BOOK V.

CONTAINING FORTY-FOUR LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN THE NAME OF THEODORIC.

1. KING THEODORIC TO THE KING OF THE VANDALS[370].

[Footnote 370: No doubt Thrasamund, who married Theodoric's sister. He reigned from 496 to 523.]

[Sidenote: The King of the Vandals is thanked for his presents.]

'The swords which you have sent us are most beautiful: so sharp that they will cut other weapons; so bright that they reflect with a sort of iron light[371] the face of the beholder; with the two blades descending to their edges with such absolute equality of slope, that you would fancy them the result of the furnace rather than of the whetstone[372]; in the middle, between the blades, channels carved which are filled in with beautiful enamel of various colours[373].

[Footnote 371: 'Ut speculum quoddam virorum faciat ferream lucem.']

[Footnote 372: 'Quarum margines in acutum tali aequalitate descendunt, ut non limis compositae, sed igneis fornacibus credantur effusae.']

[Footnote 373: 'Harum media pulchris alveis excavata, quibusdam videntur crispari posse vermiculis, ubi tanta varietatis umbra concludit, ut intextum magis credas variis coloribus lucidum metallum.']

'Along with these arms you have also sent us musical instruments of ebony, and slave boys of beautiful whiteness.

'We thank you heartily, send by A and B, our ambassadors, presents of equal value; and hope that mutual concord will always unite our States.'

2. KING THEODORIC TO THE HAESTI.

[Sidenote: The Haesti, dwellers by the Baltic. Their present of amber.]

[These are the Aestii of Tacitus, dwelling in or on the south border of the country which is still called Esthonia. Tacitus also mentions their quest of amber[374].]

[Footnote 374: Germ. 45: 'Ergo jam dextro Suevici maris litore Aestiorum gentes alluuntur, quibus ritus habitusque Suevorum, lingua Britannicae propior.... Sed et mare scrutantur ac soli omnium sucinum quod ipsi glesum vocant, inter vada atque in ipso littore legunt.' Then follows an account of the nature of amber, and a history of its supposed origin, from which Cassiodorus has borrowed in this letter.]

'It is gratifying to us to know that you have heard of our fame, and have sent ambassadors who have pressed through so many strange nations to seek our friendship.

'We have received the amber which you have sent us. You say that you gather this lightest of all substances from the shores of the ocean, but how it comes thither you know not. But, as an author named Cornelius [Tacitus] informs us, it is gathered in the innermost islands of the ocean, being formed originally of the juice of a tree (whence its name _succinum_[375]), and gradually hardened by the heat of the sun.

[Footnote 375: Cassiodorus apparently spells this word with two c's. The more usual spelling is with one.]

'Thus it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, sometimes blushing with the colour of saffron, sometimes glowing with flame-like clearness[376]. Then, gliding down to the margin of the sea, and further purified by the rolling of the tides, it is at length transported to your shores to be cast up upon them. We have thought it better to point this out to you, lest you should imagine that your supposed secrets have escaped our knowledge.

[Footnote 376: 'Modo croceo colore rubens, modo flammea claritate pinguescens.']

'We send you some presents by our ambassadors, and shall be glad to receive further visits from you by the road which you have thus opened up, and to show you future favours.'

[The collection of amber is also noticed by Pliny ('Nat. Hist.' 37. 2). It is interesting to observe that he there, on the authority of Pytheas, attributes to the Guttones dwelling on the Baltic shore the collection of amber, and its sale to the Teutones. These Guttones were, if we are right in accepting Jordanes' account of the Gothic migrations, themselves ancestors of the Ostrogoths.]

3. KING THEODORIC TO HONORATUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, QUAESTOR.

4. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: Honoratus, brother of Decoratus, is made Quaestor.]

The usual pair of letters on the promotion of Honoratus to the Quaestorship. He succeeds his brother Decoratus, whose early death Theodoric regrets. The date of the letters is the Third Indiction, September 1, 509.

The writer remarks on the prophetic instinct[377] of the parents, who named these two sons, destined to future eminence, Decoratus and Honoratus. Decoratus was originally an advocate at Rome. His services were often sought by men of Consular rank, and before his admission to the Senate he had had a Patrician for his client in a very celebrated case[378].

[Footnote 377: We have here a remark on unconscious prophecies: 'Loqui datur quod nos sensisse nescimus: sed post casum reminiscimur, quod ignorantes veraciter dixeramus.']

[Footnote 378: 'Inferior gradu praestabat viris consularibus se patronum et cum honoribus vestris impar haberetur, Patricius ei dictus est in celeberrima cognitione susceptus.' The last part of this sentence is very obscure.]

When he became Quaestor he distinguished himself by his excellent qualities. 'He stood beside us, under the light of our Genius, bold but reverent; silent at the right time, fluent when there was need of fluency. He kept our secrets as if he had forgotten them; he remembered every detail of our orders as if he had written them down. Thus was he ever an eminent lightener of our labours[379].'

[Footnote 379: Decoratus is called by Boethius, who was his colleague in some office, 'a wretched buffoon and informer' (nequissimus scurra et delator. Cons. Phil. iii. 4). But Ennodius addresses him in friendly and cordial language (Epist. iv. 17). His epitaph, which mentions his Spoletan origin, is of course laudatory:

'Nam fessis tribuit requiem, miseros que levavit, Justitiae cultor, largus et hospes erat.'

(Quoted in the notes to Ennodius in Migne's Patrologia.)]

The past career of the younger brother, Honoratus, who has been advocate at Spoleto, and has had to contend with the corrupt tendencies of Provincial judges, full of their little importance, and removed from the wholesome control which the opinion of the Senate exercised upon them at Rome, is then sketched; and the hope is expressed that, in the words of the Virgilian quotation[380], this bough upon the family tree will be found as goodly as that which it has untimely lost.

[Footnote 380: 'Primo avulso non deficit alter' (Aen. vi. 143).]

[Sidenote: Duties of the Quaestorship.]

