The Letters of Cassiodorus
fairness being observed towards both.
'Therefore, after careful consideration, we have fixed in the
subjoined schedule the prices of the various articles of produce,
which prices are to remain free from all ambiguity.
'If any vendor does not observe the prices named in the present edict,
he will be liable to a fine of six solidi (L3 12s.) for each violation
of the law, and may be visited by corporal punishment[759].'
[Footnote 759: 'Per singulos excessus sex solidorum mulctam a se
noverit exigendam et fustuario posse subjacere supplicio.']
[The schedule mentioned in this letter is unfortunately not preserved.
Few documents that Cassiodorus could have handed down to posterity
would have been more valuable. If we could have compared it with the
celebrated Edict of Stratonicea (cir. A.D. 301), we should have seen
what changes had been wrought in the value of the precious metals and
the distribution of wealth during the two centuries of disturbance and
barbaric invasion which had elapsed since the reign of Diocletian.
But, unfortunately, Cassiodorus believed that his rhetoric and his
natural history would be more interesting to us than these vulgar
facts.]
12. EDICT CONCERNING PRICES ALONG THE FLAMINIAN WAY.
[Sidenote: Prices per Viam Flaminiam.]
'If prices need to be fixed for the leisurely inhabitant of a town,
much more for the traveller, whose journey may otherwise become a
burden instead of a pleasure. Let strangers therefore find that they
are entertained by you at fixed prices. To fawn upon them with feigned
politeness and then terrify them with enormous charges is the act of
a highway robber. Do you not know how much better moderate prices
would suit your own purpose? Travellers would gladly flock to your
accommodation-houses[760] if they found that you treated them fairly.
[Footnote 760: This is, I believe, the expression used in some of the
Australian colonies for what Cassiodorus calls _commoda vestra_.]
'Let no one think that because he is a long way off, his extortion
will escape notice, for people are arriving here every day with tales
of your rapacity.
'An official despatched for the purpose will, after deliberation with
the citizens and Bishops of each place, decide what prices are to be
charged there; and then whosoever dares to ask higher prices will have
to pay a fine of six solidi (L3 12s.) and will be afflicted by the
laceration of his body.
'Honest gains at the expense of your fellow-citizens ought to suffice
for all of you. One would think that the highways were beset with
brigands.'
13. THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.
[Sidenote: Supplications of the Senate to Justinian.]
'It seems a right and proper thing that we should address our prayers
for the safety of the Roman Republic to a dutiful Sovereign[761], who
can only desire what will benefit our freedom. We therefore beseech
you, most clement Emperor, and from the bosom of the Curia we stretch
forth our two hands to you in prayer, that you will grant a most
enduring peace to our King. Spurn not us, who ever seemed certain of
your love. It is in truth the Roman name that you are commending, if
you grant gracious terms to our lords. May your league with them
assure the peace of Italy; and if our prayers be not sufficient to
accomplish this thing, imagine that you hear our country break forth
with these words of supplication: "If ever I was acceptable to thee,
love, oh most dutiful Sovereign, love my defenders! They who rule me
ought to be in harmony with thee, lest otherwise they begin to do such
deeds towards me as thou least of all men wouldest desire. Be not to
me a cause of death, thou who hast ever ministered unto me the joys of
life. Lo, while at peace with thee I have doubled the number of my
children, I have been decked with the glory of my citizens. If thou
sufferest me to be wounded, where is thy dutiful name of Son? What
couldest even thou do more for me [than these rulers], seeing that my
religion and thine thus flourish under their rule?
[Footnote 761: 'Pio Principi.']
'"My Senate grows in honour and is incessantly increasing in wealth.
Do not dissipate in quarrels what thou oughtest rather to defend with
the sword. I have had many Kings; but none so trained in letters as
this one. I have had foreseeing statesmen, but none so powerful in
learning and religion. I love the Amal, bred up as he has been at my
knees, a strong man, one who has been formed by my conversation, dear
to the Romans by his prudence, venerable to the nations by his valour.
Join rather thy prayers to his; share with him thy counsels: so that
any prosperity which I may earn may redound to thy glory. Do not woo
me in the only fashion in which I may not be won. Thine am I already
in love, if thou sendest none of thy soldiers to lacerate my limbs.
For if Africa has deserved through thee to recover freedom, it were
hard that I should from the same hand lose that freedom which I have
ever possessed. Control the emotions of anger, oh illustrious
conqueror! The claims urged upon thee by the general voice of the
people ought to outweigh the offence which the ingratitude of any
private individual may have occasioned to thy heart."
'Thus Rome speaks while, through her Senators, she makes supplications
to you. And if that be not enough, let the sacred petition of the
blessed Apostles Peter and Paul be also taken into your account. For
surely they, who are proved to have so often defended the peace of
Rome from her enemies, deserve that your Sovereignty should yield
everything to their merits. The venerable man, our most pious King's
ambassador to your Clemency, will further set forth our prayers.'
