, according to the laws, power over your citizens. Not in
vain has Antiquity conceded to you the title of Curia: not vainly did
it call you the Lesser Senate, the nerves and vital organs of the
State[576]. What is not contained of honour and power in that title!
For that which is compared to the Senate is excluded from no kind of
glory.'
[Footnote 576: 'Non enim incassum vobis Curiam concessit Antiquitas,
non inaniter appellavit Minorem Senatum, nervos quoque vocitans ac
viscera civitatum.']
3. KING ATHALARIC TO BERGANTINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, COMES [PATRIMONII],
AND PATRICIAN[577].
[Footnote 577: Cf. viii. 23.]
[Sidenote: Gold-mining in Italy.]
'Gold, as well as many other fair fruits of Nature which gold can buy,
is said to be produced by our generous Italy. Theodorus, who is an
expert in such matters, asserts that gold will be found on the farm
Rusticiana in Bruttii[578]. Let your Greatness therefore send a
_Cartarius_ to commence mining operations on that spot. The work of a
miner resembles that of a mole. He burrows underground, far from the
light of day. Sometimes the sides of his passages fall in and his way
is closed up behind him; but if he emerge safely with his treasure,
how happy is he! Then the gold-miner proceeds to immerse his ore in
water, that the heavy metal may be separated from the lighter earth;
then to submit it to a fervent heat, that it may thence derive its
beautiful colour[579].
[Footnote 578: Have we any clue to the geographical position of this
farm? The only Rusticiana known to the Itineraries is in Spain.]
[Footnote 579: 'Origo quidem nobilis, sed de flamma suscipit vim
coloris, ut magis credas inde nasci, cujus similitudine videtur
ornari. Sed cum auro tribuat splendidum ruborem, argento confert
albissimam lucem. Ut mirum sit, unam substantiam tradere, quod rebus
dissimilibus possit aptari.' Have we here a hint of 'the transmutation
of metals?' Cassiodorus seems to think that it is only the furnace
that makes the difference between the colours of gold and of silver.]
'Let then the land of Bruttii pay her tribute in gold, the most
desired of all treasure. To seek gold by war is wicked, by voyages
dangerous, by swindling shameful; but to seek it from Nature in its
own home is righteous. No one is hurt by this honest gain. Griffins
are said to dig for gold and to delight in the contemplation of this
metal; but no one blames them, because their proceedings are not
dictated by criminal covetousness. For it is not the act itself, but
the motive for the act, that gives it its moral quality.'
4. KING ATHALARIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: A family of Curiales permitted to step down into the ranks
of the Possessores.]
'The _pietas_ of the King is happily shown in moderating the sentence
of the law, where for certain reasons it bears with especial hardness
on anyone. The Curiales have peculiar advantages in their opportunity
of being thus liberated by the Sovereign from the performance of their
duties[580]. It is reasonable to release a Curialis whose health
prevents him from fulfilling his appointed task; and a numerous Curia
will never miss a few names out of so large a number.
[Footnote 580: 'Neque enim ob aliud Curiales leges sacratissimae
ligaverunt, nisi ut cum illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae
praeconia reperirent.']
'Therefore let your Illustrious Magnificence remove Agenantia, wife
[or widow?] of the most eloquent man Campanianus, dwelling in Lucania,
from the album of her Curia, and her sons also, so that posterity may
never know that they were formerly liable to Curial duties.
'Remitted to the ranks of [mere] Possessores they will now be liable
to the same demands which formerly [as members of the Curia] they made
upon others. They will now dread the face of the tax-collector
(compulsor), and will begin to fear the mandates by which formerly
they made themselves feared[581]. Still this is a sign of their past
good life, that they are willing to live without office _among_ a
population whose dislike they are not conscious of having incurred,
and _under_ old colleagues whom they know that they have not incited
to an abuse of their powers.'
[Footnote 581: 'Formidare delegata incipient, per quae antea
timebantur.' To translate by an analogy, 'And will tremble at the
rate-summonses, their signatures to which used to make other men
tremble.']
5. KING ATHALARIC TO THE BISHOPS AND FUNCTIONARIES OF ----[582].
[Footnote 582: 'Episcopis et Honoratis.' Perhaps it is from motives of
delicacy that Cassiodorus has not added the name of the Province.]
[Sidenote: Forestalling and regrating of corn prohibited.]
'We learn with regret by the complaint of the Possessores of your
district that the severity of famine is being increased by the conduct
of certain persons who have bought up corn and are holding it for
higher prices. In a time of absolute famine there can be no "higgling
of the market;" the hungry man will submit to be cheated rather than
let another get the food before him[583].
[Footnote 583: 'In necessitate siquidem penuriae pretii nulla
contentio est: dum patitur quis induci ne possit aliqua tarditate
percelli.']
'To stop this practice we send to you the present messengers, whose
business it is to examine all the stores of corn collected for public
distribution[584] or otherwise, to leave to each family sufficient for
its needs, and to purchase the remainder from the owners at a fair
market price. Co-operate with these orders of ours cheerfully, and do
not grumble at them. Complain not that your freedom is interfered
with. There is no free-trade in crime[585]. If you work with us you
will earn good renown for yourselves; if against us, the King's
reputation will gain by your loss. It is the sign of a good ruler to
make men act righteously, even against their wills.'
[Footnote 584: 'Sive in gradu [panis gradilis?] sive in aliis locis.']
[Footnote 585: A paraphrase, confessedly anachronistic, of 'Ne quis
ergo venditionem sibi impositam conqueratur, sciat libertatem in
crimine non requiri.']
6. KING ATHALARIC TO ----, PRIMISCRINIUS.
[Sidenote: A furlough granted for a visit to Baiae.]
'You complain that your health is failing under the long pressure of
your work, and that you fear, if you absent yourself, you may lose the