The Letters of Cassiodorus
adding that if anyone is unable to pay the penalty therein provided he
shall suffer banishment (deportatio). He ought to have been more chary
of disobeying the laws if he had no means to pay the penalty. Judges
who shrink from obeying this law, and allow the _Pervasor_ to remain
in possession of what he has forcibly annexed, shall lose their
offices and be held liable to pay to our Treasury the same fine which
might have been exacted from him. If the _Pervasor_ sets the Judge's
official staff (officium) at defiance, on the report of the Judge our
Sajones will make _him_ feel the weight of the royal vengeance who
refused to obey the [humbler] _Cognitor_.
[Footnote 608: 'Praedia urbana vel rustica.']
[Footnote 609: The punishment consisted in loss of all claim to the
property--which was generally seized by someone who had some kind of
ostensible claim to it--and a penalty of equal value with that of the
property wrongfully seized.]
'II. _Affixing Titles to Property._ [When land had from any cause
become public property, the Emperor's officers used to affix _tituli_,
to denote the fact and to warn off all other claimants. Powerful men
who had dispossessed weaker claimants used to imitate this practice,
and are here forbidden to do so.]
'This offence shall subject the perpetrator to the same penalties as
_pervasio_. It is really a kind of sacrilege to try to add the majesty
of the royal name to the weight of his own oppression. Costs are to be
borne by the defeated claimant.
'III. _Suppression of Words in a Decree._ Anyone obtaining a decree
against an adversary is to be careful to suppress nothing in the copy
which he serves upon him. If he does so, he shall lose all the
benefits that he obtained. We wish to help honest men, not rogues.
'IV. _Seduction of a Married Woman._ He who tries to interfere with
the married rights of another, shall be punished by inability to
contract a valid marriage himself. [This punishment of compulsory
celibacy is, according to Dahn, derived neither from Roman nor German
law, but is possibly due to Church influence.] The offender who has no
hope of present or future matrimony[610] shall be punished by
confiscation of half his property; or, if a poor man, by banishment.
[Footnote 610: 'Illis quos spes non habet praesentis conjugii vel
futuri.' It is not easy to see how the Judge could ascertain whether a
man belonged to this claim or not.]
'V. _Adultery_. All the statutes of the late King (divalis commonitio)
in this matter are to be strictly observed. [Edict. Theodorici, Sec. 38,
inflicted the penalty of death on both offenders and on the abettors
of the crime.]
'VI. _Bigamy_ is to be punished with loss of all the offender's
property.
'VII. _Concubinage._ If a married man forms a connection of this kind
with a free woman, she and all her children shall become the slaves
of the injured wife. If with a woman who is a slave already, she shall
be subjected to any revenge that the lawful wife likes to inflict upon
her, short of blood-shedding[611].
[Footnote 611: 'Quod si ad tale flagitium ancilla pervenerit, excepta
poena sanguinis, matronali subjaceat ultioni: ut illam patiatur
judicem, quam formidare debuisset absentem.' These provisions are
probably of Germanic origin.]
'VIII. _Donations_ are not to be extorted by terror, nor acquired by
fraud, or as the price of immorality. Where a gift is _bona fide_, the
document conveying it is to be drawn up with the strictness prescribed
by Antiquity, in order to remove occasions of fraud.
'IX. Magicians and other persons practising nefarious arts are to be
punished by the severity of the laws. What madness to leave the Giver
of life and seek to the Author of death! Let the Judges be especially
careful to avoid the contagion of these foul practices.
'X. _Violence Exercised towards the Weak._ Let the condition of
mediocrity be safe from the arrogance of the rich. Let the madness of
bloodshed be avoided. To take the law into your own hands is to wage
private war, especially in the case of those who are fortified by the
authority of our _tuitio_. If anyone attempts with foul presumption to
act contrary to these principles, let him be considered a violator of
our orders.
'XI. _Appeals_ are not to be made twice in the same cause.
'XII. _Epilogue._ But lest, while touching on a few points, we should
be thought not to wish the laws to be observed in other matters, we
declare that all the edicts of ourself and of our lord and
grandfather, which were confirmed by venerable deliberation[612], and
the whole body of decided law[613], be adhered to with the utmost
rigour.
[Footnote 612: 'Quae sunt venerabili deliberatione firmata.' Is it
possible that we have here a reference to a theoretical right of the
_Senate_ to concur in legislation?]
[Footnote 613: 'Et usualia jura publica.' Dahn expands: 'All other
juristic material, all sources of law--Roman _leges_ and _jus_, and
Gothic customary law--the whole inheritance of the State in public and
private law.']
'And these laws are so scrupulously guarded that our own oath is
interposed for their defence. Why enlarge further? Let the usual rule
of law and the honest intent of our precepts be everywhere observed.'
19. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Promulgation of the Edict.]
'Good laws are called forth by evil manners. If no complaints were
ever heard, the Prince might take holiday. Stirred up by many and
frequent complaints of our people, we have drawn up certain
regulations necessary for the Roman peace, in our edict which is
divided into twelve chapters, after the manner of the civil law[614].
We do not thereby abrogate, but rather confirm, the previously
existing body of law.