The letter to the Senate has an interesting passage on the duties and responsibilities of the Quaestor.

'It is only men whom we consider to be of the highest learning that we raise to the dignity of the Quaestorship, such men as are fitted to be interpreters of the laws and sharers of our counsels. This is an honour which neither riches nor high birth by itself can procure, only learning joined with prudence. In granting all other dignities we confer favours, but from the holder of this we ever receive them. He is favoured to have a share in our anxieties; he enters in by the door of our thoughts; he is intimately acquainted with the breast in which the cares of the whole State are weighed. Think what judgment you ought to form of a man who is partaker of such a confidence. From him we require skill in the laws; to him flow together all the prayers of all suitors, and (a thing more precious than any treasure) to him is committed our own reputation for _civilitas_. Under a just Quaestor the mind of an innocent man is at rest: only the wicked become anxious as to the success of their evil designs; and thus the bad lose their hope of plunder, while more earnestness is shown in the practice of virtue. It is his to safeguard the just rights of all men: temperate in expenditure, lavish in his zeal for justice, incapable of deception, prompt in succour. He serves that Sovereign mind before which all bow: through his lips must he speak who has not an equal in the land.'

5. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO MANNILA.

[Sidenote: Abuses of the Cursus Publicus.]

Repeats the injunctions given in Letter iv. 47 against improper use of the public post-horses, and overloading of the extra horses. The fines imposed are the same as in that letter [with the addition of a fine of two ounces of gold (about £6 10s.) for overloading]; the examples from Natural History are similar. 'The very bird when weighted with a load flies slowly. Ships though they cannot feel their toils, yet move tardily when they are filled with cargo. What can the poor quadruped do when pressed by too great burden? It succumbs.'

But apparently this rule against overloading is not to apply to Praepositi (Provincial Governors?), since 'reverenda antiquitas' has given them special rights over the _Cursus Publicus_.

6. KING THEODORIC TO STABULARIUS, COMITIACUS[381].

[Footnote 381: Officer of the Court. See vi. 13.]

7. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES, VIR CLARISSIMUS, ARCARIUS [TREASURER].

[Sidenote: Default in payments to Treasury made by Thomas. His property assigned to his son-in-law Joannes.]

'The _Vir Honestus_, Thomas, has long been a defaulter (reliquator) in respect of the Indictions payable for certain farms which he has held under the King's house in Apulia[382], and this default has now reached the sum of 10,000 solidi (£6,000). Repeatedly summoned to pay, he always procrastinates, and we can get no satisfaction out of him. The petition of Joannes, who is son-in-law to Thomas, informs us that he is willing to pay the 10,000 solidi due, if we will make over to him the said farms, and all the property of his father-in-law. This we therefore now do, reserving to Thomas the right to pay the debt at any time before the next Kalends of September, and thus to redeem his property. Failing such payment, the property is to pass finally into the hands of Joannes, on his paying the 10,000 solidi to the Illustrious Count of the Patrimony [possibly Stabularius].

[Footnote 382: 'Thomatem domus nostrae certa praedia suscepisse sed eum male administrando suscepta usque ad decem millia solidorum de Indictionibus illa atque illa reliquatorem publicis rationibus extitisse.' It is not quite clear whether the debt is due as what we should call rent or as land-tax. Perhaps the debt had accumulated under both heads.]

'It may be some little consolation to Thomas to reflect that after all it is his son-in-law who enters into possession of his goods.'

[Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iii. 277) remarks on this letter: 'But even the well-meaning Theodoric takes steps in the interests of substantial justice which from a juristic point of view it would be hard to justify.... Evidently here the King, in his consideration of what was practically just, has decided according to caprice, not according to right; for the Fiscus could strictly only be repaid its debt out of the property of the defaulter, and hold the Arcarius (Joannes) responsible for the balance' (for which Dahn thinks he had already made himself liable). I do not quite agree with this view. It seems to me that Thomas was hopelessly bankrupt (the debt was 10,000 solidi, not 1,000, as stated by Dahn), and the Fiscus virtually sells the bankrupt's estate to his son-in-law, for him to make of it what he can.]

8. KING THEODORIC TO ANASTASIUS THE CONSULAR.

[Sidenote: Transport of marble from Faenza to Ravenna.]

'We rely upon your Sublimity's zeal and prudence to see that the required blocks of marble are forwarded from Faventia (Faenza) to Ravenna, without any extortion from private individuals; so that, on the one hand, our desire for the adornment of that city may be gratified, and on the other, there may be no cause for complaint on the part of our subjects.'

9. KING THEODORIC TO THE POSSESSORES OF FELTRIA.

[Sidenote: New city to be built in district of Trient.]

'We have ordered the erection of a new city in the territory of Tridentum (Trient). As the work is great and the inhabitants few, we order you all to assist and build each your appointed length (pedatura) of wall, for which you will receive suitable pay.'

[This use of the word _pedatura_ is found in Vegetius, 'Epitoma Rei Militaris' iii. 8, and is illustrated by the centurial stones on the two great Roman walls in Britain, recording the number of feet accomplished by each century of soldiers (See 'Archaeologia Aeliana,' vol. ix. p. 28; paper by Mr. Clayton).]

'None, not even the servants of the royal house (divina domus), are excepted from this order.'

10. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO VERANUS.

11. KING THEODORIC TO THE GEPIDAE, ON THEIR MARCH TO GAUL.

[Sidenote: Payment to Gepidae on their march to Gaul.]

'We desire that our soldiers should always be well paid, and that they should never become the terror of the country which they are ordered to defend. Do you therefore, Sajo Veranus, cause the Gepid troops whom we have ordered to come to the defence of Gaul, to march in all peace and quietness through Venetia and Liguria.

'You Gepidae shall receive three solidi (£1 16s.) per week; and we trust that thus supplied you will everywhere buy your provisions, and not take them by force.

'We generally give the soldiers their pay in kind, but in this case, for obvious reasons, we think it better to pay them in money, and let them buy for themselves.

