The Letters of Cassiodorus
suffer me to continue a mere General, feeling that they needed a
veteran King. Wherefore now accept first the Divine decree, and then
the judgment of the Goths, since it is your unanimous wish which makes
me King. Lay aside then the fear of disaster: cast off the suspicion
of further losses: fear no rude strokes of fate under our dominion. We
who have ridden so oft to war have learned to love valiant men.
Associated in all things with your labours, I have been myself a
witness to the brave deeds of each of you, and need no other evidence
of your worth. By no fraudulent variations between my public and
private negotiations shall the might of the Gothic arms be
broken[702]. Everything that we do shall have respect to the welfare
of our whole people: in private we will not even love. We promise to
follow those courses which shall adorn the royal name. Finally, we
undertake that our rule shall in all things be such as becomes a
Gothic King, the successor of the renowned Theodoric--that man who was
so rarely and so nobly qualified by Nature for the cares of royalty;
that man of whom it may be truly said that every other Sovereign is
illustrious in so far as he loves _his_ counsels. Therefore he who
succeeds in imitating the deeds of Theodoric ought to be considered as
belonging to his line. Thus then, manifest your anxious care for the
welfare of our kingdom, while your hearts are at ease, through God's
goodness, as to our internal security.'
[Footnote 702: 'Arma Gothorum nulla promissionum mearum varietate
frangenda sunt.' An evident allusion to the treacherous and
unpatriotic diplomacy of Theodahad, as described by Procopius.]
32. KING WITIGIS TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.
[Sidenote: Overtures for peace with the Empire.]
'How much, oh most clement Emperor, we long for the sweetness of your
favour, may be understood from this fact alone, that after such
serious injuries and such grievous bloodshed as you have inflicted on
us, we still come forward to ask for peace with you, as if none of
your servants had ever wronged us. We have suffered such things as
might move the indignation even of our enemies, who must know that
they have attacked us without our guilt, have hated us without our
fault, have despoiled us without our owing them anything. Nor can it
be said that the blow has been so slight that no account need be taken
of it, since it has been struck not in the Provinces alone but in Rome
[or Italy] herself, the Capital of the World[703]. Think how great
must be our pain at this, which nevertheless we banish from memory in
order that we may obtain justice at your hands. Such disturbance has
been made as the whole world speaks of[704] [and condemns], and it
deserves to be so composed by you that all men may admire your spirit
of equity.
[Footnote 703: 'Non in provinciis tantum sed in ipso rerum capite
probatur inflictum.']
[Footnote 704: 'Talis res effecta est quam mundus loquatur.' The
commentator Fornerius absurdly understands this of Mundus, the general
of Justinian in Dalmatia, who had already fallen in battle before the
accession of Witigis.]
'If vengeance on King Theodahad be the thing required, I [who have put
him to death] merit your love. If you desire to honour the blessed
memory of Queen Amalasuentha, think of her daughter[705], who has
reached [by our means] that royal station to which your soldiers might
well have striven to exalt her, in order that all the nations might
see how faithful you remained to the old friendship.
[Footnote 705: Matasuentha, now wife of Witigis.]
'This fact too ought to influence you, that by the ordering of
Providence we were permitted to make your acquaintance before our
accession to the throne, that the remembrance of our favourable
reception at your Court, and the sight of your person in that splendid
position, might move us to love and reverence.
'Even now you can undo all that has been misdone, since the continual
expectation of favours to come, makes perseverance in affection
easy[706]. Therefore, soliciting your Clemency with all due respect,
we inform you that we have appointed A and B our ambassadors to the
Wisdom of your Serenity, that you may, according to your custom, duly
weigh all these considerations, that the two Republics may persevere
in restored harmony, and that all which hath been settled in past
times by Sovereigns of blessed memory may, by God's help, be increased
and made more prosperous under your dominion.
[Footnote 706: 'Quando non est difficile illum in affectu retinere,
qui gratiam constat desideranter expetere.' Very nearly, but not
quite, the modern proverb which says that gratitude is 'a lively sense
of favours to come.']
'The rest of their commission will be more fully explained to your
Serenity by the aforesaid ambassadors.'
33. KING WITIGIS TO THE MASTER OF THE OFFICES [AT CONSTANTINOPLE].
[Sidenote: Embassy to Constantinople.]
'In sending our two ambassadors to the most serene Emperor, it is
fitting also to send letters of salutation[707] to your Greatness. May
your prudence support our reasonable requests with the Emperor. You
can easily correct those things [the war against the Gothic people]
which you ought never to have allowed to take place; and all things
can now be arranged in the most friendly manner, since a
reconciliation between men who have fought out their quarrel is often
the surest ground of friendship. An unknown man might possibly have
been shunned by you; but I, who have seen the magnificence of your
Republic, who have known the hearts of so many of your noble
statesmen, have no desire to quarrel with your most pious Emperor, if
he will only cherish thoughts of justice towards me. If another
[Theodahad] deserved the anger of the Emperor, I ought to be looked
upon with the highest favour, who have executed vengeance on that
hateful predecessor. I have carried your intentions into effect, and
therefore I deserve reward, not punishment. Let all hatred be buried
in the grave of the sinner; and even if you think nothing of our
deservings, think of the liberty of the Romans, which is everywhere
suffering amid the clash of arms. A few words to a man of your wisdom
are sufficient.'
