FOOTNOTES
[1] We get these titles from the Notitia Occidentis I.
[2] [See previous footnote.]
[3] On the authority of a letter of Pope Gelasius, 'Philippo et Cassiodoro,' Usener fixes this governorship of Bruttii between the years 493 and 496 (p. 76).
[4] De Pontificibus et Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracensis, p. 843 of Migne's Second Volume of Alcuin's Works. I owe this quotation to Adolph Franz.
[5] Preface to Getica (Mommsen's Edition, p. 53).
[6] Epist. XIV. ad Rusticum et Sebastianum (Migne, p. 49).
[7] Nearly all the letters in the XIth and XIIth Books of the Variae are headed 'Senator Praefectus Praetorio.'
'Adtollit se diva Lacinia contra,
Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylaceum.'
(iii. 552-3.)
[9] p. 375: ed. Oxon. 1807.
[10] Pliny (Hist. Nat. iii. 10) says: 'Dein sinus Scylacius et Scyllacium, Scylletium Atheniensibus, cum conderent, dictum: quem locum occurrens Terinaeus sinus peninsulam efficit: et in eâ portus qui vocatur Castra Annibalis, nusquam angustiore Italia XX millia passuum latitudo est.'
[11] I take the two following paragraphs from Lenormant's La Grande Grèce, pp. 342-3.
[12] The reference is given by Köpke (Die Anfänge des Königthums, p. 88) as 'De scr. ecc. 212 Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, ed. Fabricius, p. 58;' by Thorbecke (p. 8) as 'Catalogus seu liber scriptorum ecclesiasticorum, Coloniae 1546, p. 94.' Franz (p. 4) quotes from the same edition as Köpke, 'De script. eccl. c. 212 in Fabricii biblioth. eccl., Hamburgi 1728, iii. p. 58.'
[13] The Anecdoton Holderi.
[14] Cassiodorus the First, born about 390; the Second, about 420; the Third, about 450.
[15] Or possibly 501.
[16] This fact, and also the cause of Senator's promotion to the Quaestorship, we learn from the Anecdoton Holderi described in a following chapter.
[17] The terms Adsessor, Consiliarius, Παρεδρος, Συμβουλος, seem all to indicate the same office.
[18] Cod. Theod. i. 12. 1.
[19] This seems to be the meaning of Cod. Theod. i. 12. 2. The gains of the 'filii familias Assessores' were to be protected as if they were 'castrense peculium.'
[20] Some points in this description are taken from Bethmann Hollweg, Gerichtsverfassung der sinkenden Römischen Reichs, pp. 153-158.
[21] 'Cassiodorus Senator ... juvenis adeo, dum patris Cassiodori patricii et praefecti praetorii consiliarius fieret et laudes Theodorichi regis Gothorum facundissime recitasset, ab eo quaestor est factus' (Anecdoton Holderi, ap. Usener, p. 4).
[22] He himself says, or rather makes Theodoric's grandson say to him, 'Quem primaevum recipiens ad quaestoris officium, mox reperit [Theodoricus] conscientiâ praeditum, et legum eruditione maturum' (Var. ix. 24).
[23] At this time the Illustres actually in office would probably be the Praefectus Praetorio Italiae (Cassiodorus the father), the Praefectus Urbis Romae, the two Magistri Militum in Praesenti, the Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi, the Magister Officiorum, the Quaestor, the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum, the Comes Rerum Privatarum, and the two Comites Domesticorum Equitum et Peditum.
[24] 'Sub dispositione viri illustris Quaestoris
Leges dictandae
Preces.
Officium non habet sed adjutores de scriniis quos voluerit.'
[25] Officium non habet.
[27] Echeneis.
[28] Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, lvii.
[29] Theodorus Lector (circa 550), Eccl. Hist. ii. 18. Both he and some later writers who borrow from him call the King Θεοδεριχος 'ο Αφρος; why, it is impossible to say.
[31] Die Uterwerfung der Alamannen: Strassburg, 1884.
