The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 71

'Delighting to receive from your Piety some of those treasures of which the heavenly bounty has made you partaker, we send the bearer of the present letter to receive those marbles and other necessaries which we formerly ordered Calogenitus to collect on our behalf. All our adornments, furnished by you, redound to your glory. For it is fitting that by your a.s.sistance should shine resplendent that Roman world which the love of your Serenity renders ill.u.s.trious.'

9. KING THEODAHAD TO JUSTINIAN, AUGUSTUS.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

[On the same subject as the previous letter, and in nearly the same words. Calogenitus apparently is dead.]

'We have directed the bearer of this letter to exhibit (?) those things for which Calogenitus was previously destined; so that, although that person is withdrawn from this life, your benefits, by G.o.d's help, may still be brought unto us.'

10. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THEODORA, AUGUSTA[644].

[Footnote 644: There is something in the tone of this letter which suggests that Theodora was known to be pregnant when it was written.]

[Sidenote: Salutation to Theodora.]

'We approach you with the language of veneration, because it is agreed on all hands that your virtues increase more and more. Friendship exists not for those only who are in one another's presence, but also for the absent. Rendering you therefore the salutation of august reverence, I hope that our amba.s.sadors, whom we have directed to the most clement and most glorious Emperor, will bring me news of your welfare. Your prosperity is as dear to me as my own; and as I constantly pray for your safety, I cannot hear without pleasure that my prayers have been answered.'

11. KING THEODAHAD TO MAXIMUS[645], VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND DOMESTICUS.

[Footnote 645: This Maximus does not appear to be mentioned by Procopius. He may be the same Maximus who took refuge in one of the churches after Totila's capture of Rome in 546 (De Bello Gotthico iii.

20), and who was slain by order of Teias in 552 (Ibid. iv. 34); but that person was grandson of an Emperor, and it seems hardly probable that Ca.s.siodorus would have spared us such a detail in the pedigree of Theodahad's kinsman. We seem also to be entirely without information as to the Amal princess who was the bride of Maximus.]

[Sidenote: Maximus appointed to office of Primicerius (Domesticorum?)]

'It is the glory of a good Sovereign to confer office on the deserving descendants of ill.u.s.trious families. Such are the Anicii, an ancient family, almost on an equality with princes[646], from whom you are descended. Gladly would we decorate the descendants of the Marii and Corvini if time had permitted their progeny to survive to our own day.

But it were inconsistent to regret the impossibility of enjoying this privilege if we neglected the opportunity which we do possess in your case.

[Footnote 646: 'Anicios quidem pene principibus pares aetas prisca genuit.']

'Therefore we bestow upon you from this fourteenth Indiction[647] the office of Primicerius, which is also called Domesticatus. This office may appear somewhat less than you are ent.i.tled to by your pedigree, but you have received an honour which is greater than all the _fasces_ in being permitted to marry a wife of our royal race, a distinction which you could not have hoped for even when you sat in the curule chair. Comport yourself now with mildness, patience, and moderation, that you may show yourself worthy of your affinity with us. Your ancestors have hitherto been praised, but they were never dignified with such an alliance. Your n.o.bility has now reached a point beyond which it can climb no further. All that you do henceforward of a praiseworthy kind will but have the effect of rendering you more worthy of the matrimonial alliance which you have already achieved[648].'

[Footnote 647: 535 to 536.]

[Footnote 648: 'Laudati sunt hactenus parentes tui, sed tanta non sunt conjunctione decorati. n.o.bilitas tua non est ultra quod crescat.

Quicquid praeconialiter egeris, proprio matrimonio dignissimus aestimaris.']

12. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We do not think that the fact of a man's having received the Consulship early in life should shut him out from holding office of lower rank in his maturer years[649]. As the Tiber receives the water of smaller rivers which merge their names in his, so a man of Consular rank can serve the State in less conspicuous ways, yet still be Consular. Therefore we have thought fit to bestow on the Ill.u.s.trious and Magnificent Patrician Maximus, the Primiceriatus which is also called Domesticatus, from this fourteenth Indiction, that the lowliness of the honour may be raised by the merit of the wearer. He is an Anicius, sprung from a family renowned throughout the whole world. He is also honoured with the affinity of our own ill.u.s.trious race. Receive him, welcome him, rejoice at these nuptials, which bind me closer to you, now that you have in your ranks one whom I can truly call a relation.'