'If their waggons are becoming shaky with the long journey, or their beasts of burden weary, let them exchange for sound waggons and fresh beasts with the inhabitants of the country, but on such terms that the latter shall not regret the transaction.'

[Does this payment of three solidi mean per head? That would be an enormously high rate of pay. Sartorius (p. 289) feels the difficulty so strongly that he suggests that this was the pay given to the whole troop, whose number was not large; but 'multitudo' seems hostile to this hypothesis[383]. Possibly the high cost of provisions in the Alpine mountain-country may help to explain this unheard-of rate of pay to common soldiers.]

[Footnote 383: 'Ut multitudinem Gepidarum quam fecimus ad Gallias custodiae causâ properare, per Venetiam atque Liguriam sub omni facias moderatione transire.']

12. KING THEODORIC TO THEODAHAD, VIR ILLUSTRIS [NEPHEW OF THE KING].

[Sidenote: Avarice and injustice of Theodahad.]

'If all are bound to seek justice and to avoid ignoble gains, most especially are they thus bound who pride themselves on their close relationship to us.

'The heirs of the Illustrious Argolicus [probably the Praefect of Rome] and the Clarissimus Amandianus complain that the estate[384] of Palentia, which we generously gave them to console them for the loss of the Casa Arbitana, has been by your servants, for no cause, unbecomingly invaded; and thus you, who should have shown an example of glorious moderation, have caused the scandal of high-handed spoliation. Wherefore, if this be true, let your Greatness at once restore what has been taken away; and if you consider that you have any claims on the land, come and assert them in our Comitatus. Even success yonder is injurious to your fame; but here, after full trial of the case and hearing of witnesses, no one will believe that any injustice has been done if your cause should triumph.'

[Footnote 384: 'Massa;' cf. the American 'block.']

[The republication of this letter at the close of his official life shows what was Cassiodorus' opinion of Theodahad, though he had served under him.]

13. KING THEODORIC TO EUTROPIUS AND ACRETIUS.

[Sidenote: Commissariat.]

'We rely upon you to collect the prescribed rations and deliver them to the soldiers. It is most important that they should be regularly supplied, and that there should be no excuse for pillage, so hard to check when once an army has begun to practise it.'

14. KING THEODORIC TO SEVERI(A)NUS[385], VIR ILLUSTRIS (514-515).

[Footnote 385: In the next letter the same official is called Severinus.]

[Sidenote: Financial abuses in Suavia.]

'We send you to redress the long-standing grievances of the Possessores of the Province of Suavia, to which we have not yet been able to apply a remedy.

'(1) It appears that some of the chief Possessores are actually making a profit out of the taxes, imposing heavy burdens on their poorer neighbours and not honestly accounting for the receipts to us. See that this is put right, that the land-tax (assis[386] publicus) is fairly and equitably reimposed according to the ability of each Possessor, and that those who have been oppressing their neighbours heal the wounds which they have made.

[Footnote 386: Cassiodorus uses the rare nominative form 'assis.']

'(2) See also that a strict account is rendered by all Defensores, Curiales, and Possessores of any receipts on behalf of the public Treasury. If a Possessor can show that he paid his tax (tributarius solidus) for the now expired eighth Indiction (A.D. 514-515), and the money has not reached our Treasury, find out the defaulter and punish his crime.

'(3) Similarly with sums disbursed by one of the clerks of our Treasury[387], for the relief of the Province, which have not reached their destination.

[Footnote 387: 'Tabularius a cubiculo nostro.']

'(4) Men who were formerly Barbarians[388], who have married Roman wives and acquired property in land, are to be compelled to pay their Indictions and other taxes to the public Treasury just like any other Provincials.

[Footnote 388: 'Antiqui Barbari qui Romanis mulieribus elegerint nuptiali foedere sociari, quolibet titulo praedia quaesiverint, fiscum possessi cespitis persolvere, ac super indictitiis oneribus parere cogantur.']

'(5) Judges are to visit each town (municipium) once in the year, and are not entitled to claim from such towns more than three days' maintenance. Our ancestors wished that the circuits of the Judges should be a benefit, not a burden, to the Provincials.

'(6) It is alleged that some of the servants of the Count of the Goths and of the Vice-dominus (?) have levied black-mail on some of the Provincials. Property so taken must be at once restored and the offenders punished.

'(7) Enter all your proceedings under this commission in official registers (polyptycha), both for your own protection and for the sake of future reference, to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses.'

[A long and interesting letter, but with some obscure passages.]

15. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE POSSESSORES IN SUAVIA.

[Sidenote: On the same subject.]

'Although our Comitatus is always ready to redress the grievances of our subjects, yet, on account of the length of the journey from your Province hither, we have thought good to send the Illustrious and Magnificent Severinus to you to enquire into your complaints on the spot. He is a man fully imbued with our own principles of government, and he has seen how greatly we have at heart the administration of justice. We therefore doubt not that he will soon put right whatever has been done wrong in your Province; and we have published our "oracles" [the previous letter, containing Severinus' patent of appointment], that all may know upon what principles he is to act, and that those who have grievances against the present functionaries may learn their rights.'

16. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Formation of a navy.]

'By Divine inspiration we have determined to raise a navy which may both ensure the arrival of the cargoes of public corn and may, if need be, combat the ships of an enemy. For, that Italy, a country abounding in timber, should not have a navy of her own hath often stricken us with regret.

'Let your Greatness therefore give directions for the construction of 1,000 _dromones_ (swift cutters). Wherever cypresses and pines are found near to the sea-shore, let them be bought at a suitable price.

'Then as to the levy of sailors: any fitting man, if a slave, must be hired of his master, or bought at a reasonable price. If free, he is to receive 5 solidi (£3) as donative, and will have his rations during the term of service.

'Even those who were slaves are to be treated in the same way, "since it is a kind of freedom to serve the Ruler of the State[389];" and are to receive, according to their condition, two or three solidi (£1 4s. or £1 16s.) of bounty money[390].

