The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 86

'But our King, with religious purpose, has restored the vessels which had become his own by the law of mortgage. In recompense for such deeds frequent prayer ought to ascend, and Heaven will surely gladly grant the required return for such good actions[866].'

[Footnote 866: Baronius not unfairly argues that if the Roman See was so poor that the Church plate had to be p.a.w.ned to provide for the Pope's journey to Constantinople, the _wealth_ of the Pope cannot have largely contributed to that great increase of his influence which marked the early years of the Sixth Century.]

[There are in this letter several extremely obscure sentences as to the generosity of Theodahad. As the Papal journey was undertaken by Theodahad's orders, it was a piece of meanness, quite in keeping with that King's character, to treat the advance of money for the journey as a loan, and to insist on a bond and the deposit of the Church plate as a security for repayment. Ca.s.siodorus evidently feels this; and very probably the restoration of the vessels and the quittance of the debt had been insisted on by him. But the more he despises his master's shabbiness, the more he struggles through a maze of almost nonsensical sentences, to prove that he has committed some very glorious action in lending the money and then forgiving the debt.]

21. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO DEUSDEDIT, A SCRIBE OF RAVENNA.

[Sidenote: Duties of a Scribe.]

'The Scribe's office is the great safeguard of the rights of all men.

The evidence of ownership may be destroyed by fire or purloined by dishonest men, but the State by making use of the Scribe's labours is able to make good the loss so sustained. The Scribe is more diligent in other men's business than they are in their own. His muniment-chest is the refuge of all the oppressed, and the repository of the fortunes of all men[867].

[Footnote 867: 'Armarium ipsius fortuna cunctorum est.']

'In testimony of your past integrity, and in the hope that no change will mar this fair picture, we appoint you to this honourable office.

Remember that ancient Truth is committed to your keeping, and that it often really rests with you, rather than with the Judge, to decide the disputes of litigants. When your indisputable testimony is given, and when the ancient voice of charters proceeds from your _sanctum_, Advocates receive it with reverence, and suitors, even evil-intentioned men, are constrained into obedience.

'Banish, therefore, all thoughts of venality from your mind. The worst moth that gets into papers and destroys them is the gold of the dishonest litigant, who bribes the Scribes to make away with evidence which he knows to be hostile. Thus, then, be ready always to produce to suitors genuine old doc.u.ments; and, on the other hand, transcribe only, do not compose ancient proceedings[868]. Let the copy correspond to the original as the wax to the signet-ring, that as the face is the index of the emotions[869] so your handwriting may not err from the authentic original in anything.

[Footnote 868: 'Translator esto, non conditor antiquorum gestorum.']

[Footnote 869: Compare Ca.s.siodorus' treatise De Anima, chapters x. and xi., in which he enumerates the various points in which the faces of good men and bad men differ from one another.]

'If a claimant succeed in enticing you even once from the paths of honesty, vainly will you in any subsequent case seek to obtain his credence for any doc.u.ment that you may produce; for he will always believe that the trick which has been played once may be played again.

Keep to the line of justice, and even his angry exclamations at the impossibility of inducing you to deviate therefrom, will be your highest testimonial. Your whole career is public, and the favour or disgrace which awaits you must be public also.'

22. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE PROVINCIALS OF ISTRIA.

[This letter was written Sept. 1, 537, probably in consequence of the scarcity which the operations of Belisarius were already causing at Ravenna. Apparently the whole taxes levied from a Province at an Indiction were divided into two heads: so much for the central authority, and so much for the Province. Ca.s.siodorus in this and the following letter says in effect: 'All the State's share of the taxes we will take not in money, but in your staple products, corn, wine, and oil. The rest goes as usual to the Province; but owing to the scarcity at Ravenna we shall be glad to buy all that can be spared either by the authorities of the Province or by individuals, whether farmers or merchants.']

'The true way to prevent the requirements of the public revenue from becoming oppressive, is to order each Province to supply those products in which it is naturally most fertile.

[Sidenote: Requisition from Province of Istria.]

