The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 23

[Sidenote: Only the surplus of corn to be exported.]

'It should be only the surplus of the crops of any Province, beyond what is needed for the supply of its own wants, that should be exported. Station persons in the harbours to see that foreign ships do not take away produce to foreign sh.o.r.es until the Public Providers[240] have got all that they require.'

[Footnote 240: 'Expensae publicae' perhaps = curatores annonae.]

35. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAEPOSITUS.

[Sidenote: Unreasonable delays. The sucking-fish and torpedo.]

'This extraordinarily dry season having ruined the hopes of our harvest, it is more than ever necessary that the produce should be brought forward promptly. We are therefore exceedingly annoyed at finding that the crops which are generally sent forward by your Chancellor from the coasts of Calabria and Apulia in summer have not yet arrived, though it is near autumn and the time is at hand when the sun, entering the southern signs (which are all named from showers), will send us storm and tempest.

'What are you waiting for? Why are your ships not spreading their sails to the breeze? With a favourable wind and with bending oarsmen, are you perhaps delayed by the _echeneis_ (Remora, or sucking-fish)?

or by the sh.e.l.l-fish of the Indian Ocean? or by the torpedo, whose touch paralyses the hand? No; the echeneis in this case is entangling venality; the bites of the sh.e.l.l-fish, insatiable avarice; the torpedo, fraudulent pretence.

'The merchants are making delays in order that they may seem to have fallen on adverse weather.

'Let your Magnitude put all this to rights promptly, otherwise our famine will be imputed, not to bad seasons, but to negligence[241].'

[Footnote 241: For a fuller translation of this marvellous letter, see Introd. p. 18.]

36. KING THEODORIC TO THERIOLUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.

[Sidenote: Guardianship of children of Benedictus.]

'We wish you to take the place of the late Benedictus in the city of Pedon.

'As we never forget the services of the dead, we wish you to undertake officially the guardianship of the sons of the said Benedictus.

'We always pay back to our faithful servants more than we have received from them, and thus we do not go on the principle "equality is equity," because we think it just to make them _more_ than an equal recompence.'

37. KING THEODORIC TO CRISPIa.n.u.s.

[Sidenote: Justifiable homicide.]

'Murder is abominable, but it is right to take into account the circ.u.mstances which may have provoked to homicide. If the slain man was trying to violate the rights of wedlock, his blood be on his own head. For even brute beasts vindicate their conjugal rights by force: how much more man, who is so deeply dishonoured by the adulterer!

'Therefore, if it be true that the man whom you slew had wronged you as a husband, we do not agree to the punishment of exile which has been inflicted upon you. Nor will we uphold the action of the _Vicarius_ or of his _Officium_, who, as you say, have impounded the money paid by your _fidei-jussor_ (guarantor) Agnellus. Also, we will protect you against the hostile a.s.saults of Candax [next of kin to the murdered man?] in future. But your allegation as to the provocation must be fully established by legal process.'

[It may be remarked that Candac, King of the Alani in Moesia, is mentioned in the pedigree of Jordanes ('Getica,' cap. 4).]

38. KING THEODORIC TO BAION, A SENATOR[242].

[Footnote 242: See remarks on this letter in Dahn, Konige der Germanen iv. 147-8. Some MSS. read Coion or Goinon, as the name of the Senator to whom it is addressed.]

[Sidenote: The young Hilarius to be allowed to enter on possession of his property.]

'We are told that you are keeping in your own hands the administration of the property of your young nephew [or grandson] Hilarius against his will, and not for his good, but yours. Restore it at once. Let him dispose of it as he likes. He seems to be quite able to enter upon the lordship of his own. The eagle feeds her callow young with food which she has procured for them, till their wings grow. Then, when their flight is strong and their nails sharp, she trains them to strike their own prey. So with our young Goths: when they are fit for soldiership we cannot bear that they should be deemed incapable of managing their own concerns. "To the Goths valour makes full age. And he who is strong enough to stab his enemy to the heart should be allowed to vindicate himself from every accusation of incapacity."'

[Notwithstanding his Roman name, Hilarius is evidently a Goth.]

39. KING THEODORIC TO FESTUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND PATRICIAN.

[Sidenote: The nephews of Filagrius to be detained in Rome.]

'We are always delighted to grant just requests.

'Filagrius (Vir Spectabilis), who has been long absent from his home on our business, seeks to return to Syracuse, but at the same time asks that his brother's sons may be kept for their education's sake at Rome. Do you attend to this pet.i.tion, and do not let the lads go till we send you a second order to that effect. No one ought to murmur at being detained in Rome, which is everyone's country, the fruitful mother of eloquence, the wide temple of all virtues. Ulysses would very likely never have become famous if he had lingered on at home; but Homer's n.o.ble poem most chiefly proclaims his wisdom in this fact, that he roamed among many cities and nations.'

40. KING THEODORIC TO a.s.sUIN (OR a.s.sIUS), VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND COMES.

[Sidenote: The inhabitants of Salona to be drilled.]

'War needs rehearsal and preparation. Therefore let your Ill.u.s.trious Sublimity provide the inhabitants of Salona with arms, and let them practise themselves in the use of them; for the surest safeguard of the Republic is an armed defender.'

The necessity of drill and practice is shown by the early combats of bullocks, the play-huntings of puppies, the necessity of first kindling a fire with very little sticks, and so forth.

41. KING THEODORIC TO AGAPITUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS, PRAEFECTUS URBIS.

[Sidenote: Enquiries into character of the younger Faustus.]

'The dignity of the Senate makes it necessary to be unusually careful who is admitted into that body. Let other orders receive middling men: the Senate must receive none but those who are of proved excellence.

'Therefore let your Ill.u.s.trious Magnificence cause those enquiries to be made concerning Faustus, the grown-up son of the Ill.u.s.trious Faustus, which the Senate hath ordered to be made concerning all persons who are to be enrolled in its council[243]. In thus confirming and ratifying the proceedings of the Senate we are in no degree trenching on the accustomed authority of that sacred order.'

[Footnote 243: 'Quae circa referendos curiae priscus ordo designavit.']

42. KING THEODORIC TO ARTEMIDORUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND PATRICIAN [509 OR 524].

[Sidenote: Artemidorus to be Praefect of the City.]

'We are especially bound to reward merit. Everyone who does us a service makes a very good investment. You have long had what was formerly considered more precious than great dignity--near access to our person. Much as we loved you, we somewhat r.e.t.a.r.ded your advance in order that you might be the more richly adorned with all virtues when you came to honour. Your birthplace, your lineage, your merit, all declare you worthy of the promotion which we now bestow upon you, declaring you for this third Indiction[244] _Praefectus Urbis_. You will thus have the function of presiding over the Senate, a far higher office than that of ruling the Palace or arranging private houses. The value of the object committed to a person's care increases the dignity of the post. It is much more honourable to be caretaker of a diadem than of a wine-cellar. Judge of our esteem for you by the preciousness of the body over which we are thus calling you to preside.'

[Footnote 244: Either 509-510 or 524-525; more probably the former.]

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

[Sidenote: Promotion of Artemidorus.]

[Announcing the elevation of Artemidorus to the post of Praefectus Urbis.]