The Letters of Cassiodorus
instructions, I have ordered A and B, servants of our tribunal, who
are mindful of their own past responsibilities, to assist you and your
staff[855]. Beware therefore, lest you incur the blame of corruptly
discharging the taxpayer, or of sluggish idleness in the discharge of
your duties, in which case your own fortunes will suffer from your
neglect.'
[Footnote 855: 'Illum atque illum sedis nostrae milites, tibi
officioque tuo periculorum suorum memores praecipimus imminere.']
17. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO JOHN, SILIQUATARIUS[856] OF
RAVENNA.
[Footnote 856: Collector of the Siliquaticum, or tax of one
twenty-fourth on sales. See ii. 30, iii. 35, iv. 19.]
[Sidenote: Defence of Ravenna.]
'In times of peace, by contact with foreigners who swarm in our
cities, we learn what will be our best defence in war. Who can tell
with what nation we may be next at war? Therefore, to be on the safe
side, make such preparations as our future enemies, whosoever they may
be, will dislike to hear of. Accordingly you are to order the peasants
to dig a series of pits with wide mouths near the mountains of
Caprarius and the parts round about the walls[857]; and let such a
chasm yawn there that there shall be no possibility of entrance that
way.
[Footnote 857: No doubt the walls of Ravenna. I cannot identify the
Mons Caprarius. The name Caprera is a common one in Italy.]
'If strangers want to enter the city, why do they not enter it in the
right way--by the gates--instead of going skulking about these
bye-paths? Henceforth, anyone trying to take any such short cut to our
city will probably find that he loses his life in consequence[858].'
[Footnote 858: One may conjecture that this letter was written in 535,
when war with the Empire was imminent, but before it was actually
declared.]
18. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO CONSTANTIAN, VIR
EXPERIENTISSIMUS.
[Sidenote: Repair of Flaminian Way.]
'Great is the reward of those who serve Kings efficiently; as severe
is the punishment of those who neglect their duties towards them.
'How delightful is it to journey without obstacles over a well-made
road[859], to pass doubtful places without fear, to ascend mountainous
steeps by a gentle incline, to have no fear of the planking of a
bridge when one crosses it[860], and in short to accomplish one's
journey so that everything happens to one's liking!
[Footnote 859: 'Videre judicia diligentia.' I leave this clause
untranslated, as I cannot understand it.]
[Footnote 860: 'In pontibus contrabium non tremere.']
'This is the pleasure which you can now prepare for your Sovereign.
Therefore, as the Flaminian Way is furrowed by the action of torrents,
join the yawning chasms by the broadest of bridges; clear away the
rough woods which choke the sides of the highway; procure the
stipulated number of post-horses, and see that they have all the
points which are required in a good steed; collect the designated
quantities of provisions without plundering the peasants. A failure in
any one of these particulars will ruin your whole service.
[Sidenote: Supply of delicacies for the King's table.]
'Collect, too, with the utmost diligence the spices which are needed
for the King's table. What avails it to have satisfied the army, if
the King's own board lack proper care. Let all the Provincials attend
to your admonitions: let the cities furnish the stores set forth in
the accompanying letters. Then, when they have put the Sovereign in a
good humour, they may ask him for benefits to some purpose.
'Think of me as present and as judging of all your deeds. I shall have
to bear the blame of your failures at Court; so act rather as to set
my mind at rest, to cover me and yourselves with glory, and to entitle
me to receive on your behalf the thanks of the whole army.'
[This letter was probably written in the autumn of 535, when Theodahad
was preparing to march to Rome. The mention of the delicacies for the
royal table suggests that that King, in addition to the other
excellencies of his character, was probably an epicure.]
19. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO MAXIMUS, VICARIUS OF THE CITY OF
ROME.
[Sidenote: Bridge of boats across the Tiber.]
'As all great events in Nature have their heralding signs, so is the
approaching visit of the King announced to you even by the concourse
of wayfarers to your City. We, however, have to order you to clothe
the waves of Tiber with a bridge [of boats]. The boat, thus used, is
no longer moved by slowly hauled ropes, as it is wont to be. Fixed
itself, it affords a means of transit to others. The joining of its
planks gives the desired appearance of solidity; all the terror of the
waves is removed by its likeness to the land, and the traveller
passing over it unharmed only wishes that the bridge were longer.
'Let a safe bulwark of lattice-work shield the bridge on the right
side and on the left. See that you give no cause for misadventure of
any kind. You have a noble opportunity of distinguishing yourself in
the presence of so many Senators and of the King himself, the rewarder
of every well-done work. On the other hand, if you do it badly and put
him out of humour, woe be unto you!
'We send A B, a servant of our Praefecture[861], to assist you and
your staff and bring us report of the accomplishment of the work; for
so heavy is our responsibility in this matter that we dare not leave
anything to chance.'
[Footnote 861: 'Illum sedis nostrae militem.']
[The King whose advent to Rome is here announced may be Witigis, after
his election in the plains of Regeta (August, 536). But the fact that
he is apparently approaching Rome by the northern bank of the Tiber,
coupled with the directions in the preceding letter for the repair of
the Flaminian Way, makes it more probable that some visit of Theodahad
(probably in the year 535), when he would come from Ravenna to Rome,
is here in prospect.]
20. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THOMAS AND PETER, VIRI CLARISSIMI
AND ARCARII.
[Sidenote: Sacred vessels mortgaged by Pope Agapetus to be restored to
the stewards of the Papal See.]
'You will remember, most faithful Sirs, that when the holy Agapetus,
Pope of the City of Rome, was sent as ambassador to the Sovereign of
the East[862], he received so many pounds of gold from you for the
expenses of the journey, for which he gave his bond[863] and deposited
some of the Church plate as security[864]. The provident ruler thus
lent him money in his necessity, and now, far more gloriously, returns
as a free gift those pledges which the Pope might well have thanked
him for taking.
[Footnote 862: He was sent by Theodahad; entered Constantinople
February 20, 536, and died there 21st April of the same year.]
[Footnote 863: 'Facto pictacio.']
[Footnote 864: 'Vasa sanctorum.' One would think this must refer to
the vessels used in celebrating mass; but I do not quite see how the
meaning is to be got out of the words.]
'Therefore, in obedience to these instructions of ours, and fortified
by the Royal order, do you return without any delay to the
stewards[865] of the holy Apostle Peter the vessels of the saints
together with the written obligation, that these things may be felt to
be profitably restored and speedily granted, that the longed-for means
of performing their world-famous ministrations may be replaced in the
hands of the Levites. Let that be given back which was their own,
since that is justly received back by way of largesse which the Priest
had legally mortgaged.
[Footnote 865: 'Actoribus.']
'Herein is the great example of King Alaric surpassed. He, when
glutted with the spoil of Rome, having received the vessels of the
Apostle Peter from his men, when he heard the story of their seizure,
ordered them to be carried back across the sacred threshold, that so
the remembrance of the cupidity of their capture might be effaced by
the generosity of their restoration.
'But our King, with religious purpose, has restored the vessels which
had become his own by the law of mortgage. In recompense for such
deeds frequent prayer ought to ascend, and Heaven will surely gladly
grant the required return for such good actions[866].'
[Footnote 866: Baronius not unfairly argues that if the Roman See was
so poor that the Church plate had to be pawned to provide for the
Pope's journey to Constantinople, the _wealth_ of the Pope cannot have
largely contributed to that great increase of his influence which
marked the early years of the Sixth Century.]
[There are in this letter several extremely obscure sentences as to
the generosity of Theodahad. As the Papal journey was undertaken by
Theodahad's orders, it was a piece of meanness, quite in keeping with
that King's character, to treat the advance of money for the journey
as a loan, and to insist on a bond and the deposit of the Church plate
as a security for repayment. Cassiodorus evidently feels this; and
very probably the restoration of the vessels and the quittance of the
debt had been insisted on by him. But the more he despises his
master's shabbiness, the more he struggles through a maze of almost
nonsensical sentences, to prove that he has committed some very
glorious action in lending the money and then forgiving the debt.]
21. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO DEUSDEDIT, A SCRIBE OF RAVENNA.
[Sidenote: Duties of a Scribe.]
'The Scribe's office is the great safeguard of the rights of all men.
The evidence of ownership may be destroyed by fire or purloined by
dishonest men, but the State by making use of the Scribe's labours is
able to make good the loss so sustained. The Scribe is more diligent
in other men's business than they are in their own. His
muniment-chest is the refuge of all the oppressed, and the repository
of the fortunes of all men[867].
[Footnote 867: 'Armarium ipsius fortuna cunctorum est.']
'In testimony of your past integrity, and in the hope that no change
will mar this fair picture, we appoint you to this honourable office.
Remember that ancient Truth is committed to your keeping, and that it
often really rests with you, rather than with the Judge, to decide the
disputes of litigants. When your indisputable testimony is given, and
when the ancient voice of charters proceeds from your _sanctum_,
Advocates receive it with reverence, and suitors, even
evil-intentioned men, are constrained into obedience.
'Banish, therefore, all thoughts of venality from your mind. The worst
moth that gets into papers and destroys them is the gold of the
dishonest litigant, who bribes the Scribes to make away with evidence
which he knows to be hostile. Thus, then, be ready always to produce
to suitors genuine old documents; and, on the other hand, transcribe
only, do not compose ancient proceedings[868]. Let the copy correspond
to the original as the wax to the signet-ring, that as the face is the
index of the emotions[869] so your handwriting may not err from the
authentic original in anything.
[Footnote 868: 'Translator esto, non conditor antiquorum gestorum.']
[Footnote 869: Compare Cassiodorus' treatise De Anima, chapters x. and
xi., in which he enumerates the various points in which the faces of
good men and bad men differ from one another.]
'If a claimant succeed in enticing you even once from the paths of
honesty, vainly will you in any subsequent case seek to obtain his
credence for any document that you may produce; for he will always
believe that the trick which has been played once may be played again.
Keep to the line of justice, and even his angry exclamations at the
impossibility of inducing you to deviate therefrom, will be your
highest testimonial. Your whole career is public, and the favour or
disgrace which awaits you must be public also.'