'Now I have learned by conversation with travellers that the Province of Istria is this year especially blessed in three of its crops--wine, oil, and corn. Therefore let her give of these products the equivalent of ... solidi, which are due from you in payment of tribute for this first Indiction[870]: while the remainder we leave to that loyal Province for her own regular expenses. But since we require a larger quant.i.ty of the above-mentioned products, we send ... solidi from our state chest for the purchase of them, that these necessaries may be collected for us with as little delay as possible. Often when you are desirous to sell you cannot find a purchaser, and suffer loss accordingly. How much better is it to obey the requirements of your Lords than to supply foreigners; and to pay your debts in the fruits of the soil, rather than to wait on the caprices of a buyer!

[Footnote 870: The first Indiction was from September 1, 537, to September 1, 538.]

'We will ourselves out of our love of justice state a fact of which you might otherwise remind us, that we can afford to be liberal in price because we are not burdened by the payment of freights [on account of your nearness to the seat of government]. For what Campania is to Rome, Istria is to Ravenna--a fruitful Province abounding in corn, wine, and oil; so to speak, the cupboard of the capital. I might carry the comparison further, and say that Istria can show her own Baiae in the lagunes with which her sh.o.r.es are indented[871], her own Averni in the pools abounding in oysters and fish. The palaces, strung like pearls along the sh.o.r.es of Istria, show how highly our ancestors appreciated its delights[872]. The beautiful chain of islands with which it is begirt, shelter the sailor from danger and enrich the cultivator. The residence of the Court in this district delights the n.o.bles and enriches the lower orders; and it may be said that all its products find their way to the Royal city. Now let the loyal Province, which has often tendered her services when they were less required, send forward her stores freely.

[Footnote 871: Here follows this sentence: 'Haec loca garismatia plura nutriunt.' Garum seems to have been a sauce something like our anchovy-sauce. Garismatium is evidently a garum-supplying place.]

[Footnote 872: We have a special allusion in Martial (iv. 25) to the villas of Altinum, and he too compares them to those of Baiae.]

'To guard against any misunderstanding of our orders, we send Laurentius, a man of great experience, whose instructions are contained in the annexed letter.

'We will publish a tariff of moderate prices when we next address you, and when we have ascertained what is the yield of the present crops; for we should be deciding quite at random before we have received that information.'

23. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO LAURENTIUS, VIR EXPERIENTISSIMUS[873].

[Footnote 873: Evidently 'the annexed letter' referred to in No. 22.]

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'Anyone can discharge the duties of the Commissariat in a time of abundance. It is a mark of our high appreciation of your experience and efficiency, that we select you for this service in a time of scarcity. We therefore direct you to repair to the Province of Istria, there to collect stores of wine, oil, and corn, equivalent to ...

solidi, due from the Province for land-tax[874], and with ... solidi which you have received from our Treasurer to buy these products either from the merchants or from the peasants directly, according to the information prepared for you by the Cashiers[875]. Raise your spirits for this duty, and discharge it in a manner worthy of your past reputation. Make to us a faithful report of the yield of the coming harvest, under these three heads[876], that we may fix a tariff of prices which shall be neither burdensome to the Provincials nor injurious to the public service.'

[Footnote 874: 'Ut in tot solidos vini, olei, vel tritici species de tributario solido debeas procurare.']

[Footnote 875: 'Sicut te a Numerariis instruxit porrecta Not.i.tia.'

Note this use of the word 'Not.i.tia,' as ill.u.s.trating the t.i.tle of the celebrated doc.u.ment bearing that name.]

[Footnote 876: Corn, wine, and oil.]

24. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE TRIBUNES OF THE MARITIME POPULATION[877].

[Footnote 877: Written shortly after Sept. 1, 537. This is the celebrated letter to which Venetian historians point as evidence of the existence of their city (or at least of the group of settlements out of which their city sprang) in the Sixth Century. We may set side by side with it the words of the Anonymous Geographer of Ravenna (in the Seventh Century), 'In patria vero Venetiae sunt aliquantae insulae, quae hominibus habitantur.'

