The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 65

'Friendship and relationship are turned to bitterness by the tidings that Amalafrida, of divine memory, the distinguished ornament of our race, has been put to death by you[574]. If you had any cause of offence against her, you ought to have sent her to us for judgment.

What you have done is a species of parricide. If the succession, on the death of her husband, pa.s.sed to another [yourself], that was no reason why a woman should be embroiled in the contest. It was really an addition to your n.o.bility to have the purple dignity of the Amal blood allied to the lineage of the Hasdingi.

[Footnote 574: With reference to this event Victor Tunnunensis writes: 'Cujus (Trasamundi) uxor Amalafrida fugiens ad barbaros congressione facta Capsae juxta Heremum capitur, et in custodia privata moritur.'

Procopius (De B. Vandalico i. 9) says: [Greek: Kai sphisi (tois Bandilois) xynenechthe Theudericho te kai Gotthois en Italia ek te symmachon kai philon polemioi genesthai ten te gar Amalaphridan en phylake eschon kai tous Gotthous diephtheiran hapantas epenenkontes autois neoterizein es te Bandilous kai Hilderichon]. Both Victor and Procopius seem to place the conflict before the death of Theodoric; Victor says A.D. 523. Probably therefore the fighting, the capture of Amalafrida, and the death of her countrymen, took place in that year, the year of her husband's death and Hilderic's accession. Three or four years later (526 or 527), when her brother Theodoric was dead, the imprisoned princess was murdered--a grievous insult to the young Sovereign of the Goths, her great-nephew.]

'Our Goths keenly feel the insults conveyed in this deed, since to slay the royal lady of another race is to despise the valour of that race and doubt its willingness to avenge her.

'We send you two amba.s.sadors to hear what your excuses are. We hear that you pretend that her death was natural. And you also must send amba.s.sadors in return to us to explain the matter, without war or bloodshed, and either pacify us or acknowledge your guilt. If you do not do this, all ties of alliance between us are broken, and we must leave you to the judgment of the Divine Majesty, which heard the blood of Abel crying from the ground.'

2. EDICT OF KING ATHALARIC.

[Sidenote: Oppression of the Curiales.]

'The body of the Republic is so tempered together that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it. The Curiales, whose name is derived from their care (cura) and forethought, are, we are told, molested by hostile proceedings, so that what was bestowed upon them as an honour turns out rather to their injury. What scandalous injustice! What an insupportable evil! that he who ought to have benefited the Republic by his services, should often lose both fortune and liberty.

'Wherefore by this edict we decree that if any Curialis suffer oppression, if anyone, without the express warrant of ourselves or the high officers of State whose business it is, inflict upon a Curialis any injury or loss of property, he shall pay a fine of 10 lbs. of gold (400), to go to the benefit of the person thus oppressed; or, if his property be insufficient to pay this fine, he shall be beaten with clubs. The Curialis must then give additional diligence to the discharge of his public duties, since his debt to the State is, as it were, increased by the protection which we are thus affording him. As for the farms of Curiales, in connection with which the greatest frauds are practised on poor men, let no one seek to obtain them by an unlawful purchase; for a contract cannot be called a contract when it is in violation of the law[575]. The Judges must help the Curiales against the molestations of Sajones and other officials. It is a grievous offence, when the very person to whom is entrusted the duty of defending the weak, himself turns oppressor.

[Footnote 575: 'Praedia Curialium, unde maximae mediocribus parantur insidiae, nullus illicita emptione pervadat. Quia contractus dici non potest nisi qui de legibus venit.']

'Raise your heads in hope, oh ye oppressed ones! lift up your hearts, ye who are weighed down with a load of evils! To each citizen his own city is his Republic. Administer justice in your cities in conformity with the general will. Let your various ranks live on a footing of justice. Do not oppress the weak, lest you in your turn be deservedly oppressed by the strong. This is the penalty of wrong-doing, that each one suffers in his own person what he has wantonly inflicted on another.

'Live then in justice and moderation. Follow the example of the cranes, who change the order of their flight, making foremost hindmost, and hindmost foremost, without difficulty, each willingly obeying its fellow--a commonwealth of birds.

