The Letters of Cassiodorus
'I have hitherto forborne to distress you with the sad tidings of the
death of my son of glorious memory, but now am able to mingle a joyful
announcement with this mournful message. We have promoted to the
sceptre a man allied to us by a fraternal tie, that he may wear the
purple robes of his ancestors, and may cheer our own soul by his
prudent counsels. We are persuaded that you will give us your good
wishes on this event, as we hope that every kind of prosperity may
befall the kingdom of your Piety. The friendship of princes is always
comely, but your friendship absolutely ennobles me, since that person
is exalted in dignity who is united by friendship to your glory[631].
[Footnote 631: 'Nam licet concordia Principum semper deceat, vestra
tamen absolute me nobilitat; quoniam ille redditur amplius excelsus,
qui vestrae gloriae fuerit unanimiter conjunctus.']
'As we cannot in the short space of a letter express all that we
desire to say on such an occasion, we have entrusted certain verbal
messages to the ambassadors who bear this epistle.'
2. THEODAHAD THE KING TO JUSTINIAN THE EMPEROR.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'It is usual for newly-crowned Kings to signify their accession to the
different nations round them. I, in making this communication to you,
am greatly favoured by Providence, feeling secure of your favour,
because I know that my most excellent Lady and Sister has already
attained it. I feel confident that I shall justify the choice of one
who shines in such a light of wisdom that she both governs her own
kingdom with admirable forethought and keeps firmly the vows of
friendship which she has plighted to her neighbours. Partner of her
cares, I desire also to be a partner of her wisely-formed friendships,
those especially which she has contracted with you, who have nothing
like unto you in the whole world. This alliance is no new thing: if
you will look back upon the deeds of our ancestors you will find that
there is a custom which has obtained the force of a law, that the
Amals should be friendly with the Empire. So old a friendship is
likely to endure; and if, in obedience to it and to my Sister's
choice, I have your love, I shall feel that I am indeed a King.
'The ambassadors who have charge of this letter will further express
my sentiments.'
3. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'After the death of our son of blessed memory[632] our love for the
common weal overcame the yearnings of a mother's heart and caused us
to seek your prosperity rather than an opportunity to indulge in our
own sorrow. We have considered by what solace we should strengthen
ourselves for the cares of royalty. The same Providence which has
deprived us of a son in the dawn of manhood, has reserved for us the
affection of a brother in mature age. Under the Divine auspices we
have chosen Theodahad[633] as the fortunate partner of our throne. We
two, with conjoined counsels, shall now labour for the common welfare,
_two_ in our meditations, _one_ in the action which results from them.
The stars give one another mutual help in ruling the heavens, and God
has bestowed on man two hands, two ears, two eyes, that each one of
these members should assist the other.
[Footnote 632: 'Divae recordationis.']
[Footnote 633: Is there any authority for the reading of Nivellius,
'Theo_baldum_?']
[Sidenote: Praises of Theodahad.]
'Therefore exult, Conscript Fathers, and commend our deed to the
blessing of the Almighty. Our sharing our power with another is a
pledge of its being wisely and gently exercised. By God's help we have
opened our palace to a man of our own race, conspicuous by his
illustrious position, who, born of the Amal stock, has a kingly
dignity in all his actions, being patient in adversity, moderate in
prosperity, and, most difficult of all kinds of government, long used
to the government of himself. Moreover, he possesses that desirable
quality, literary erudition, lending a grace to a nature originally
praiseworthy. It is in books that the sage counsellor finds deeper
wisdom, in books that the warrior learns how he may be strengthened by
the courage of the soul, in books that the Sovereign discovers how he
may weld nations together under his equal rule. In short, there is no
condition in life the credit whereof is not augmented by the glorious
knowledge of literature.
'Your new Sovereign is moreover learned in ecclesiastical lore, by
which we are ever reminded of the things which make for our own true
honour, right judgment, wise discretion, reverence for God, thought
of the future judgment. For the remembrance that we shall one day
stand at the bar to answer for ourselves compels us to follow the
footprints of Justice. Thus does religious reading not only sharpen
the intellect but ever tend to make men scrupulous in the performance
of their duties.
'Let me pass on to that most generous frugality of his private
household[634] which procured the means of such abundance in his
gifts, of such plenty at his banquets, that even the kingdom will not
call for any new expenditure in this respect greater than the old.
Generous in his hospitality, most pitiful in his compassions, while he
was thus spending much, his fortune, by a heavenly reward, was ever on
the increase.
[Footnote 634: 'Veniamus ad illam privatae Ecclesiae (?) largissimam
frugalitatem.' 'Ecclesiae,' if it means here 'the Church,' seems to
spoil the sense. Can Cassiodorus mean to compare the household of
Theodahad to a 'private Ecclesia?']
'The wish of the people should coincide with our choice of such a man,
who, reasonably spending his own goods, does not desire the goods of
others[635]. For moderation in his own expenditure takes away from the
Sovereign the temptation to transgress the precepts of justice and to
abandon the golden mean.
[Footnote 635: 'Talem universitas debuit optare, qualem nos probamur
elegisse, qui rationabiliter disponens propria, non appetat aliena.'