[Footnote 389: 'Quando libertatis genus est servire Rectori.']

[Footnote 390: 'Arrharum nomine.']

'Fishermen, however, are not to be enlisted in this force, since we lose with regret one whose vocation it is to provide us with luxuries; and moreover one kind of training is required for him who has to face the stormy wind, and another for him who need only fish close to shore.'

17. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: On the same subject.]

'We praise you for your prompt fulfilment of the orders contained in the previous letter. You have built a fleet almost as quickly as ordinary men would sail one. The model of the triremes, revealing the number of the rowers but concealing their faces, was first furnished by the Argonauts. So too the sail, that flying sheet[391] which wafts idle men to their destination quicker than swiftest birds can fly, was first invented by the lorn Isis, when she set off on her wanderings through the world to find her lost son Apochran.

[Footnote 391: 'Linum volatile.']

'Now that we have our fleet, there is no need for the Greek to fasten a quarrel upon us, or for the African [the Vandal] to insult us[392]. With envy they see that we have now stolen from them the secret of their strength.

[Footnote 392: 'Non habet quod nobis Graecus imputet aut Afer insultet.']

'Let all the fleet be assembled at Ravenna on the next Ides of June. Let our own Padus send his home-born navy to the sea, his river-nurtured firs to battle with the winds of Ocean.

'But there is one suggestion of yours of great importance, and which must be diligently acted upon, namely the removal of the nets whereby the fishermen at present impede the channels of the following rivers: Mincius, Ollius (Oglio), Anser (Serchio), Arno, Tiber. Let the river lie open for the transit of ships; let it suffice for the appetite of man to seek for delicacies in the ordinary way, not by rustic artifice to hinder the freedom of the stream.'

18. KING THEODORIC TO UVILIAS [WILLIAS?], VIR ILLUSTRIS AND COUNT OF THE PATRIMONY.

19. KING THEODORIC TO GUDINAND, A SAJO.

20. KING THEODORIC TO AVILF, A SAJO.

[Sidenote: On the same subject.]

These three letters all relate to the same subject as the two preceding ones--the formation of a navy, and the _rendezvous_ of ships and sailors at Ravenna on the Ides of June.

The Count of the Patrimony is courteously requested to see if there is any timber suitable for the purposes of the navy, growing in the royal estates along the banks of the Po.

The Sajones are ordered in more brusque and peremptory fashion: Gudinand to collect the sailors at Ravenna on the appointed day; and Avilf to collect timber along the banks of the Po, with as little injury to the Possessors as possible (not, however, apparently paying them anything for it), to keep his hands clean from extortion and fraud, and to pull up the stake-nets in the channels of the five rivers mentioned in Letter 17; 'for we all know that men ought to fish with nets, not with hedges, and the opposite practice shows detestable greediness.'

21. KING THEODORIC TO CAPUANUS, SENATOR.

22. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: Capuanus appointed Rector Decuriarum.]

[On the appointment of Capuanus to the office of Rector of the Guilds (Rector Decuriarum). The Guilds (Decuriae) of the City of Rome--not to be confounded with the Provincial _Curiae_, membership in which was at this time a burden rather than an advantage--enjoyed several special privileges. We find from the Theodosian Code, Lib. xiv. Tit. 1, that there were Decuriae of the _Librarii_, _Fiscales_, _Censuales_. The _Decuria Scribarum_ is perhaps the same as the _Decuria Librariorum_. I use the word Guilds, which seems best to describe a body of this kind; but it will be seen from their names that these Guilds are not of a commercial character, but are rather concerned with the administration of justice. Some of them must have discharged the duties of attorneys, others of Inland Revenue officers, others acted as clerks to register the proceedings of the Senate, others performed the mere mechanical work of copying, which is now undertaken by a law stationer.

It was ordained by a law of Constantius and Julian (357) that no one should enter the first class in these Decuriae[393] unless he were a trained and practised literary man.

[Footnote 393: 'Locum primi ordinis.']

The office which in the Theodosian Code is called _Judex Decuriarum_ seems here to be called _Rector_.]

The young Capuanus has distinguished himself as a advocate both before the Senate and other tribunals. There has been a certain diffidence and hesitation in his manner, especially when he was dealing with common subjects; but he always warmed with his peroration, and the same man who even stammered in discussing some trifling detail became fluent, nay eloquent, when the graver interests of his client were at stake. When he saw that the Judge was against him he did not lose heart, but, by praising his justice and impartiality, gradually coaxed him into a more favourable mood. On one memorable occasion, when a certain document was produced which appeared hostile, he boldly challenged the accuracy of the copy [made probably by one of the _Decuria Librariorum_] and insisted on seeing the original. This young advocate is now appointed _Rector Decuriarum_, and thus accorded the privilege of seniority over many men who are much older than himself. He is exhorted to treat them with all courtesy, to remember the importance of accuracy and fidelity in the execution of his duties and those of the _Decuriales_ under him, on whose correct transcription of documents the property, the liberty, nay even the life of their fellow-subjects may depend. Especially he is exhorted to remember his own challenge of the accuracy of a copied document, that he may not ever find that memorable oration of his brought up against himself.

The Senate is exhorted to give the young official a kindly welcome. It will now devolve upon him to report with praiseworthy accuracy the proceedings of that body, the most celebrated in the whole world. He who has often pleaded before them the cause of the humble and weak, will now have to introduce Consulars to their assembly. It is expected that his eloquence will grow and his stammer will disappear, now that he is clothed with a more dignified office. 'Freedom nourishes words, but fear frequently interrupts their plenteous flow.'

23. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Archery drill.]

'Tata the Sajo is ordered to proceed to the Illustrious Count Julian, with the young archers whom he has drilled, that they may practise on the field the lessons which they have learned in the gymnasium. Let your Greatness provide them with rations and ships according to custom.' [The place to which this expedition was directed does not seem to be stated.]

24. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATOR EPIPHANIUS, CONSULARIS OF DALMATIA.

