The Letters of Cassiodorus
[Footnote 788: 'Eorum est etiam sudoribus applicandum, quod victuales
expensae longe quidem positae, _sed tamquam in urbe Regia natae_ [I do
not quite understand this antithesis] sine querela Provincialium
congregantur.']
[Footnote 789: 'Labores, violenti magistri, solliciti paedagogi, per
quos cautior quis efficitur dum incurri pericula formidantur.']
'Such men ought assuredly to receive their stipulated rewards; and
therefore we order you to pay regularly so many solidi of the third
instalment, from the land-tax of the Province of Campania[790], to
such and such a person, who has now just completed his term of service
as Primiscrinius.'
[Footnote 790: 'Ex canone provinciae Campaniae tertiae illationis tot
solidos solenniter te dare censemus.']
38. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO JOANNES, CANONICARIUS[791] OF
THUSCIA.
[Footnote 791: Tax-collector.]
[Sidenote: Praises of paper.]
'Rightly did Antiquity ordain that a large store of paper should be
laid in by our Bureaux (Scrinia), that litigants might receive the
decision of the Judge clearly written, without delay, and without
avaricious and impudent charges for the paper which bore it[792].
[Footnote 792: Lydus (De Magistratibus iii. 14) makes a similar
remark, but says that in his time the copying clerks (Exceptarii, or
Exceptores) supplied disgracefully bad paper made of grass, and
charged a fee for doing so.]
'A wonderful product in truth is this wherewith ingenious Memphis has
supplied all the offices in the world. The plants of Nile arise, a
wood without leaves or branches, a harvest of the waters, the fair
tresses of the marshes, plants full of emptiness, spongy, thirsty,
having all their strength in their outer rind, tall and light, the
fairest fruit of a foul inundation.
'Before Paper was discovered, all the sayings of the wise, all the
thoughts of the ancients, were in danger of perishing. Who could write
fluently or pleasantly on the rough bark of trees, though it is from
that practice that we call a book _Liber_? While the scribe was
laboriously cutting his letters on the sordid material, his very
thought grew cold: a rude contrivance assuredly, and only fit for the
beginnings of the world.
'Then was paper discovered, and therewith was eloquence made possible.
Paper, so smooth and so continuous, the snowy entrails of a green
herb; paper which can be spread out to such a vast extent, and yet be
folded up into such a little space; paper, on whose white expanse the
black characters look beautiful; paper which keeps the sweet harvest
of the mind, and restores it to the reader whenever he chooses to
consult it; paper which is the faithful witness of all human actions,
eloquent of the past, a sworn foe to oblivion.
'Therefore for this thirteenth Indiction[793] pay so many solidi from
the land-tax of the Tuscan Province to our Bureau, that it may be able
to keep in perpetuity a faithful record of all its transactions.'
[Footnote 793: Sept. 1, 534. The reading 'de tertiae decimae
Indictionis rationibus' seems required by the sense, instead of
'tertiam de decimae Indictionis rationibus.' It is quite clear that
Cassiodorus was not Praetorian Praefect at the tenth Indiction.]
39. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE CLARISSIMUS VITALIAN,
CANCELLARIUS OF LUCANIA AND BRUTTII.
[Sidenote: Payment by Province of Bruttii of commuted cattle-tax.]
'The vast numbers of the Roman people in old time are evidenced by the
extensive Provinces from which their food supply was drawn, as well as
by the wide circuit of their walls, the massive structure of their
amphitheatre, the marvellous bigness of their public baths, and the
enormous multitude of mills, which could only have been made for use,
not for ornament.
'It was to feed this population, that mountainous Lucania paid her
tribute of swine, that fertile Bruttii furnished her droves of oxen.
It was a glorious privilege for them thus to feed the Roman people:
yet the length of roads over which the animals had to be driven made
the tribute unnecessarily burdensome, since every mile reduced their
weight, and the herdsman could not possibly obtain credit at the
journey's end for the same number of pounds of flesh which he
possessed at its beginning. For this reason the tribute was commuted
into a money payment, one which no journeyings can diminish and no
toil can wound. The Provinces should understand and respond to this
favourable change, and not show themselves more slack than their
ancestors were, under far more burdensome conditions. Your Diligence
has now collected both these taxes[794] at the appointed periods; and
I am glad of it, that my countrymen, who have served alien
magistrates with praiseworthy diligence, might not seem negligent
under my rule. These Provinces, which I, my grandfather, and my
great-grandfather have benefited as private persons, I have
endeavoured to help yet more earnestly while I bore the majesty of the
_fasces_, that they who have rejoiced in my exaltation might see that
I still retained my love for our common country. Let them pay the tax
then, not from fear but from love. I have prevailed on the royal
generosity to limit its amount; for whereas it used to be 1,200 solidi
[L720] annually, it is henceforward to be 1,000 [L600][795].'
[Footnote 794: 'Ambos titulos.']
[Footnote 795: This sum seems ridiculously small for the Province of
Bruttii. Can it be the sum assessed on each district?]
40. AN INDULGENCE [OR AMNESTY TO PRISONERS ON SOME GREAT FESTIVAL OF
THE CHURCH, PROBABLY EASTER].
[Sidenote: General Amnesty.]