And this of Theodahad!]
'Rejoice then, Conscript Fathers, and give thanks to the Most High,
that I have chosen such a ruler, who will supplement my justice by the
good deeds which spring from his own piety. For this man is both
admonished by the virtue of his ancestors and powerfully stimulated by
the example of his uncle Theodoric.'
4. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'We announce to you, Conscript Fathers, the Divine favour which has
been manifested unto us, in that our sovereign Lady[636], who is
renowned throughout the whole world, has with generous affection made
me partaker of her throne, so that she may not lack loyal support and
I may be fittingly clothed with the purple of my ancestors.
[Footnote 636: 'Dominam rerum.']
'I know that this elevation of mine was the object of the wishes of
the community. Your whispers in my favour might have been a source of
danger, but now your openly expressed acclamations are my proudest
boast. You wished that God should bestow upon me this honour, to which
I for my part should not have ventured to aspire. But if I have, as I
trust I have, any influence with you, let me prevail upon you to join
with me in perpetually hymning the glorious praises of our Lady and
Sister. She has wished to strengthen the greatness of our Empire by
associating me therein, even as the two eyes of a man harmoniously
co-operate towards a single act of vision. Divine grace joins us
together: our near relationship cements our friendship. Persons of
diverse character may find it an arduous matter thus to work in
common; but, to those who resemble one another in the goodness of
their intentions, the difficulty would rather be _not_ to work in
harmony. The man devoid of forethought may fear the changing of his
purposes; but he who is really great in wisdom eagerly seeks wisdom in
another.
'But of all the gifts which with this regal dignity the Divine favour
has bestowed upon me, none pleases me more than the fact that I should
have been thus chosen by that wisest Lady who is herself a moral
balance of the utmost delicacy, and who made me first feel her justice
before advancing me to this high dignity. For, as you know, she
ordained that I should plead my cause against private persons in the
common judgment-hall[637]. Oh wonderful nobility of her mind! Oh
admirable justice, which the world may well tell of! She hesitated
not first to subject her own relation to the course of public justice,
even him whom, a little after, she would raise above the laws
themselves. She thoroughly searched the conscience of him to whom she
was about to hand over the dignity of kingship, that she might be
recognised as sovereign Lady of all, and that I, when tested, might be
advanced by her to the throne.
[Footnote 637: 'Cujus prius ideo justitiam pertuli ut prius
[posterius?] ad ejus provectionis gratiam pervenirem. Causas enim, ut
scitis, jure communi nos fecit dicere cum privatis.' We have here, no
doubt, an allusion to the punishment which, as we learn from
Procopius, Amalasuentha inflicted on her cousin for his various acts
of injustice towards his Tuscan neighbours.]
[Sidenote: Praises of Amalasuentha.]
'When shall I be able to repay her for all these favours: her who,
having reigned alone during the minority of her son, now chooses me as
the partner of her realm? In her is the glory of all kingdoms, the
flower of all our family. All our splendour is derived from her, and
she reflects a lustre not only on our ancestors, but on the whole
human race. Her dutiful affection, her weight of character, who can
set forth? The philosophers would learn new lessons if they knew her,
and would acknowledge that their books fail to describe all her
attributes. Acute she is in her powers of reasoning; but with royal
taciturnity she knows how to veil her conclusions in secrecy. She is
mistress of many languages; and her intellect, if suddenly tested, is
found so ready for the trial that it scarcely seems like that of a
mortal. In the Books of Kings the Queen of the South is said to have
come to learn the wisdom of Solomon: but here a woman speaks, and
Sovereigns listen to her with admiration. Infinite depths of meaning
are fathomed by her in few words, and she, with utmost ease, expresses
what others can only after long deliberation embody in language[638].
[Footnote 638: 'Et summa felicitate componitur quod ab aliis sub longa
deliberatione componitur.' 'Ab aliis' probably refers to Cassiodorus
himself. The contrast between his elaborate and diffuse rhetoric, and
the few, terse, soon-moulded sentences of his mistress is very fairly
drawn.]
'Happy the commonwealth which boasts the guidance of such a mistress.
It was not enough that already liberty and convenience were combined
for the multitude[639]: her merits have secured the fitting reverence
for the person of the Sovereign. In obeying _her_ we obey all the
virtues. I, too, with such a counsellor, fear not the weight of the
crown; and I know that whatever is strange to me in my new duties I
shall learn from her as the safest of teachers.
[Footnote 639: 'Minus fuit ut generalitas sub libertate serviret.']
'Acknowledge, noble Sirs, that all my power of increased usefulness to
the State comes from this our most wise Lady, from whom I may either
gain wisdom by asking questions, or virtue by following her example.
'Live happily: live in harmony by God's help, and emulate that grace
of concord which you see prevailing between your Sovereigns.'
5. KING THEODAHAD TO HIS MAN THEODOSIUS[640].
[Footnote 640: 'Theodosio homini suo Theodahadus rex.' Does 'homo
suus' mean a member of his Comitatus? We seem to have here an
anticipation of the 'homagium' of later times.]