[Sidenote: Property of a widow dying intestate and without heirs to be claimed for the State.]

'We are informed that Joanna, the wife of Andreas, having succeeded to her husband's estate, has died intestate without heirs. Her property ought therefore to lapse to our Treasury[394], but it is being appropriated, so we are informed, by divers persons who have no claim to it.

[Footnote 394: 'Quia caduca bona fisco nostro competere legum cauta decreverunt.']

'Enquire into this matter; and if it be as we are informed, reclaim for our Treasury so legitimate a possession. We should consider ourselves guilty of negligence if we omitted to take possession of that which, without harming anyone, so obviously comes in to lighten the public burdens.

'But if you find the facts different to these, by all means leave the present owners in quiet possession. The secure enjoyment by our subjects of that which is lawfully theirs we hold to be our truest patrimony.'

25. KING THEODORIC TO BACAUDA[395], VIR SUBLIMIS.

[Footnote 395: The name is a peculiar one, reminding us of the Bacaudae, who for more than a century waged a sort of servile war in Gaul against the officers of the Empire. It is not probable, however, that there is any real connection between them and the receiver of this letter.]

[Sidenote: Bacauda receives the office of Tribunus Voluptatum for life.]

'By way of support for your declining years we appoint you, for life, _Tribunus Voluptatum_ [Minister of Public Amusement] at Milan.

'It is a new principle in the public service[396] to give any man a life-tenure of his office; but you will now not have to fear the interference of any successor, and your mind being at ease about your own future, you will be able to minister to the pleasures of the people with a smiling face.'

[Footnote 396: 'Quod est in Reipublicae _militiâ_ novum.' Observe the use of militia for civil service.]

26. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE GOTHS SETTLED IN PICENUM AND SAMNIUM.

[Sidenote: The Goths summoned to the royal presence.]

'The presence of the Sovereign doubles the sweetness of his gifts, and that man is like one dead whose face is not known to his lord[397]. Come therefore by God's assistance, come all into our presence on the eighth day before the Ides of June (June 6th), there solemnly to receive our royal largesse. But let there be no excesses by the way, no plundering the harvest of the cultivators nor trampling down their meadows, since for this cause do we gladly defray the expense of our armies that _civilitas_ may be kept intact by armed men.'

[Footnote 397: 'Nam pene similis est mortuo qui a suo Dominante nescitur.' A motto more suited to the presence-chamber of Byzantium than the camp-fires of a Gothic King.]

27. KING THEODORIC TO GUDUIM, SAJO.

[Sidenote: The same.]

'Order all the captains of thousands[398] of Picenum and Samnium to come to our Court, that we may bestow the wonted largesse on our Goths. We enquire diligently into the deeds of each of our soldiers, that none may lose the credit of any exploit which he has performed in the field. On the other hand, let the coward tremble at the thought of coming into our presence. Even this fear may hereafter make him brave against the enemy.'

[Footnote 398: 'Millenarii.' Cf. the [Greek: chiliarchoi], who, as Procopius tells us, were appointed by Gaiseric over the Vandals; also the _thusundifaths_ of Ulfilas.]

28. KING THEODORIC TO CARINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS.

[Sidenote: Invitation to Court.]

'Granting your request, and also satisfying our own desire for your companionship, we invite you to our Court.'

29. KING THEODORIC TO NEUDES, VIR ILLUSTRIS.

[Sidenote: A blind Gothic warrior enslaved.]

'Our pity is greatly moved by the petition of Ocer, a blind Goth, who has come by the help of borrowed sight to _feel_ the sweetness of our clemency, though he cannot see our presence.

'He asserts that he, a free Goth, who once followed our armies, has, owing to his misfortune, been reduced to slavery by Gudila and Oppas. Strange excess of impudence to make that man their servant, before whose sword they had assuredly trembled had he possessed his eyesight! He pleads that Count Pythias has already pronounced against the claims of his pretended masters. If you find that this is so, restore him at once to freedom, and warn those men not to dare to repeat their oppression of the unfortunate.'

30. KING THEODORIC TO GUDUI[M], VIR SUBLIMIS [AND DUX].

[Sidenote: Servile tasks imposed on free Goths by a Duke.]

'We expect those whom we choose as Dukes to work righteousness. Costula and Daila, men who by the blessing of God rejoice in the freedom of our Goths, complain that servile tasks are imposed upon them by you. We do not do this ourselves, nor will we allow anyone else to do it. If you find that the grievance is correctly stated rectify it at once, or our anger will turn against the Duke who thus abuses his power.'

31. KING THEODORIC TO DECORATUS, VIR DEVOTUS (?).

[For the career of Decoratus see v. 3 and 4.]

[Sidenote: Arrears of Siliquaticum to be enforced.]

'Thomas, Vir Clarissimus, complains that he cannot collect the arrears of Siliquaticum from certain persons in Apulia and Calabria.

'Do you therefore summon Mark the Presbyter, Andreas, Simeonius, and the others whose names are set forth in the accompanying schedule, to come into your presence, using no unnecessary force[399] in your summons. If they cannot clear themselves of this debt to the public Treasury, they must be forced to pay.'

[Footnote 399: 'Servata in omnibus civilitate.']

[The arrears are said to be for the 8th, 9th, 11th, 1st, 2nd, and 15th Indictiones; i.e. probably for the years 500, 501, 503, 508, 509, 507. I cannot account for this curious order in which the years are arranged, which seems to suggest some corruption of the text. Probably this letter was written about 509.]

32. KING THEODORIC TO BRANDILA (CIR. 508-9).

[See remarks on this letter in Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iv. 149-152); he claims it as a proof that Gothic law still existed for the Goths in Italy.]

[Sidenote: Assault of the wife of Brandila on the wife of Patzenes.]