[32] Especially Binding, Geschichte des Burgundisch-Romanischen Königreichs, p. 181.
[34] Thorbecke has pointed out (pp. 40-41) that we possess letters written by Cassiodorus to four Quaestors before the year 510, and that therefore the fact of others holding the nominal office of Quaestor did not circumscribe his activity as Secretary to Theodoric.
[35] It need hardly be explained that, as a matter of compliment to the reigning Emperor, the first Consulship that fell vacant after his accession to the throne was (I believe invariably) filled by him, and that though he might sometimes have held the office of Consul before his assumption of the diadem, this was not often the case. Certainly, in the instances given above, Probus, Carus, and Diocletian held no Consulships till after they had been saluted as Emperors.
[36] Clinton's date for this battle, 403, differs from that assigned by Cassiodorus, and is, in my judgment, erroneous.
[37] Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, iii. 547-696.
[38] 'Dass die ganze Procedur von der übelsten Art ist und den viel gefeierten gothischen Historiker in jeder weise compromittirt, bedarf keiner Ausaneindersetzung' (l.c. 564).
[39] It could not have been written, at any rate in its present shape, before 516, because Athalaric's birth is mentioned in it. I prefer Jordanes' date for this event, 516 or 517, to that given by Procopius, 518. On the other hand, Usener proves (p. 74), from the reference to it in the Anecdoton Holderi, that it could not have been written after 521.
[41] 'Iste Amalos cum generis sui claritate restituit.' Perhaps it is better to take 'sui' as equivalent to 'illorum,' and translate 'their lineage.'
[42] 'Ut sicut fuistis a majoribus vestris semper nobiles aestimati, ita vobis rerum antiqua progenies imperaret.' For 'rerum' we must surely read 'regum.'
[43] My meaning would be better expressed by the useful German word 'voraussetzungslosigkeit,' freedom from a foregone conclusion.
[44] Jordanes, De Reb. Get. xiii.
[45] 'De Rebus Geticis,' or 'De Gothorum Origine,' is the name by which this little treatise is usually known. It seems to be doubtful, however, what title, if any, Jordanes himself prefixed to it. Mommsen calls it simply 'Getica.'
[46] Especially Schirren, 'De Ratione quae inter Jordanem et Cassiodorum intercedat' (Dorpat, 1858); Sybel, 'De Fontibus Libri Jordanis' (Berlin, 1838); and Köpke, 'Die Anfänge des Königthums bei den Gothen' (Berlin, 1859).
[47] Possibly in the end Bishop of Crotona, or a Defensor of the Roman Church, since we find a Jordanes in each of these positions; but this is mere guesswork, and to me neither theory seems probable.
[48] 'Sed ut non mentiar, ad triduanam lectionem dispensatoris ejus beneficio libros ipsos antehac relegi.' Notwithstanding the 'ut non mentiar,' most of those who have enquired into the subject have come to the opinion which is bluntly expressed by Usener (p. 73), 'Die dreitägige Frist die Jordanes zur Benutzung der 12 Bücher gehabt haben will, ist natürlich Schwindel.' Even by an expert précis-writer a loan of three months would be much more probably needed for the purpose indicated by Jordanes than one of three days.
[49] This was probably 521 at latest.
[50] The language of Cassiodorus in Var. ix. 24 implies that he had held this office for a considerable time before the death of Theodoric. Usener thinks that he was made Magister Officiorum for the first time about the year 518.
[51] They are 'Scutariorum prima, secunda et tertia, armaturarum seniorum et gentilium seniorum' (Notitia Occidentis, cap. ix.).
[52] This is the account of the matter given by Lydus (De Magistratibus ii. 10); but as the Notitia (Or. xi.) puts the 'Curiosus Cursus Publici Praesentalis' under the disposition of the Magister Officiorum, the retransfer had probably not then taken place. It would seem also from the Formula of Cassiodorus (Var. vi. 6) that in his time the Magister Officiorum still had the charge of the Cursus Publicus.
