The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 42

'At the same time enquire into the complaints which are brought against the Jews, and if you find that there is any foundation for them, punish accordingly.'

44. KING THEODORIC TO THE VENERABLE ANTONIUS, BISHOP OF POLA.

[Sidenote: Bishop Antonius called upon to do justice to Stepha.n.u.s.]

'It is an invidious task to have to listen to complaints against the revered ministers of the Church.

'But the pet.i.tion of Stepha.n.u.s sets forth that a property, which belonged to him before the time of your predecessor, has, within the last nine months, wrongfully, and in defiance of _civilitas_, been seized by the officers of your church. If this be so, we desire you, as a matter of justice, to correct what your familiars have done amiss, and restore it to him without delay. But if you dispute his t.i.tle, send a properly instructed person to plead the cause in our Comitatus.

'You will be better off by having the matter enquired into and settled, than if the complaints of Stepha.n.u.s had never come to a hearing[358].'

[Footnote 358: There are some technical terms in this letter the meaning of which is not clear to me: 'Eam just.i.tiae consideratione _momenti_ jure rest.i.tuite supplicanti.... Veruntamen si partibus vestris in _causa_ possessionis _momentaria_ vel _princ.i.p.ali_ just.i.tiam adesse cognoscitis.']

45. KING THEODORIC TO THE COMITES, DEFENSORES, AND CURIALES OF TICINUM (PAVIA).

[Sidenote: The Heruli to be forwarded on their way to Ravenna.]

[It is not easy to see why this order should be addressed to the inhabitants of Ticinum. Had the Heruli crossed the Alps by some pa.s.s near the modern Simplon?]

'We have ordered the Heruli, who are suppliants to us, to come to our Comitatus at Ravenna.

'Provide them promptly with ships of provisions for five days, that they may at once see the difference between Italy and their own hungry country[359].'

[Footnote 359: It is probably to the same transaction that Marcellinus Comes refers when he says, s.a. 512: 'Gens Erulorum in terras atque civitates Romanorum jussu Anastasii Caesaris introducta.' The words 'jussu Anastasii Caesaris' represent this chronicler's tendency to refer everything that is done in Italy to the initiation of Byzantium.]

46. KING THEODORIC TO MARABAD, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS.

[Sidenote: The case of the wife of Liberius to be reheard.]

'The Spectabilis Liberius[360] complains that his wife has had an unjust judgment given against her in your Court. Try the case over again, a.s.sociating with yourself arbitrators chosen by both parties.

If it cannot so be ended, let them appoint properly instructed persons to represent them at our Comitatus, if they cannot come themselves.'

[Footnote 360: Possibly a son of the Praefect Liberius.]

47. KING THEODORIC TO GUDISAL THE SAJO.

[Sidenote: Abuses of the Cursus Publicus.]

'If the public post-horses (veredi) are not allowed proper intervals of rest they will soon be worn out.

'We are informed by our _legati_ that these horses are constantly employed by persons who have no right to use them.

'You are therefore to reside in Rome, and to put yourself in constant communication with the officers of the Praefectus Praetorio and the Magister Officiorum, so as not to allow any to leave the City using the horses of the _Cursus Publicus_ except the regularly commissioned agents of those two functionaries. Anyone transgressing is to pay a fine of 100 solidi (60) per horse; not that the injury to the animal is represented by so high a figure, but in order to punish his impertinence. Our Sajones, when sent with a commission, are to go straight to the mark and return, not to make pleasure-tours at the public expense; and if they disobey this order, they are to pay the same fine as that just mentioned.

'Moreover, the extra horses (parhippi) are not to be weighted with a load of more than 100 lbs. For we wish our messengers[361] to travel in light marching order, not to make of their journey a regular domestic migration.

[Footnote 361: 'Mittendarii.' A 'Scrinium Mittendariorum' formed part of the staff of the Count of Sacred Largesses. See Theodosian Code vi.

30. 7.]

'Cranes, when they are going to cross the sea, clasp little pebbles with their claws, in order to steady without overweighting themselves.

Why cannot those who are sent on public errands follow so good an example? Every transport master[362] who violates this rule by loading a horse with more than 100 lbs. shall pay 50 solidi (30).

[Footnote 362: 'Catabulensis.' See iii. 10.]