'Times without number has Patzenes laid his complaint upon us, to wit that while he was absent on the recent successful expedition[400] your wife Procula fell upon his wife [Regina], inflicted upon her three murderous blows, and finally left her for dead, the victim having only escaped by the supposed impossibility of her living. Now therefore, if you acknowledge the fact to be so, you are to consult your own honour by inflicting summary punishment as a husband on your wife, that we may not hear of this complaint again[401]. But if you deny the fact, you are to bring your said wife to our Comitatus and there prove her innocence.'

[Footnote 400: Into Gaul; see next letter.]

[Footnote 401: 'Atque ideo decretis te praesentibus admonemus, ut si factum evidenter agnoscis, delatam querimoniam, pudori tuo consulens, _maritali districtione redarguas_; quatenus ex eâdem causâ ad nos querela justa non redeat.']

33. KING THEODORIC TO DUKE WILITANCH.

[Containing the explanation of Procula's violence to Regina].

[Sidenote: Adulterous connection between Brandila and the wife of Patzenes.]

'Patzenes brings before us a most serious complaint: that during his absence in the Gaulish campaign, Brandila dared to form an adulterous connection with his wife Regina, and to go through the form of marriage with her.

'Whose honour will be safe if advantage is thus to be taken with impunity of the absense of a brave defender of his country? Alas for the immodesty of women! They might learn virtue even from the chaste example of the cooing turtle-dove, who when once deprived by misfortune of her mate, never pairs again with another.

'Let your Sublimity compel the parties accused to come before you for examination, and if the charge be true, if these shameless ones were speculating on the soldier of the Republic not returning from the wars, if they were hoping, as they must have hoped, for general collapse and ruin in order to hide their shame, then proceed against them as our laws against adulterers dictate[402], and thus vindicate the rights of all husbands.'

[Footnote 402: 'Et rerum veritate discussâ _sicut jura nostra praecipiunt_, in adulteros maritorum favore resecetur.']

[If these laws were, as is probable, those contained in the _Edictum Theodorici_, the punishment for both the guilty parties was death, § 38, 39.]

34. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Endless evasions of Frontosus. The nature of the chameleon.]

'Frontosus, acting worthily of his name [the shameless-browed one], confessed to having embezzled a large sum of public money, but promised that, if a sufficient interval were allowed him, he would repay it. Times without number has this interval expired and been renewed, and still he does not pay. When he is arrested he trembles with fear, and will promise anything; as soon as he is liberated he seems to forget every promise that he has made. He changes his words, like the chameleon, that little creature which in the shape of a serpent is distinguished by a gold-coloured head, and has all the rest of its body of a pale green. This little beast when it meets the gaze of men, not being gifted with speed of flight, confused with its excess of timidity, changes its colours in marvellous variety, now azure, now purple, now green, now dark blue. The chameleon, again, may be compared to the Pandian gem [sapphire?], which flashes with all sorts of lights and colours while you hold it still in your hand.

'Such then is the mind of Frontosus. He may be rightly compared to Proteus, who when he was laid hold of, appeared in every shape but his own, roared as a lion, hissed as a serpent, or foamed away in watery waves, all in order to conceal his true shape of man.

'Since this is his character, when you arrest him, first stop his mouth from promising, for his facile nature is ready with all sorts of promises which he has no chance of performing. Then ascertain what he can really pay at once, and keep him bound till he does it. He must not be allowed to think that he can get the better of us with his tricks.'

35. KING THEODORIC TO COUNT LUVIRIT, AND AMPELIUS.

[Sidenote: Fraudulent ship-owners to be punished.]

'When we were in doubt about the food supply of Rome, we judged it proper that Spain should send her cargoes of wheat hither, and the Vir Spectabilis Marcian collected supplies there for this purpose. His industry, however, was frustrated by the greed of the shipowners, who, disliking the necessary delay, slipped off and disposed of the grain for their own profit. Little as we like harshness, this offence must be punished. We have therefore directed Catellus and Servandus (Viri Strenui) to collect from these shipmasters the sum of 1,038 solidi (£622 16s.), inasmuch as they appear to have received:

'From the sale of the corn 280 solidi. 'And from the fares of passengers 758 " ------ '1,038 "

'Let your Sublimity assist in the execution of this order.'

36. KING THEODORIC TO STARCEDIUS, VIR SUBLIMIS.

[Sidenote: Honourable discharge.]

'You tell us that your body, wearied out with continual labour, is no longer equal to the fatigues of our glorious campaigns, and you therefore ask to be released from the necessity of further military service. We grant your request, but stop your donative; because it is not right that you should consume the labourer's bread in idleness. We shall extend to you our protection from the snares of your adversaries, and allow no one to call you a deserter, since you are not one[403].'

[Footnote 403: This is perhaps a specimen of the 'honesta missio' of which we read in the Theodosian Code xii. 1. 43, 45.]

37. KING THEODORIC TO THE JEWS OF MILAN.

[Sidenote: Rights of the Jewish Synagogue not to be invaded by Christians.]

'For the preservation of _civilitas_ the benefits of justice are not to be denied even to those who are recognised as wandering from the right way in matters of faith.

'You complain that you are often wantonly attacked, and that the rights pertaining to your synagogue are disregarded[404]. We therefore give you the needed protection of our Mildness, and ordain that no ecclesiastic shall trench on the privileges of your synagogue, nor mix himself up in your affairs. But let the two communities keep apart, as their faiths are different: you on your part not attempting to do anything _incivile_ against the rights of the said Church.

[Footnote 404: 'Nonnullorum vos frequenter causamini praesumptione laceratos et quae ad synagogam vestram pertinent perhibetis jura rescindi.']

'The law of thirty years' prescription, which is a world-wide custom[405], shall enure for your benefit also.

[Footnote 405: 'Tricennalis humano generi patrona praescriptio vobis jure servabitur; nec conventionalia vos irrationabiliter praecipimus sustinere dispendia.' I do not know what is meant by 'conventionalia dispendia.']

'But why, oh Jew, dost thou petition for peace and quietness on earth when thou canst not find that rest which is eternal[406]?'