[54] The meaning apparently is: 'The experience which he had gained in Theodoric's service was employed for the advantage of his grandson.'
[56] 'Diutius quidem differendo pro te cunctorum vota lassavimus, ut benevolentiam in te probaremus generalitatis, et cunctis desiderabilior advenires.'
[58] Joannes Lydus, De Dignitatibus ii. 7, 8, 9, 13, 14.
[59] Bethmann Hollweg (pp. 75, 76) enumerates the functions of the Praetorian Praefect thus: '(1) Legislative. He promulgated the Imperial laws, and issued edicts which had almost the force of laws. (2) Financial. The general tax (indictio, delegatio) ordered by the Emperor for the year, was proclaimed by each Praefect for his own Praefecture. Through his officials he took part in the levy of the tax, and had a special State-chest (arca praetoria) for the proceeds. (3) Administrative. The Praefect proposed the names of provincial governors, handed to them their salaries, had a general oversight of them, issued rescripts on the information furnished by them, and could as their ordinary Judge inflict punishments upon them, even depose them from their offices, and temporarily nominate substitutes to act in their places. (4) Judicial, as the highest Judge of Appeal.'
[60] See authorities quoted by Bethmann Hollweg, pp. 79, 80.
[61] 'ορκοις δεινοτατοις.
[62] Variarum iv. 39 and v. 12.
[63] The dates of the death of Athalaric and deposition of Amalasuentha are given by Agnellus in his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis, p. 322 (in the edition comprised in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica).
[64] We do not seem to have the precise date of the death of Amalasuentha, but apparently it happened about the month of May, 535.
[65] De Bello Gotthico, i. 6.
[66] The situation of this plain is unknown.
[68] We get this date only from Agnellus (loc. cit. p. 522).
[70] Var. xii. 22, 23, 24, 27, 28.
[72] 'Cum jam suscepti operis optato fine gauderem, meque duodecim voluminibus jactatum quietis portus exciperet, ubi etsi non laudatus, certe liberatus adveneram, amicorum me suave collegium in salum rursus cogitationis expressit, postulans ut aliqua quae tam in libris sacris, quam in saecularibus abstrusa compereram de animae substantiâ, vel de ejus virtutibus aperirem, cui datum est tam ingentium rerum secreta reserare: addens nimis ineptum esse si eam per quam plura cognoscimus, quasi a nobis alienam ignorare patiamur, dum ad anima sit utile nosse qua sapimus' (De Animâ, Praefatio).
[73] Fifty-eight, if the retirement was in 538.
[74] 'Nam si vos in monasterio Vivariensi divinâ gratia suffragante coenobiorum consuetudo competenter erudiat, et aliquid sublimius defaecatis animis optare contingat, habetis mentis Castelli secreta suavia, ubi velut anachoritae (praestante Domino) feliciter esse possitis' (De Inst. Div. Litt. xxix.).
[75] 'Invitat vos locus Vivariensis monasterii ... quando habetis hortos irriguos, et piscosi amnis Pellenae fluenta vicina, qui nec magnitudine undarum suspectus habetur, nec exiguitate temnibilis. Influit vobis arte moderatus, ubicunque necessarius judicatur et hortis vestris sufficiens et molendinis.... Maria quoque vobis ita subjacent, ut piscationibus variis pateant; et captus piscis, cum libuerit, vivariis possit includi. Fecimus enim illic (juvante Deo) grata receptacula ubi sub claustro fideli vagetur piscium multitudo; ita consentanea montium speluncis, ut nullatenus se sentiat captum, cui libertas eat escas sumere, et per solitas se cavernas abscondere.'
[76] 'Balnea quoque congruenter aegris praeparata corporibus jussimus aedificari, ubi fontium perspicuitas decenter illabitur, quae et potui gratissima cognoscitur et lavacris.'