'You have, according to the laws, power over your citizens. Not in vain has Antiquity conceded to you the t.i.tle of Curia: not vainly did it call you the Lesser Senate, the nerves and vital organs of the State[576]. What is not contained of honour and power in that t.i.tle!

For that which is compared to the Senate is excluded from no kind of glory.'

[Footnote 576: 'Non enim inca.s.sum vobis Curiam concessit Antiquitas, non inaniter appellavit Minorem Senatum, nervos quoque vocitans ac viscera civitatum.']

3. KING ATHALARIC TO BERGANTINUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS, COMES [PATRIMONII], AND PATRICIAN[577].

[Footnote 577: Cf. viii. 23.]

[Sidenote: Gold-mining in Italy.]

'Gold, as well as many other fair fruits of Nature which gold can buy, is said to be produced by our generous Italy. Theodorus, who is an expert in such matters, a.s.serts that gold will be found on the farm Rusticiana in Bruttii[578]. Let your Greatness therefore send a _Cartarius_ to commence mining operations on that spot. The work of a miner resembles that of a mole. He burrows underground, far from the light of day. Sometimes the sides of his pa.s.sages fall in and his way is closed up behind him; but if he emerge safely with his treasure, how happy is he! Then the gold-miner proceeds to immerse his ore in water, that the heavy metal may be separated from the lighter earth; then to submit it to a fervent heat, that it may thence derive its beautiful colour[579].

[Footnote 578: Have we any clue to the geographical position of this farm? The only Rusticiana known to the Itineraries is in Spain.]

[Footnote 579: 'Origo quidem n.o.bilis, sed de flamma suscipit vim coloris, ut magis credas inde nasci, cujus similitudine videtur ornari. Sed c.u.m auro tribuat splendidum ruborem, argento confert albissimam lucem. Ut mirum sit, unam substantiam tradere, quod rebus dissimilibus possit aptari.' Have we here a hint of 'the trans.m.u.tation of metals?' Ca.s.siodorus seems to think that it is only the furnace that makes the difference between the colours of gold and of silver.]

'Let then the land of Bruttii pay her tribute in gold, the most desired of all treasure. To seek gold by war is wicked, by voyages dangerous, by swindling shameful; but to seek it from Nature in its own home is righteous. No one is hurt by this honest gain. Griffins are said to dig for gold and to delight in the contemplation of this metal; but no one blames them, because their proceedings are not dictated by criminal covetousness. For it is not the act itself, but the motive for the act, that gives it its moral quality.'

4. KING ATHALARIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: A family of Curiales permitted to step down into the ranks of the Possessores.]

'The _pietas_ of the King is happily shown in moderating the sentence of the law, where for certain reasons it bears with especial hardness on anyone. The Curiales have peculiar advantages in their opportunity of being thus liberated by the Sovereign from the performance of their duties[580]. It is reasonable to release a Curialis whose health prevents him from fulfilling his appointed task; and a numerous Curia will never miss a few names out of so large a number.

[Footnote 580: 'Neque enim ob aliud Curiales leges sacratissimae ligaverunt, nisi ut c.u.m illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae praeconia reperirent.']

'Therefore let your Ill.u.s.trious Magnificence remove Agenantia, wife [or widow?] of the most eloquent man Campania.n.u.s, dwelling in Lucania, from the alb.u.m of her Curia, and her sons also, so that posterity may never know that they were formerly liable to Curial duties.

'Remitted to the ranks of [mere] Possessores they will now be liable to the same demands which formerly [as members of the Curia] they made upon others. They will now dread the face of the tax-collector (compulsor), and will begin to fear the mandates by which formerly they made themselves feared[581]. Still this is a sign of their past good life, that they are willing to live without office _among_ a population whose dislike they are not conscious of having incurred, and _under_ old colleagues whom they know that they have not incited to an abuse of their powers.'

[Footnote 581: 'Formidare delegata incipient, per quae antea timebantur.' To translate by an a.n.a.logy, 'And will tremble at the rate-summonses, their signatures to which used to make other men tremble.']

