The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 40

Confirms all privileges and immunities granted by previous Princes, and remits the taxes (censum) for one year, a boon which they had not dared to ask for. 'For that is perfect _pietas_, which before it is bent by prayer, knows how to consider the weary ones.'

[Here, as in many other pa.s.sages of Ca.s.siodorus, _pietas_ shows signs of pa.s.sing into the Italian _pieta_ (= pity).]

27. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO TEZUTZAT,

AND

28. KING THEODORIC TO DUDA, SENATOR AND COMES.

[Sidenote: Petrus a.s.saulted by the Sajo who was a.s.signed for his protection.]

[Duda was also a Sajo, as we see from Letter 32. Dahn ('Konige der Germanen' iv. 142, _n._ 3) thinks he was Comes Gothorum.]

Both letters relate to the affair of Petrus (a Vir Spectabilis, and probably the same whose admission to the Senate is ordered by iv. 25).

This Roman n.o.bleman, according to a usage common under Theodoric's government, has had the Gothic Sajo Amara a.s.signed to him as his Defensor. Amara, by an inversion of his functions, which the letter bitterly laments and upbraids, has turned upon his _protege_ and even used personal violence towards him. He has drawn a sword and wounded him in the hand; and nothing but the fact that Petrus was sheltered by a door saved him from losing his hand altogether.

Yet, notwithstanding this a.s.sault, Amara has had the audacity to claim from his victim 'commodi nomine,' the usual payment made by the defended to the defender.

The first letter decrees that this shall be refunded twofold, and a.s.signs Tezutzat instead of Amara to the office of Defender, warning him not to follow the evil example of his predecessor.

The second a.s.signs to Duda the task of enquiring into the alleged a.s.sault and punishing it with the sword[346].

[Footnote 346: The story of this a.s.sault is a typical specimen of the style of Ca.s.siodorus, high-flown yet not really pictorial: 'Ita ut ictum gladii in se demersum, aliquatenus postium r.e.t.a.r.daret objectio: subjecta est vulneri ma.n.u.s, quae ut in totum truncata non caderet, januarum percussa robora praest.i.terunt: ubi la.s.sato impetu corusca ferri acies corporis extrema perstrinxit.']

29. KING THEODORIC TO ARGOLICUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.

[Sidenote: Official tardiness rebuked.]

A sharp rebuke to him for having (if the _suggestio_ of the Clarissimus Armentarius be correct) so long delayed, it is to be feared with a corrupt motive, complying with the instructions of the King to do justice in some case (not described) in which the honour of the Senate is concerned. As head of the Senate he ought to have been eager to examine into it, without any prompting from his master.

30. KING THEODORIC TO ALBINUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND PATRICIAN.

[Sidenote: Workshops may be erected above the Porticus Curba, by the Roman Forum.]

'Those whom the Republic has honoured should in their turn bring honour to the City. We are therefore gratified by receiving your supplication for leave to erect workshops[347] above the Porticus Curba, which being situated near the Domus Palmata, shuts in the Forum in comely fashion "in modum areae." We like the plan. The range of private dwellings will thereby be extended. A look of cheerful newness will be given to the old walls; and the presence of residents in the building will tend to preserve it from further decay. You have our permission and encouragement to proceed, if the proposed erections do not in any way interfere with public convenience or the beauty of the City.'

[Footnote 347: Fabricae.]

[The MSS. of Ca.s.siodorus waver between Curbae and Curiae in the above letter. Jordan ('Topographie der Stadt Rom.' i. 2. 258) inclines to the opinion that Porticus Curba denotes the Portico of the Secretarium of the Senate, on the site of the present Church of Sta. Martina. As the Curia immediately adjoined this building, there is practically but little difference between the two readings. In either case the fabricae were to be erected so as to overlook the north-west end of the Forum. It is admitted that the Domus Palmata was near the Arch of Septimius Severus.]

31. KING THEODORIC TO AEMILIa.n.u.s, VIR VENERABILIS, BISHOP.

[Sidenote: An aqueduct to be promptly finished.]