[77] But the words of Trithemius (quoted by Migne, Patrologia lxix. 498), 'Hic post aliquot conversionis suae annos abbas electus est, et monasterio multo tempore utiliter praefuit,' may preserve a genuine and accurate tradition. Cassiodorus' mention of the two Abbots, Chalcedonius and Geruntius (De Inst. Div. Litt. cap. xxxii.) shows that at any rate in the infancy of his monasteries he was not Abbot of either of them.
[78] Agapetus was Pope in 535 and 536.
[79] 'Nisus sum ergo cum beatissimo Agapeto papa urbis Romae, ut sicut apud Alexandriam multo tempore fuisse traditur institutum, nunc etiam in Nisibi civitate Syrorum ab Hebraeis sedulo fertur exponi, collatis expensis in urbe Romana professos doctores scholae potius acciperent Christianae, unde et anima susciperet aeternam salutem, et casto atque purissimo eloquio fidelium lingua comeretur' (De Inst. Praefatio).
[80] The 30th of the De Institutione Div. Litt.
[81] For instance, in cap. xv., after cautioning his copyists against rash corrections of apparent faults in the sacred MSS., he says: 'Ubicunque paragrammata in disertis hominibus [i.e. in classical authors] reperta fuerint, intrepidus vitiosa recorrigat.' And the greater part of cap. xxviii. is an argument against 'respuere saecularium litterarum studia.'
[82] Paravimus etiam nocturnis vigiliis mechanicas lucernas, conservatrices illuminantium flammarum, ipsas sibi nutrientes incendium, quae humano ministerio cessante, prolixe custodiant uberrimi luminis abundantissimam claritatem; ubi olei pinguedo non deficit, quamvis flammis ardentibus jugitor torreatur.
[83] 'In Psalterio et Prophetis et Epistolis apostolorum studium maximum laboris impendi.... Quos ego cunctos novem codices auctoritatis divinae (ut senex potui) sub collatione priscorum codicum amicis ante me legentibus, sedula lectione transivi' (De Inst. Praefatio). We should have expected 'tres' rather than 'novem,' as the Psalter, the Prophets, and the Epistles each formed one codex.
[84] I take my account of this treatise chiefly from Franz (pp. 93-100).
[85] Printed hitherto as two works, De Institutione Divinarum Litterarum, and De Artibus ac Disciplinis Liberalium Litterarum. But, as Ebert has shown (i. 477), the Preface to the Orthographiâ makes it probable that these two really formed one book, with a title like that given above.
[86] 'In Italico regno.' These words seem to favour the conjecture that Theodoric may have called himself King of Italy.
[87] As a specimen of this better style of Cassiodorus, I may refer to his praises of the life of the literary monk, and his exhortation to him who is of duller brain to practise gardening: 'Quapropter toto nisu, toto labore, totis desideriis exquiramus ut ad tale tantumque munus, Domino largiente, pervenire mereamur. Hoc enim nobis est salutare, proficuum, gloriosum, perpetuum, quod nulla mors, nulla mobilitas, nulla possit separare oblivio; sed in illa suavitate patriae, cum Domino faciet aeterna exsultatione gaudere. Quod si alicui fratrum, ut meminit Virgilius,
"Frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis,"
ut nec humanis nec divinis litteris perfecte possit erudiri, aliqua tamen scientiae mediocritate suffultus, eligat certe quod sequitur,
"Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes."
Quia nec ipsum est a monachis alienum hortos colere, agros exercere, et pomorum fecunditate gratulari; legitur enim in Psalmo centesimo vigesimo septimo, "Labores manuum tuarum manducabis; beatus es et bene tibi erit."'
[88]1. Octateuchus (Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth).