The address, _Tribunis Maritimorum_, looks as if there were something like a munic.i.p.al government established in these islands. Tribunus was at this time generally, but not exclusively, a military t.i.tle. Compare the Tribunus Fori Suarii and Tribunus Rerum Nitentium of the Not.i.tia (Occidens iv. 10 and iv. 17). But there can be no doubt, from the tone of this letter, that the islanders were subjects of the Ostrogothic King.]

[Sidenote: First historical notice of Venice.]

'We have previously given orders that Istria should send wine and oil, of which there are abundant crops this year, to the Royal residence at Ravenna. Do you, who possess numerous ships on the borders of the Province, show the same devotion in forwarding the stores which they do in supplying them.

'Be therefore active in fulfilling this commission in your own neighbourhood, you who often cross boundless distances. It may be said that [in visiting Ravenna] you are going through your own guest-chambers, you who in your voyages traverse your own home[878].

This is also added to your other advantages, that to you another route is open, marked by perpetual safety and tranquillity. For when by raging winds the sea is closed, a way is opened to you through the most charming river scenery[879]. Your keels fear no rough blasts; they touch the earth with the greatest pleasure, and cannot perish however frequently they may come in contact with it. Beholders from a distance, not seeing the channel of the stream, might fancy them moving through the meadows. Cables have been used to keep them at rest: now drawn by ropes they move, and by a changed order of things men help their ships with their feet. They draw their drawers without labour, and instead of the capricious favour of sails they use the more satisfactory steps of the sailor.

[Footnote 878: An obscure sentence: 'Per hospitia quodammodo vestra discurritis qui per patriam navigatis.' The idea seems to be: 'You have to sail about from one room to another of your own house, and therefore Ravenna will seem like a neighbouring inn.']

[Footnote 879: The next four sentences describe the movement of the ships when towed along the channels of the streams (Brenta, Piave, Tagliamento, &c.) the deposits from which have made the lagunes.]

'It is a pleasure to recall the situation of your dwellings as I myself have seen them. Venetia the praiseworthy[880], formerly full of the dwellings of the n.o.bility, touches on the south Ravenna and the Po, while on the east it enjoys the delightsomeness of the Ionian sh.o.r.e, where the alternating tide now discovers and now conceals the face of the fields by the ebb and flow of its inundation. Here after the manner of water-fowl have you fixed your home. He who was just now on the mainland finds himself on an island, so that you might fancy yourself in the Cyclades[881], from the sudden alterations in the appearance of the sh.o.r.e.

[Footnote 880: 'Venetiae praedicabiles.' An allusion, no doubt, as other commentators have suggested, to the reputed derivation of Venetia from [Greek: Ainetoi], 'the laudable.']

[Footnote 881: Alluding probably to the story of the floating island of Delos.]

'Like them[882] there are seen amid the wide expanse of the waters your scattered homes, not the product of Nature, but cemented by the care of man into a firm foundation[883]. For by a twisted and knotted osier-work the earth there collected is turned into a solid ma.s.s, and you oppose without fear to the waves of the sea so fragile a bulwark, since forsooth the ma.s.s of waters is unable to sweep away the shallow sh.o.r.e, the deficiency in depth depriving the waves of the necessary power.

[Footnote 882: 'Earum similitudine.' Does Ca.s.siodorus mean 'like the water-fowl,' or 'like the Cyclades?']

[Footnote 883: The reading of Nivellius (followed by Migne), 'Domicilia videntur sparsa, quae Natura non protulit sed hominum cura fundavit,' seems to give a better sense than that of Garet, who omits the 'non.']

'The inhabitants have one notion of plenty, that of gorging themselves with fish. Poverty therefore may a.s.sociate itself with wealth on equal terms. One kind of food refreshes all; the same sort of dwelling shelters all; no one can envy his neighbour's home; and living in this moderate style they escape that vice [of envy] to which all the rest of the world is liable.