5. KING ATHALARIC TO THE BISHOPS AND FUNCTIONARIES OF ----[582].

[Footnote 582: 'Episcopis et Honoratis.' Perhaps it is from motives of delicacy that Ca.s.siodorus has not added the name of the Province.]

[Sidenote: Forestalling and regrating of corn prohibited.]

'We learn with regret by the complaint of the Possessores of your district that the severity of famine is being increased by the conduct of certain persons who have bought up corn and are holding it for higher prices. In a time of absolute famine there can be no "higgling of the market;" the hungry man will submit to be cheated rather than let another get the food before him[583].

[Footnote 583: 'In necessitate siquidem penuriae pretii nulla contentio est: dum pat.i.tur quis induci ne possit aliqua tarditate percelli.']

'To stop this practice we send to you the present messengers, whose business it is to examine all the stores of corn collected for public distribution[584] or otherwise, to leave to each family sufficient for its needs, and to purchase the remainder from the owners at a fair market price. Co-operate with these orders of ours cheerfully, and do not grumble at them. Complain not that your freedom is interfered with. There is no free-trade in crime[585]. If you work with us you will earn good renown for yourselves; if against us, the King's reputation will gain by your loss. It is the sign of a good ruler to make men act righteously, even against their wills.'

[Footnote 584: 'Sive in gradu [panis gradilis?] sive in aliis locis.']

[Footnote 585: A paraphrase, confessedly anachronistic, of 'Ne quis ergo venditionem sibi impositam conqueratur, sciat libertatem in crimine non requiri.']

6. KING ATHALARIC TO ----, PRIMISCRINIUS.

[Sidenote: A furlough granted for a visit to Baiae.]

'You complain that your health is failing under the long pressure of your work, and that you fear, if you absent yourself, you may lose the emoluments of your office. At the same time you ask leave to visit the Baths of Baiae. Go then with a mind perfectly at rest as to your emoluments, which we will keep safe for you. Seek the Sun, seek the pure air and smiling sh.o.r.e of that lovely bay, thickly set with harbours and dotted with n.o.ble islands--that bay in which Nature displays all her marvels and invites man to explore her secrets. There is the Lake of Avernus, with its splendid supply of oysters. There are long piers jutting out into the sea; and the most delightful fishing in the world is to be had in the fish-ponds--open to the sky--on either side of them. There are warm baths, heated not by brick-work flues and smoky b.a.l.l.s of fire, but by Nature herself. The pure air supplies the steam and softly stimulates perspiration, and the health-giving work is so much the better done as Nature is above Art.

Let the Coralli [in Moesia, on the sh.o.r.e of the Euxine] boast their wonderful sea, let the pearl fisheries of India vaunt themselves. In our judgment Baiae, for its powers of bestowing pleasure and health, surpa.s.ses them all. Go then to Baiae to bathe, and have no fear about the emoluments.'

7. KING ATHALARIC TO REPARATUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.

[We learn from Procopius ('De Bello Gotthico' i. 26) that Reparatus was brother of Pope Vigilius; that in 537 he escaped from the captivity in which the other Senators were kept at Ravenna by Witigis, and fled to Milan. In 539 Reparatus, who was then Praefectus Praetorio, was captured at Milan by the Goths, hewn in pieces, and his flesh given to the dogs (Ibid. ii. 21).]

[Sidenote: Reparatus appointed Praefectus Urbis.]

'The son of a high official naturally aspires to emulate his father's dignities. Your father had a distinguished career, first as Comes Largitionum, then as Praefectus Praetorio. While holding the latter office, he repaired the Senate-house, restored to the poor the gifts (?) of which they had been deprived[586], and though not himself a man of liberal education, pleased all by the natural charm of his manner.

[Footnote 586: 'Curiam reparans, pauperibus ablata rest.i.tuens.']

'You have those advantages of mental training which were denied to your father. Education lifts an obscure man on to a level with n.o.bles, but also adorns him who is of n.o.ble birth. You have moreover been chosen as son-in-law by a man of elevated character, whose choice is in itself a mark of your high merit. You are coming young to office[587]; but, with such a man's approbation, you cannot be said to be untried.

[Footnote 587: 'Licet primaevus venias ad honorem.']