'All fines levied under this edict are to go to the benefit of the postal-servants[363], and thus the evil will, as we so often see in human affairs, furnish its own remedy.'

[Footnote 363: 'Mancipes mutationum.' The 'mutationes' were the places for changing horses; there are generally two of them between each 'mansio' (hostelry). Probably the horses were found by the 'Mancipes mutationum.' It was therefore a sort of _corvee_.]

48. KING THEODORIC TO EUSEBIUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS.

[Sidenote: Honourable retirement of Eusebius.]

'After the worries of the noisy City, and the heavy burden of your official duties, your Greatness is longing to taste the sweetness of country life. When therefore you have finished your present duties, we grant you by our authority a holiday of eight months in the charming recesses of Lucania [near Ca.s.siodorus' own country], to be reckoned from the time when by Divine [royal?] favour you depart from the City.

When those months are at an end, return with speed, much missed as you will be, to your Roman habitation, to the a.s.sembly of the n.o.bles, and to social intercourse of a kind that is worthy of your character.'

49. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE PROVINCIALS AND THE LONG-HAIRED MEN[364], THE DEFENSORES AND THE CURIALES RESIDING IN SUAVIA[365].

[Footnote 364: _Capillatis._ The only pa.s.sage which throws a light on this name--and that is a doubtful one--is Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis xi. After describing the _pileati_, the tiara-wearing priests of the Getae, he says: 'Reliquam vero gentem capillatos dicere jussit [Diceneus] quod nomen Gothi pro magno suscipientes adhuc hodie suis cantionibus reminisc.u.n.tur.']

[Footnote 365: _Suavia_ is nearly equivalent to the modern Sclavonia, between the rivers Drave and Save.]

[Sidenote: Fridibad to be Governor of Suavia, and to punish freebooters.]

'The King's orders must be vigorously executed, that terror may be struck into the hearts of the lawless, and that those who have suffered violence may begin to hope for better days. Often the threat of punishment does more to quiet a country than punishment itself.

Therefore, under Divine guidance, we have appointed Fridibad to be your Governor.

'He will punish cattle-lifters with due severity, will cut off murderers, condemn thieves, and render you, who are now torn by presumptuous iniquity, safe from the daring attempts of villains. Live like a settled people; live like men who have learned the lessons of morality; let neither nationality nor rank be alleged as an excuse from these duties. If any man gives himself up to wicked courses, he must needs undergo chastis.e.m.e.nt.'

50. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Remission of taxes for Campanians who have suffered from an eruption of Vesuvius.]

'The Campanians complain that their fields have been devastated by an eruption of Vesuvius, and ask in consequence for a remission of tribute. [This eruption is a.s.signed--I do not know on what authority--to the year 512[366].]

[Footnote 366: The pa.s.sage in Marcellinus Comes, s.a. 512, which at first sight seems to describe an eruption taking place in that year, really describes the _commemoration_ of the eruption of 472. See following note.]

'Let your Greatness send men of proved integrity to the territories of Neapolis and Nola, who may examine the ravaged lands for themselves, and proportion the relief granted, to the amount of damage done in each case.

'That Province is visited at intervals by this terrible calamity, as if to mar its otherwise perfect happiness. There is one favourable feature in the visitation. It does not come wholly unawares. For some time before, the mountain groans with the strife of Nature going on inside it, and it seems as if an angry spirit within would terrify all the neighbourhood by his mighty roar. Then the air is darkened by its foul exhalations; hot ashes scudding along the sea, a shower of drops of dust upon the land, tell to all Italy, to the transmarine Provinces, to the world, from what calamity Campania is suffering[367].

[Footnote 367: In the eruption of 472 (apparently the last great eruption previous to 512), the ashes were carried as far as Byzantium, the inhabitants of which city inst.i.tuted a yearly religious service in memory of the event: 'Vesuvius mons Campaniae torridus intestinis ignibus aestuans exusta evomuit viscera, nocturnisque in die tenebris inc.u.mbentibus, _omnem Europae faciem minuto contexit pulvere_. Hujus metuendi memoriam cineris Byzantii annue celebrant VIII Idus Novembris.' The eruption was accompanied by widespread earthquake: 'In Asia aliquantae civitates vel oppida terrae motu collapsa sunt'