[Footnote 406: 'Sed quid, Judaeo, supplicans temporalem quietem quaeris si aeternam requiem invenire non possis.']

38. KING THEODORIC TO ALL CULTIVATORS[407].

[Footnote 407: 'Universis Possessoribus.']

[Sidenote: Shrubs obstructing the aqueduct of Ravenna to be rooted up.]

'The aqueducts are an object of our special care. We desire you at once to root up the shrubs growing in the Signine Channel[408], which will before long become big trees scarcely to be hewn down with the axe, and which interfere with the purity of the water in the aqueduct of Ravenna. Vegetation is the peaceable overturner of buildings, the battering-ram which brings them to the ground, though the trumpets never sound for siege.

[Footnote 408: Where was this? Signia in Latium is, of course, not to be thought of.]

'We shall now again have baths that we may look upon with pleasure; water which will cleanse, not stain; water after using which we shall not require to wash ourselves again; drinking-water such that the mere sight of it will not take away all our appetite for food[409].'

[Footnote 409: The scarcity of water at Ravenna was proverbial.]

39. KING THEODORIC TO AMPELIUS AND LIVERIA[410].

[Footnote 410: Cf. the somewhat similar letter to Severinus, Special Commissioner for Suavia (v. 14).]

[Sidenote: Sundry abuses in the administration of the Spanish government to be rectified.]

'That alone is the true life of men which is controlled by the reign of law.

'We regret to hear that through the capricious extortions of our revenue-officers anarchy is practically prevailing in Spain. The public registers (polyptycha), not the whim of the collector, ought to measure the liability of the Provincial.

'We therefore send your Sublimity to Spain in order to remedy these disorders.

'(1) Murder must be put down with a strong hand; but the sharper the punishment is made the more rigid we ought to be in requiring proof of the crime[411].

[Footnote 411: 'Homicidii scelus legum jubemus auctoritate resecari: sed quantum vehementior poena est tanto ejus rei debet inquisitio plus haberi: ne amore vindictae innocentes videantur vitae pericula sustinere.']

'(2) The collectors of the land-tax (assis publicus) are accused of using false weights [in collecting the quotas of produce from the Provincials]. This must cease, and they must use none but the standard weights kept by our Chamberlain[412].

[Footnote 412: 'Libra cubiculi nostri.']

'(3) The farmers[413] of our Royal domain must pay the rent imposed on them, otherwise they will get to look on the farms as their own property; but certain salaries may be paid them for their trouble, as you shall think fit[414]. [Dahn suggests that the salary was to reimburse them for their labours as a kind of local police, but is not himself satisfied with this explanation.]

[Footnote 413: 'Conductores domus Regiae.']

[Footnote 414: 'Et ne cuiquam labor suus videatur ingratus, salaria eis pro qualitate locatae rei, vestrâ volumus aequitate constitui.']

'(4) Import duties[415] are to be regularly collected and honestly paid over.

[Footnote 415: 'Transmarinorum canon.']

'(5) The officers of the mint are not to make their private gains out of the coinage.'

(6) An obscure sentence as to the 'Canon telonei' [from the Greek [Greek: telônês], a tax-gatherer. Garet reads 'Tolonei,' which is probably an error].

(7) The same as to the _Actus Laeti_, whose conscience is assailed by the grossest imputations. [Laetus is perhaps the name of an official.]

'(8) Those concerned in _furtivae actiones_, and their accomplices, are to disgorge the property thus acquired.

'(9) Those who have received _praebendae_ [apparently official allowances charged on the Province] are, with detestable injustice, claiming them _both_ in money and in kind. This must be put a stop to: of course the one mode of payment is meant to be alternative to the other.

'(10) The Exactores (Collectors) are said to be extorting from the Provincials more than they pay into our chamber (_cubiculum_). Let this be carefully examined into, and let the payment exacted be the same that was fixed in the times of Alaric and Euric.

'(11) The abuse of claiming extortions (_paraveredi_) by those who have a right to use the public posts must be repressed.

'(12) The defence of the Provincials by the _Villici_ is so costly, and seems to be so unpopular, that we remove it altogether.' [For this _tuitio villici_, see Dahn iii. 131; but he is not able to throw much light on the nature of the office of the _Villicus_.]

'(13) Degrading services (servitia famulatus) are not to be claimed of our free-born Goths, although they may be residents in cities[416].'

[Footnote 416: Cf. the 30th letter of this book.]

[This very long letter is one of great importance, but also of great difficulty.]

40. KING THEODORIC TO CYPRIAN, COUNT OF THE SACRED LARGESSES.

[This Cyprian is the accuser of Albinus and Boethius.]

41. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[On Cyprian's appointment to the above office, 524.]

[Sidenote: Promotion of Cyprian to the Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum.]

The usual pair of letters setting forth the merits of the new official. The Senate is congratulated on the fact that the King never presents to a place in that body a mere tyro in official life, but always himself first tests the servants of the State, and rewards with a place in the Senate only those who have shown themselves worthy of it.

Cyprian is the son of a man of merit, Opilio, who in the times of the State's ill-fortune was chosen to a place in the royal household[417]. He was not able, owing to the wretchedness of the times, to do much for his son. The difference between the fortunes of father and son is the measure of the happy change introduced by the rule of Theodoric.

[Footnote 417: 'Vir quidem abjectis temporibus ad excubias tamen Palatinas electus.' The time of Odovacar's government is here alluded to (see viii. 17). An Opilio, probably father of the one here mentioned, was Consul under Valentinian III in 453.]

In some subordinate capacity in the King's final Court of Appeal (probably as _Referendarius_[418]) Cyprian has hitherto had the duty of stating the cases of the hostile litigants. He has shown wonderful dexterity in suddenly stating the same case from the two opposite points of view[419], and this so as to satisfy even the requirements of the litigants themselves.

[Footnote 418: Anonymus Valesii says: 'Cyprianus, qui tunc Referendarius erat postea Comes Sacrarum et Magister,' § 85.]