'All the year we are bound to tread in the path of Justice, but on
this day we secure our approach to the Redeemer by the path of
Forgiveness. Therefore we forswear punishments of all kinds, we
condemn the torture, and thus feel ourselves, in forgiving, to be more
truly than ever a Judge.
'Hail to thee, O Clemency[796], patroness of the human race! thou
reignest in the heavens and on the earth: and most fitting is it that,
at sacred seasons like this, thou shouldest be supreme.
[Footnote 796: 'Indulgentia.']
'Therefore, O Lictor, thou who art allowed to do with impunity the
very thing for which other men are punished, put up thy axe; let it be
henceforth bright, not bloody. Let the chains which have been so often
wet with tears now grow rusty. The prison--that house of Pluto, in
which men suffer a living death, from its foul odours, from the sound
of groaning which assails their ears, from the long fastings which
destroy their taste, from the heavy weights which weary their hands,
from the endless darkness which makes their eyes grow dim--let the
prison now be filled with emptiness. Never is it so popular as when it
is seen to be deserted.
'And you, its denizens, who are thus in a manner transplanted to
Heaven from Hell, avoid the evil courses which made you acquainted
with its horrors. Even animals shun the things which they have once
found harmful. Cattle which have once fallen into a pit seek not again
the same road. The bird once snared shuns bird-lime. The pike buries
himself in deep sand, that he may escape the drag-net, and when it has
scraped his back leaps nimbly into the waves and expresses by his
gambols his joy for his deliverance. When the wrasse[797] finds that
he is caught in an osier trap, he moves himself slowly backwards till
he can leave his tail protruding, that one of his fellows, perceiving
his capture, may pull him out from his prison.
[Footnote 797: 'Scarus.']
'So too the Sauri (?), a clever race of fish, named from their speed,
when they have swum into a net, tie themselves together into a sort of
rope; and then, tugging backwards with all their might, seek to
liberate their fellow-prisoners.
'Many facts of the same kind would be discovered on enquiry. But my
discourse must return to thee, O Gaoler. Thou wilt be miserable in the
general joy, because thou art wont to derive thy gladness from the
affliction of many. But as some consolation for thy groans, we leave
to thee those prisoners whom the Law, for very pity's sake, cannot set
free--the men found guilty of outrageous crimes, whose liberation
would make barbarous deeds frequent. Over these thou mayest still
exert thy power.'
BOOK XII.
CONTAINING TWENTY-EIGHT LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN HIS OWN NAME
AS PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
1. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE VARIOUS CANCELLARII OF THE
SEVERAL PROVINCES.
[Sidenote: General instructions to the Cancellarii.]
'It is generally supposed that long attendance at the Courts of Law
increases the love of justice. The character of the Judge also is in
some degree estimated by that of his officers[798], as that of a
philosophical teacher by his disciples. Thus your bad actions might
endanger our reputation, while, on the other hand, with no effort on
our part, we earn glory from all that you do well. Beware, therefore,
lest by any misconduct of yours, which is sure to be exaggerated by
popular rumour, you rouse anger in us, who as your Judge will be sure
to exact stern recompence for all the wrong you have done to our
reputation. Study this rather, that you may receive praise and
promotion at our hands, and go forth, with Divine help, on this
Indiction, to such and such a Province, adorned with the pomp of the
Cancelli, and girt about with a certain proud gravity. Remember the
honour of the _fasces_ which are borne before you, of the Praetorian
seat whose commands you execute.
[Footnote 798: 'Per milites suos judex intelligitur.']
'Fly Avarice, the Queen of all the vices, who never enters the human
heart alone, but always brings a flattering and deceiving train along
with her. Show yourself zealous for the public good; do more by reason
than by terror. Let your person be a refuge for the oppressed, a
defence of the weak, a stronghold for him who is stricken down by any
calamity. Never do you more truly discharge the functions of the
Cancelli than when you open the prison doors to those who have been
unjustly confined.'
2. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ALL THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES
(A.D. 534-535).
[Sidenote: General instructions to the Provincial Governors.]
'God be thanked, the Provincials have attended to all my admonitions,
and I have kept all my promises to them. You, as Judges, have
admirably copied my own freedom from corruption, and I can only desire
that you will go on as you have begun.
'Let the peasant pay cheerfully his share of the public taxes, and I
on my part will guarantee him the administration of justice in the
courts[799].
[Footnote 799: 'Possessor mihi publicas pecunias libens inferat: ego
illi in conventus justitiae tributa persolvam.']
'It was evidently the intention of the legislators that you should be
imitators of our dignity, since they have given you almost the same
jurisdiction in the Provinces as ourselves.
'What avails the reputation of being a rich man? It confers no glory.
But to be known as a just man wins the praise of all. Nothing mean or
avaricious is becoming in a Judge. All his faults are made more
conspicuous by his elevation. Better were it to be absolutely unknown,
than to be marked out for the scorn of all men. Let us keep our own
brews clear from shame; then can we rebuke the sins of others. A
terrible leveller is iniquity: it makes the Judge himself feel like
the culprit who is tried before him. All these considerations,
according to my custom, I bring before you in this my yearly address,
since it is impossible ever to have too much of a good thing[800].
[Footnote 800:'Haec nos annuo sermone convenit loqui: quia bonarum
rerum nulla satietas est.']
'Now, to proceed to business. Do you and your official staff impress