[Footnote 707: 'Salutiferos apices.' See x. 15.]
34. KING WITIGIS TO HIS BISHOPS.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'If we owe honour to Priests even when unknown to us, how much more so
to you whom we have seen and spoken to, and with whom we have had
frequent and familiar intercourse.
'By the ambassadors who are bearing our letters to the most serene
Emperor we send a message of reverence to your Holiness, hoping that
you will pray for us and set them forward on their journey with all
necessary assistance, since you are bound to wish well to those whom
you know to be united to you by the ties of religion.'
35. KING WITIGIS TO THE PRAEFECT OF THESSALONICA.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'We are sending two ambassadors to the most serene Emperor, who will
salute your Greatness. We earnestly hope that your Excellency will
speed them on their journey.'
BOOK XI.
PREFACE.
'The necessity for a Preface often arises from some contrariety in an
Author's position which prevents him from writing as he would wish to
write. It is admitted that it is not fair to expect the same degree of
excellence from a busy man which we may reasonably look for in a man
of leisure. But a man in high official position cannot be a man of
leisure. It would be the highest disgrace to him if he were, since
even his so-called privy-chamber[708] resounds with the noise of
clamorous litigants.
[Footnote 708: 'Secretum.']
'I can well understand that a man of few occupations will object
against me, here that a word has been thrown out with ill-considered
haste, there that a commonplace sentiment has not been dressed up in
sufficiently ornamental language, or there that I have not complied
with the rules of the Ancients by making my persons speak "in
character." But the busy man, hurried from one cause to another, and
constantly under the necessity of dictating to one man and replying to
another, will not make these objections, because the consciousness of
his own literary perils will make him tender in his judgments. And yet
there is something even in the pressure of business which sometimes
promotes briskness of mind, since the art of speaking is one which is
placed very much in our own power[709].
[Footnote 709: Here follows a sentence which I do not understand:
'Remanet itaque ad excusandum brevitas insperata librorum, quam nemo
purgat diutius, nisi qui bene creditur esse dicturus.']
'If anyone objects that I, placed in the height of the Praetorian
dignity, should have dictated so few decisions of a legal kind, let
him know that this was the result of my associating with myself that
most prudent man Felix[710], whose advice I have followed in every
case. He is a man of absolute purity of character, of surpassing
knowledge of the law, of distinguished accuracy of speech; a young man
with the gravity of age, a sweet pleader, a measured orator; one who
by his graceful discharge of his official duties has earned the
favourable opinion of the public.
[Footnote 710: This can hardly be the Consul of A.D. 511, since he is
called in the next sentence 'senilis juvenis.']
'Had it not been for his help, overwhelmed by so great a multitude of
causes, I must either have been found unequal to the burden, or else
perchance have seemed arrogant [in my disregard of previously settled
decisions]. But, what was more important still, relieved by his
labours from this duty, I was able to give such attention to the
higher affairs of the State, that I could not fail to win approbation
even in those arduous duties.
'I have therefore subjoined two books, in which I myself speak in my
capacity as Praefect, to the ten in which I have spoken by the mouth
of the King; for it seemed absurd to me to be silent in my
newly-acquired dignity, who had so often spoken on behalf of others.
'Then, after these twelve books had been brought to their long-desired
end, my friends compelled me to discuss the substance and the powers
of the Soul, that I might say something _about_ that faculty
_through_ which I had already said so much[711].
[Footnote 711: 'De Animae substantia vel de virtutibus ejus amici me
disserere coegerunt: ut per quam multa diximus, de ipsa quoque dicere
videremur.']
'Now then, learned men! view these letters with indulgence. If there
be no eloquence in them, attribute it to my many occupations, which
have prevented my reading as much as I would gladly have done. Cicero,
that fountain of eloquence, when he was one day asked to speak,
excused himself on the ground that he had read nothing the day before.
The barn must be constantly refilled if it is not to become empty. All
that is good in our minds is the fruit of study, and soon withers if
it be separated from reading, which is the parent stem. Great
indulgence therefore should be shown to us if we have often had to
write when we were busy, to be read by others when we had no leisure
to read, ourselves. And now enough of excuses, lest too elaborate a
defence should rather injure our cause.'
BOOK XI.
CONTAINING THIRTY-NINE LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN HIS OWN NAME
AS PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO, AND ONE ON BEHALF OF THE ROMAN SENATE.
1. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME
(A.D. 534)[712].
[Footnote 712: This letter, which was not composed immediately after
Cassiodorus' accession to office, most have been written after the
death of the Frankish King Theodoric, which occurred, according to
Clinton, early in 534, and before October 2 of the same year, the date