[Footnote 614: 'Necessaria quaedam Romanae quieti edictali programmate
duodecim capitibus sicut jus civile legitur institutum in aevum
servanda conscripsimus, quae custodita residuum jus non debilitare,
sed potius corroborare videantur.']
'Let this edict be read in your splendid assembly, and exhibited for
thirty days by the Praefect of the City in the most conspicuous
places. Thus shall our _civilitas_ be recognised, and truculent men
lose their confidence. What insolent subjects[615] can indulge in
violence when the Sovereign condemns it? Our armies fight that there
may be peace at home. Let the Judges do their duty fearlessly, and
avoid foul corruption.'
[Footnote 615: Evidently aimed at the Goths.]
20. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'It is vexatious that, though we appoint you year by year to your
duties, and leave no district without its Judge, there is yet such
tardiness in administering justice that suitors come by preference to
our distant Court.
'To take away all excuse from you, and relieve the necessity of our
subjects, we have drawn up an edict which we desire you to exhibit for
thirty days in the wonted manner at all places of public meeting.'
21. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Increase of salaries of grammarians.]
'You who are called Fathers should be interested in all that concerns
the education of your sons. We hear by certain whisperings that the
teachers of eloquence at Rome are not receiving their proper reward,
and that the sums appointed to be paid to the masters of schools are
lessened by the haggling of some persons.
'Grammar is the noble foundation of all literature, the glorious
mother of eloquence. As a virtuous man is offended by any act of vice,
as a musician is pained by a discordant note, so does the grammarian
in a moment perceive a false concord.
'The grammatical art is not used by barbarous kings: it abides
peculiarly with legitimate sovereigns[616]. Other nations have arms:
the lords of the Romans alone have eloquence. Hence sounds the trumpet
for the legal fray in the Forum. Hence comes the eloquence of so many
chiefs of the State. Hence, to say nothing more, even this discourse
which is now addressed to you[617].
[Footnote 616: 'Hac non utuntur barbari reges: apud legales dominos
manere cognoscitur singularis.']
[Footnote 617: 'Et, ut reliqua taceamus, hoc quod loquimur inde est.']
'Wherefore let the teacher of grammar and of rhetoric, if he be found
suitable for his work and obey the decrees of the Praefect of the
City, be supported by your authority, and suffer no diminution of his
salary[618].
[Footnote 618: 'Et semel Primi Ordinis vestri ac reliqui Senatus
amplissimi auctoritate firmatus.' What is the meaning of 'Primi
Ordinis vestri?']
'To prevent his being dependent in any way on the caprice of his
employer, let him receive half his salary at the end of half a year,
and his _annonae_ at the customary times. If the person whose
business it is to pay him neglects this order, he shall be charged
interest on the arrears.
'The Grammarian is a man to whom every hour unemployed is misery, and
it is a shame that such a man should have to wait the caprice of a
public functionary before he gets his pay. We provide for the salaries
of the play-actors, who minister only to the amusement of the public;
and how much more for these men, the moulders of the style and
character of our youth! Therefore let them henceforward not have to
try the philosophical problem of thinking about two things at once,
but, with their minds at ease about their subsistence, devote
themselves with all their vigour to the teaching of liberal arts.'
22. KING ATHALARIC TO PAULINUS, VIR CLARISSIMUS AND CONSUL (533).
[Flavius Theodoras Paulinus Junior was Consul with the Emperor
Justinian in 534. This letter was written in Sept. 533, about thirteen
months before the death of Athalaric. Paulinus was son of Venantius
and grandson of Liberius.]
[Sidenote: Paulinus chosen as Consul.]
'The absent from our Court need not fear that they will be disregarded
in the distribution of honours, especially when they are sprung from
an illustrious stock, the offspring of the Senate.
'In your family Rome recognises the descendants of her ancient heroes
the Decii, who, in a great crisis, alone saved their country.
'Take then for the twelfth Indiction the ensigns of the
Consulship[619]. It is an arduous honour, but one which your family is
well used to. The Fasti are studded with its names, and nearly all
the Senate is of kin to you. Still, presume not too much on the merits
of your ancestors, but rather seek to emulate their noble deeds.'
[Footnote 619: The twelfth Indiction began Sept. 1, 533. The Consul
would enter office Jan. 1, 534. Was he _designated_ when the great
Imperial officers were _appointed_ at the beginning of the Indiction?]
23. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: On the Consulship of Paulinus.]
'Judge of our esteem for your honourable body, Conscript Fathers,
when, without any hesitation, we appoint your sons whom we have never
seen to high office, because they are your sons.
'We admire the Patrician Venantius, blessed as he has been with such
an abundant progeny, and found equal to the weight of so many
Consulships. His sons have been all temperate and lively; worthy
members of the same distinguished family. They have been trained in
arms, their minds have been formed by letters, their bodies by the
exercises of the gymnasium. They have learned to show constancy to
their friends, loyalty to their lords; and they have succeeded to the
virtues of their ancestors, as they will to their patrimony. Wisely
husbanding his own fortune, Venantius has been able to support the
honour--gratifying, but burdensome--of seeing so many of his sons made
Consuls. But this is an honour not strange to his family, sprung from