2. Kings (Samuel and Kings, Chronicles).
3. Prophets (Four Major, including Daniel, and Twelve Minor).
4. Psalms.
5. Solomon (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus).
6. Hagiographa (Tobias, Esther, Judith, Maccabees, Esdras).
7. Gospels.
8. Epistles of the Apostles (including that to the Hebrews).
9. Acts of the Apostles and Apocalypse.
[89] The remarks on Marcellinus Comes and Prosper are worth transcribing: 'Hunc [Eusebium] subsecutus est suprascriptus Marcellinus Illyricianus, qui adhuc patricii Justiniani fertur egisse cancellos; sed meliore conditione devotus, a tempore Theodosii principis usque ad finem imperii triumphalis Augusti Justiniani opus suum, Domino juvante, perduxit; ut qui ante fuit in obsequio suscepto gratus, postea ipsius imperio copiose amantissimus appareret.' [The allusion to 'finem imperii Justiniani' was probably added in a later revision of the Institutiones.] 'Sanctus quoque Prosper Chronica ab Adam ad Genserici tempora et urbis Romae depraedationem usque perduxit.'
[90] They were a compilation from the 'Artes' of Donatus, from a book on Etymologies (perhaps also by Donatus), and from a treatise by Sacerdos on Schemata; and a short Table of Contents of the Books of Scripture, prepared in such a form as to be easily committed to memory.
[91] Ad amantissimos orthographos discutiendos anno aetatis meae nonagesimo tertio (Domino adjuvante) perveni.
[92] They were Donatus, Cn. Cornutus, Velius Longus, Curtius Valerianus, Papirianus, Adamantius Martyrius, Eutiches, Caesellius, Lucius Caecilius, and 'Priscianus grammaticus, qui nostro tempore Constantinopoli doctor fuit.' Two names seem to be omitted by Cassiodorus.
[93] As stated by Ebert (p. 481).
[94] Cap. xv.
[95] In assigning the death of Cassiodorus to the ninety-sixth year of his age I rest upon the authority of Trittheim (as quoted in the earlier part of this chapter), who appears to me to have preserved the chronology which was generally accepted, before the question became entangled by the confusion between Cassiodorus and his father.
[96] See Scrivener, Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, pp. 133-4.
[97] I have adopted the emendations—most of them the corrections of obvious mistakes—which are suggested by Usener.
[98] In the original, 'Casiodorū.'
[99] In the original, 'ex quibus.'
[100] De Bello Gotthico iii. 13 (p. 328, ed. Bonn).
[101] If Usener be right (and he has worked up this point with great care), we can trace the following links in the pedigree of Cethegus (see pp. 6 and 11):
Rufius Petronius Placidus, Consul 481.
|
Rufius Petronius Anicius Probinus, Consul 489.
|
Rufius Petronius Nicomachus Cethegus, Consul 504, correspondent of Cassiodorus.
Probinus and Cethegus are referred to by Ennodius in his letter to Ambrosius and Beatus, otherwise called his Paraenesis (p. 409, ed. Hartel).
[102] Caput Senati. This, not Caput Senatus, is the form which we find in Anon. Valesii. Usener suggests (p. 32) that Symmachus probably became Caput Senati on the death of Festus, who had held that position from 501 to 506.
[103] See Usener, p. 29. The Consules Ordinarii for that year were Arcadius and Honorius.
[104] Jordanes, Getica xv.: 'Nam, ut dicit Symmachus in quinto suae historiae libro, Maximinus ... ab exercitus effectus est imperator.' 'Occisus Aquileia a Puppione regnum reliquit Philippo; quod nos huic nostro opusculo de Symmachi hystoria [sic] mutuavimus.'
[105] Chiefly derived from the Paraenesis of Ennodius (Opusc. vi.).
[106] In the Paraenesis.
[107] Usener's suggestion (pp. 38, 39) that he obtained this honour in consequence of having filled the place of Comes Sacrarum Largitionum seems to me only to land us in the further difficulty caused by the entire omission of all allusion to this fact both in the Paraenesis and in the Anecdoton Holderi.
[108] See Var. i. 10 and 45; ii. 40.
[109] De l'Origine des Traditions sur le Christianisme de Boèce (Paris, 1861.)