[It is not easy to fix the exact occasion on which this petition was
likely to be sent from the Senate to the Emperor. The allusion to the
conquest of Africa shows that it was after the Vandal War, which ended
in March, 534. On the other hand, the language put into the mouth of
the Senate implies that the Imperial troops had not yet landed in
Italy or Sicily, and the petition is therefore of an earlier date than
the summer of 535. During the whole of these fourteen months the
relations between Empire and Kingdom were more or less strained, the
causes of complaint on the part of Constantinople beginning with the
occupation of Lilybaeum and ending with the murder of Amalasuentha. I
fear that the nattering portrait drawn of 'the Amal' can apply to no
one but Theodahad, the terms used being hopelessly inapplicable to a
boy like Athalaric. Who then are 'our lords' ('nostri Domini'), in
whose name peace is besought. The best that we can hope, for the sake
of the reputation of Cassiodorus, is that they are Amalasuentha and
Theodahad, the letter being written between October 2, 534 (when
Athalaric died), and April 30, 535 (when Amalasuentha was imprisoned).
Upon the whole this seems the most probable conclusion. If written
after Amalasuentha's death, in the few months or weeks which
intervened between that event and the landing of Belisarius in Sicily,
the language employed reflects deep discredit on the writer. In that
case, 'nostri Domini' must mean Theodahad and Gudelina.]
14. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO GAUDIOSUS, CANCELLARIUS OF THE
PROVINCE OF LIGURIA.
[Sidenote: Praises of Como. Relief of its inhabitants.]
'The City of Como[762] is visited by so many travellers that the
cultivators of the soil declare that they are quite worn out with
requisitions for post-horses[763]. Wherefore we direct that by Royal
indulgence they be favoured in this matter[764], that this city, so
beautifully situated, do not become a solitude for want of
inhabitants.
[Footnote 762: Thus called by Cassiodorus; not Comum.]
[Footnote 763: 'Se possessores paraveredorum assiduitate suggerunt
esse fatigatos.']
[Footnote 764: 'Quibus indultu Regali beneficium praecipimus jugiter
custodiri.' These words do not make it clear how the inhabitants were
relieved by the Royal decree; but it was probably by some gift of
money like that which is announced in the next letter.]
'Como, with its precipitous mountains and its vast expanse of lake,
seems placed there for the defence of the Province of Liguria; and
yet, again, it is so beautiful that one would think it was created for
pleasure only. To the south lies a fertile plain with easy roads for
the transport of provisions; on the north a lake sixty miles long,
abounding in fish, soothing the mind with delicious recreation.
'Rightly is it called _Como_, because it is adorned (compta) with such
gifts. The lake lies in a shell-like valley, with white margins. Above
rises a diadem of lofty mountains, their slopes studded with bright
villas[765], a girdle of olives below, vineyards above, while a crest
of thick chestnut-woods adorns the very summit of the hills. Streams
of snowy clearness dash from the hill-sides into the lake. On the
eastern side these unite to form the river Addua, so called because it
contains the _added_ volume of two streams. It plunges into the lake
with such force that it keeps its own colour[766] (dark among the
whiter waters) and its own name far along the northern shore[767], a
phenomenon often seen with rivers flowing into the ocean, but surely
marvellous with one flowing into an inland lake. And so swift is its
course as it moves through the alien waves, that you might fancy it a
river flowing over the solid plains.
[Footnote 765: 'Praetoriorum luminibus decenter ornata.']
[Footnote 766: So Claudian (De VI Consolata Honorii 196), 'et Addua
visu caerulus.']
[Footnote 767: 'Ut nomen retinens et colorem in Septentrionem obesiore
alvei ventre generetur.']
'So delightful a region makes men delicate and averse to labour.
Therefore the inhabitants deserve especial consideration, and for this
reason we wish them to enjoy perpetually the royal bounty.'
15. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE LIGURIANS.
[Announcing the despatch of money to relieve the necessities of the
Province, possibly after some incursions of the Franks. This would fit
in pretty well with the mention of _Astensis Civitas_ as having
suffered the most.]
[Sidenote: Relief of the necessities of Liguria.]
'It is the privilege of a King to increase the happiness of his
subjects. Not to postpone your joy by too long a preface, I will come
to the point at once, and inform you that our most glorious Lords,
taking the necessities of their loyal Liguria into account, have sent
100 lbs. of gold [L4,000] by the hands of A and B, officers of the
Royal Bedchamber. _You_ are to say how the money is to be spent,
indicating the persons who are in the greatest necessity; but as we
are informed that the city of Asti has been more heavily weighted than
others, it is our wish that it should be chiefly helped by this
disbursement. Now, do you who are tributaries, reflect upon the
clemency of your lords, who are inverting the usual order of things,
and paying out to you from the Treasury what they are accustomed to
receive. Let us know at once how much you think each taxpayer ought
to receive, that we may deduct it from his first instalment of
land-tax [768].
[Footnote 768: 'Sed ut beneficia Dominorum _subtractis exactionum,
incommodis_ augeantur, celerius relatio vestra nos instruat, quid
unicuique de hac summa relaxandum esse judicetis, ut tantum de _prima
illatione_ faciamus _suspendi_ quantum ad nos notitia directa
vulgaverit.' The meaning of Cassiodorus seems quite clear, though it
is not easy to understand how far the actual gift of money was
supplemented by, or independent of, remission of land-tax.]
'And put up your prayers for your most affectionate Sovereigns, that
they may receive back again from Heaven the favour which they are
conferring on you.'