[Footnote 419: 'Nam cum oratoribus sit propositum diu tractata unius partis vota dicere, tibi semper necesse fuit repentinum negotium utroque latere declarare.']

Often the King has transacted business in his rides which used of old to be brought before a formal Consistory. He has mounted his horse, when weary with the cares of the Republic, to renew his vigour by exercise and change of scene. In these rides he has been accompanied by Cyprian, who has in such a lively manner stated the cases which had come up on appeal, that an otherwise tedious business was turned into a pleasure. Even when the King was most moved to wrath by what seemed to him a thoroughly bad cause, he still appreciated the charm of the Advocate's style in setting it before him. Thus has Cyprian had that most useful of all trainings, action, not books.

Thus prepared he was sent on an embassy to the East, a commission which he discharged with conspicuous ability. Versed in three languages (Greek, Roman, Gothic?), he found that Greece had nothing to show him that was new; and as for subtlety, he was a match for the keenest of the Greeks. The Emperor's presence had nothing in it to make him hesitating or confused. Why should it, since he had seen and pleaded before Theodoric[420]?

[Footnote 420: 'Talibus igitur institutis edoctus, Eoae sumpsisti legationis officium, missus ad summae quidem peritiae viros: sed nulla inter eos confusus es trepidatione _quia nihil tibi post nos potuit esse mirabile_. Instructus enim trifariis linguis, non tibi Graecia quod novum ostentaret invenit; nec ipsâ quâ nimium praevalet, te transcendit argutiâ.']

In addition to all these other gifts he possesses _faith_, that anchor of the soul amidst the waves of a stormy world.

He is therefore called upon to assume at the third Indiction [524-525] the office of Count of the Sacred Largesses, and exhorted to bear himself therein worthily of his parentage and his past career, that the King may afterwards promote him to yet higher honour.

[For further remarks on this letter--a very important one, as bearing on the trial of Boethius--see viii. 16. The third Indiction might mean either 509-510 or 524-525; but the statement of 'Anomymus Valesii,' that Cyprian was still only Referendarius at the time of his accusation of Albinus, warrants us in fixing on the later date. This makes the encomiums conferred in this letter more significant, since they must have been bestowed _after_ the delation against Albinus and Boethius. Probably it was during Cyprian's embassy to Constantinople (described in this letter) that he discovered these intrigues of the Senators with the Byzantine Court, which he denounced on his return.]

42. KING THEODORIC TO MAXIMUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, CONSUL.

[Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul A.D. 523.]

[Sidenote: Rewards to performers in the Amphitheatre.]

'If singers and dancers are to be rewarded by the generosity of the Consul, _à fortiori_ should the _Venator_, the fighter with wild beasts in the amphitheatre, be rewarded for _his_ endeavours to please the people, who after all are secretly hoping to see him killed. And what a horrible death he dies--denied even the rites of burial, disappearing before he has yet become a corpse into the maw of the hungry animal which he has failed to kill. These spectacles were first introduced as part of the worship of the Scythian Diana, who was feigned to gloat on human gore. The ancients called her the triple deity, Proserpina-Luna-Diana. They were right in one point; the goddess who invented these games certainly reigned _in hell_.'

The Colosseum (the Amphitheatre of Titus) is described.

The combats with wild beasts are pourtrayed in a style of pompous obscurity. We may dimly discern the form of the _bestiarius_, who is armed with a wooden spear; of another who leaps into the air to escape the beast's onset; of one who protects himself with a portable wall of reeds, 'like a sea-urchin;' of others who are fastened to a revolving wheel, and alternately brought within the range of the animal's claws and borne aloft beyond his grasp. 'There are as many perilous forms of encounter as Virgil described varieties of crime and punishment in Tartarus. Alas for the pitiable error of mankind! If they had any true intuition of Justice, they would sacrifice as much wealth for the preservation of human life as they now lavish on its destruction.' ['A noble regret,' says Gregorovius ('Geschichte der Stadt Rom.' i. 286), 'in which in our own day every well-disposed Minister of a military state will feel bound to concur with Cassiodorus.']

43. KING THEODORIC TO TRANSMUND [THRASAMUND], KING OF THE VANDALS (CIR. 511).

[Sidenote: Complains of the protection given by Thrasamund to Gesalic.]

'Having given you our sister, that singular ornament of the Amal race, in marriage, in order to knit the bonds of friendship between us, we are amazed that you should have given protection and support to our enemy Gesalic [natural son of Alaric II]. If it was out of mere pity and as an outcast that you received him into your realm, you ought to have kept him there; whereas you have sent him forth furnished with large supplies of money to disturb the peace of our Gaulish Provinces. This is not the conduct of a friend, much less of a relative. We are sure that you cannot have taken counsel in this matter with your wife, who would neither have liked to see her brother injured, nor the fair fame of her husband tarnished by such doubtful intrigues. We send you A and B as our ambassadors, who will speak to you further on this matter.'

44. KING THEODORIC TO TRANSMUND [THRASAMUND], KING OF THE VANDALS.

[Sidenote: Reconciliation between Theodoric and Thrasamund.]

'You have shown, most prudent of Kings, that wise men know how to amend their faults, instead of persisting in them with that obstinacy which is the characteristic of brutes. In the noblest and most truly kinglike manner you have humbled yourself to confess your fault in reference to the reception of Gesalic, and to lay bare to us the very secrets of your heart in this matter. We thank you and praise you, and accept your purgation of yourself from this offence with all our heart. As for the presents sent us by your ambassadors, we accept them with our minds, but not with our hands. Let them return to your Treasury (cubiculum), that it may be seen that it was simply love of justice, not desire of gain, which prompted our complaints. We have both acted in a truly royal manner[421]. Let your frankness and our contempt of gold be celebrated through the nations. It is sweeter to us to return these presents to you, than to receive much larger ones from anyone else. Your ambassadors carry back with them the fullest salutation of love from your friend and ally.'

[Footnote 421: 'Fecimus utrique regalia.']