[110] The existence of this title is proved not only by the language of Arcadius in the Theodosian Code x. 25. 1, concerning 'Nobilissimae puellae, filiae meae,' but also by Zosimus (ii. 39), who says that Constantine bestowed the dignity of Nobilissimus on his brother Constantius and his nephew Hannibalianus (της του λεγομενου νωβελισσιμου παρ' αυτου Κωνσταντινου τυχοντες αξιας αιδοι της συγγενειας); and by Marcellinus Comes, s. a. 527, who says: 'Justinus Imperator Justinianum ex sorore suâ nepotem, jamdudum a se Nobilissimum designatum, participem quoque regni ani, successoremque creavit.' It is evident that the title did not come by right of birth, but that some sort of declaration of it was necessary.
[115] I think the usual account of the matter is that which I have given elsewhere (Italy and her Invaders, i. 227), that the Comes had military command in the Diocese and the Dux in the Province. But on closer examination I cannot find that the Notitia altogether bears out this view. It gives us for the Western Empire eight Comites and twelve Duces. The former pretty nearly correspond to the Dioceses, but the latter are far too few for the Provinces, which number forty-two, excluding all the Provinces of Italy. Besides, in some cases the jurisdiction appears to be the same. Thus we have both a Dux and a Comes Britanniarum, and the Dux Mauritaniae Caesariensis must, one would think, have held command in a region as large or larger than the Comes Tingitaniae. Again, we have a Comes Argentoratensis and a Dux Moguntiacensis, two officers whose power, one would think, was pretty nearly equal. The same may perhaps be said of the Comes Litoris Saxonici in Britain and the Dux Tractus Armoricani et Nervicani in Gaul. While recognising a general inferiority of the Dux to the Comes, I do not think we can, with the Notitia before us, assert that the Provincial Duces were regularly subordinated to the Diocesan Comes, as the Provincial Consulares were to the Diocesan Vicarius. And the fact that both Comes and Dux were addressed as Spectabilis rather confirms this view.
[116] Probably, from the order in which they are mentioned by the Notitia.
[117] Sublimis occurs in the superscription of the following letters: i. 2; iv. 17; v. 25, 30, and 36; ix. 11 and 14; xii. 5.
[118] See Emil Kühn's Verfassung des Römischen Reichs i. 182, and the passages quoted there.
[119] p. 31.
[120] To illustrate the Eleventh Book of the Variae, Letters 18 to 35.
[121] See Table, p. 94.
[122] To use a modern illustration, we might perhaps say that the Notitia Dignitatum = Whitaker's Almanac + the Army List.
[123] See also Var. vii. 24 and 28.
[124] De Mag. iii. 3, 4.
[125] Lydus here gives the Formula for the admission of assistants, 'et colloca eum in legione primâ adjutrice nostrâ,' which he proceeds to translate into Greek for the benefit of his readers (και ταξειας αυτον εν τω πρωτω ταγματι τω βοηθουντι 'ημιν).
[126] I have slightly expanded a sentence here, but this is evidently the author's meaning.
[127] Condensed from Lydus, De Mag. iii. 4-7.
[128] Ib. iii. 22-24.
[129] This seems to be the meaning of Lydus, but it is not clearly expressed.
[130] There is something wanting in the text here.
[131] See Cod. Theod. vi. 29. 8, which looks rather like the law alluded to by Lydus, notwithstanding his remark about its omission.
[132] τω κρειττονι.
[133] εκ του βαθμου.
[134] De Mag. iii. 25.
[135] απο των λεγομενων κομπλευσιμων, apparently the same source of revenue as the promotion-money (την εκ του βαθμου προνομιαν).
[136] De Mag. iii. 4.
[137] μετα δε τον κορνικουλαριον πριμισκρινιοι δυο, ους 'Ηλληνες πρωτους της ταξεως καλουσι.
[138] De Mag. iii. 11.
[139] παρηει προς τους πριμισκρινιους ταξαντας εκβιβαστην τοις αποπεφασμενοις. Probably we should read ταξοντας for ταξαντας.
[140] επληρουν δια των βοηθειν αυτοις τεταγμενων (? Adjutores).