'Wise men should finish what they have begun, and not incur the reproach which attends half-done work.

'Let your Holiness therefore promptly complete what by our authority you so well began in the matter of the aqueduct, and thus most fitly provide water for your thirsting flock, imitating by labour the miracle of Moses, who made water gush forth from the flinty rock.'

32. KING THEODORIC TO DUDA THE SAJO.

[Sidenote: The rights of the Crown to the property of the proscribed man, Tupha, to be a.s.serted with moderation.]

'We are anxious strictly to obey the laws, and to take no advantage over our subjects in courts of justice. If a man knows that he can get his own by legal process, even from the Sovereign, he is the less likely to seek it by the armed hand. The memorandum of Marinus informs us that the property of Tupha was long ago mortgaged to a certain Joannes[348]. But since it is quite clear that the property of a proscribed man belongs to our fiscus, we desire you to summon the widow of this Joannes and his secretary Januarius, "moderata executione."

[Footnote 348: 'Marini relatione comperimus res Tuphae apud Joannem quondam sub emissione chirographi fuisse depositas.']

'If they acknowledge that they have no right to the property let them at once restore it; but if not, let them come before the _Consularis_ of Campania and establish their right according to course of law.

'But let all be done without loss or prejudice to the rights of innocent persons. If any such charge be established against you, _you_ will become the offender in our eyes.'

[The description of Tupha as 'proscriptus' makes it probable that we are dealing with that officer of Odovacar whose double treachery (489-490) so nearly caused the failure of Theodoric's invasion of Italy, and who finally fell in battle against his fellow-rebel, Frederic the Rugian. The only difficulty is the lapse of time since those events, as this letter was probably written not earlier than about 511; but that is in some degree met by the word _quondam_ in the sentence quoted (_n._ 1, p. 250).]

33. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE JEWS OF GENOA.

[Sidenote: Privileges of the Jews confirmed.]

'The true mark of _civilitas_ is the observance of law. It is this which makes life in communities possible, and which separates man from the brutes. We therefore gladly accede to your request that all the privileges which the foresight of antiquity conferred upon the Jewish customs shall be renewed to you[349], for in truth it is our great desire that the laws of the ancients shall be kept in force to secure the reverence due to us[350]. Everything which has been found to conduce to _civilitas_ should be held fast with enduring devotion.'

[Footnote 349: 'Privilegia debere servari quae Judaicis inst.i.tutis legum provida decrevit antiquitas.']

[Footnote 350: 'Quod nos libenter annuimus qui jura veterum ad nostram cupimus reverentiam custodiri.']

34. KING THEODORIC TO DUDA THE SAJO.

[Sidenote: Buried treasure to be reclaimed for the State.]

'It is the part of true prudence to recall to the uses of commerce "the talent hidden in the earth." We therefore direct you, by this "moderata jussio," where you hear of buried treasures to proceed to the spot with suitable witnesses and reclaim for the public Treasury either gold or silver, abstaining, however, from actually laying hands on the ashes of the dead[351]. The dead can do nothing with treasure, and it is not greedy to take away what the holder of it can never mourn the loss of.

[Footnote 351: How this was to be done is not quite clear, since it is plain that this letter is really and chiefly an order for rifling _sepulchres_ in search of buried treasure.]

'Eacus is said to have discovered the use of gold, and Indus, King of the Scythians, that of silver. They are extremely useful metals.'

35. KING THEODORIC TO THE REPRESENTATIVES (ACTORES) OF ALBINUS.

[Sidenote: An extravagant minor. Rest.i.tutio in integrum.]

'It has been wisely decided by Antiquity that minors cannot make a binding contract, for they are naturally the prey of every sharper.

You allege that your _patronus_ [Albinus] is under age, that he is heaping up expenses instead of property, and that his raw boyhood does not know what is really for his benefit. If this be correct, and be legally proved, he is ent.i.tled to a _rest.i.tutio in integrum_' [a suit commenced through these Actores for the quashing of the contracts which have been fraudulently made with the minor].

[For the _rest.i.tutio in integrum_, see Cod. Theod. ii. 16. 1, and vi.