[Footnote 649: Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul in 523.]

13. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[This letter may probably be referred to the Spring or Summer of 535.

Theodahad, soon after the deposition or death of Amalasuentha, has apparently invited the Senate to Ravenna, an invitation which they have respectfully declined. He chides their suspicions of him.]

[Sidenote: Summons to Ravenna. Suspicions of the Senators.]

'After we had dismissed the venerable Bishops who brought your message, without taking exception to your requests, though there were some things blameworthy among them, we received tidings that the City of Rome was agitated by certain foolish anxieties, from which real evil would grow unless the suspicion which caused them could be laid to rest.

'I fear that I cannot complain of "popular levity" if your ill.u.s.trious body, which should set an example to all others, should give way to such fond imaginings. If Rome, which should govern the Provinces, be so foolish, what can we expect of _them_?

'Divine grace, however, prompts us both to pardon your faults and to grant your requests. We owe you nothing, and yet we pay you[650]; but we trust to be rewarded by hearing not our own praises but yours. Put away these unworthy, these childish suspicions, and behave as becomes the fathers of the people.

[Footnote 650: 'Nihil debemus et solvimus.' Have we here an echo of St. Augustine's thought, 'Reddis debita nulli debens?']

'In desiring your presence at our Court, we sought not your vexation but your advantage. It is certainly a great privilege to see the face of the Sovereign, and we thought to bestow on you, for the advantage of the State, that which used to be counted as a reward. However, not to deal harshly with you, we shall be satisfied with the attendance of certain individuals from your body, as occasion may require, so that on the one hand Rome may not be denuded of her citizens, and on the other that we may not lack prudent counsellors in our chamber. Now return to your old devotion, and serve us, not as a matter of fear, but of love. The rest shall the bearer of this letter explain unto you.'

14. KING THEODAHAD TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

[The occasion of writing this letter, which we may perhaps refer to the early part of 535, is apparently that some Gothic troops have been sent to Rome, and the people have broken out into clamours against them, or pet.i.tioned for their removal.]

[Sidenote: Dissensions between citizens of Rome and Gothic troops.]

'Your predecessors have always been distinguished by the loyal love which they bore to the Chief of the State; and it is only right that he [the Sovereign] who is defended with so much toil, he, for whom, as the representative of public order, daily precautions are taken[651], should in return love that people above all others whose loyalty gives him a right to rule the world[652].

[Footnote 651: 'Qui maximo labore defenditur, cujus per dies singulos civilitas custoditur.']

[Footnote 652: 'Ut illos diligat super omnia, per quos habere probatur universa.']

'Oh! let there be nothing in you in our days which may justly move our indignation. Still show forth your older loyalty. It is not fitting that the Roman people should be fickle, or crafty, or full of seditions.

'Let no fond suspicions, no shadow of fear sway you. You have a Sovereign who only longs to find opportunities to love you. Meet with hostile arms your enemies, not your own defenders.

'You ought to have invited, not to have shut out the succour which we sent you. Evidently you have been misled by counsellors who care not for the public weal. Return to your own better minds.

'Was it some new and strange nation whose faces forsooth thus terrified you? No: the very men whom hitherto you have called your kinsmen, the men who in their anxiety for your safety have left their homes and families in order to defend you. Strange return on your part for their devotion!

'As for you, you should know this, that night and day our one ceaseless desire is to perfect, with G.o.d's help, the security which was fostered in the times of our relations [Theodoric and Amalasuentha]. Where, indeed, would our credit as a Sovereign be if anything happened to your hurt? Dismiss all such thoughts from your minds. If any have been unjustly cast down, we will raise him up again. We have sent you some verbal messages by the bearer of this letter, and hope that from henceforth we may rely on your constant obedience.'

15. KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.

[Sidenote: Letter of introduction for an ecclesiastic.]

'It is always a delight to us to have an opportunity of directing our letters of salutation[653] to your Piety, since he is filled with happy joy who converses with you with sincere heart. I therefore recommend to your Clemency the bearer of this letter, who comes on the affairs of the Church of Ravenna. There can be no doubt that if you grant his request you will earn a just reward.'

[Footnote 653: 'Salutiferos apices.']