[141] επι του νωτου της εντυχιας γραμμασιν αιδους αυτοθεν απασης και εξουσιας ογκω σεσοβημενοις.
[142] κομμενταρισιοι δυο ('ουτω δε τους επι των 'υπομνηματων γραφη ταττομενους 'ο νομος καλει) (iii. 4). I accept the necessary emendation of the text proposed in the Bonn edition.
[143] To avoid confusion I will use the term 'Commentariensis' throughout.
[144] So Bethmann Hollweg (p. 179), 'Diess ist der Gehülfe des Magistrats bei Verwaltung der Criminaljustiz.' I compare him in the following translation of Cassiodorus to a 'magistrate's clerk.'
[145] See iii. 9 (p. 203, ed. Bonn), and combine with iii. 16. The Augustales referred to in the latter passage were a higher class of Exceptores.
[146] Applicitarii, Clavicularii, Lictores.
[147] σιδηρεοις δεσμοις και ποιναιων οργανων και πληκτρων ποικιλια σαλευοντων τω φοβω το δικαστηριον (iii. 16).
[148] και κοινωνησαντος αυτω της βασιλειας.
[149] 'οτε Κωαδης 'ο Περσης εφλεγμαινε. The whole passage is mysterious, but we seem to have here an allusion to the outbreak of the Persian War (a.d. 502).
[150] iii. 17 (p. 210).
[152] This seems to be Bethmann Hollweg's view (p. 181).
[153] This we learn from iii. 20. They are not mentioned in iii. 4, where we should have expected to find them.
[154] 'εξ ανδρες εραστοι και νουνεχεστατοι και σφριγωντες ετι (Lydus iii. 20).
[155] 'ρεγεστων η κοττιδιανων (αντι του εφημερων).
[156] Ιταλιστι. Of course the emphasis laid on this point proceeds from the Greek nationality of our present authority.
[157] σαβανον = a towel.
[158] Except, as before stated, those in the office of the Praetorian Praefect for Illyricum. These were four in number, and one of them had charge of 'gold,' another of '[public] works.' Further information is requisite to enable us to explain these entries.
[159] They are alluded to in Var. xii. 13. The Canonicarii (Tax-collectors) had plundered the Churches of Bruttii and Lucania in the name of 'sedis nostrae Numerarii;' but the Numerarii with holy horror declared that they had received no part of the spoils.
[160] See Bethmann Hollweg, 184.
[161] Illustres and Spectabiles.
[163] This is Bethmann Hollweg's interpretation of the words of Lydus, 'οι τας μεν επι τοις δημοσιοις φοιτωσας ψηφους γραφουσι μονον, το λοιπον καταφρονουμενοι (iii. 21). In another passage (iii. 4, 5) Lydus appears to assign a reason for the fact that the Praefectus Urbis Constantinopolitanae, the Magister Militum, and the Magister Officiorum had no Cura Epistolarum on their staff; but the paragraph is to me hopelessly obscure. Curiously enough, too, while he avers that every department of the State (perhaps every diocese) had, as a rule, its own Curae Epistolarum, he limits the two in the Praetorian Praefect's office to the diocese of Pontica (κουρα επιστολαρουμ Ποντικης δυο).
[164] The first form of the name is found in the Notitia, the second in Lydus and Cassiodorus.
[165] It is not easy to make out exactly what Lydus wishes us to understand about the Cursus Publicus; but I think his statements amount to this, that it was taken by Arcadius from the Praetorian Praefect and given to the Magister Officiorum, was afterwards restored to the Praefect, and finally was in effect destroyed by the corrupt administration of John of Cappadocia. (See ii. 10; iii. 21, 61.)
[166] The ταχυγραφοι of Lydus.
[167] In making this statement I consider the Adjutores to be virtually another class of Exceptores, and I purposely omit the Singularii as not belonging to the Militia Litterata, which alone I am now considering.
[168] iii. 6, 9.
[169] I think this is a fair summary of Lydus iii. 9 and 10, but these paragraphs are very difficult and obscure.
[170] We should certainly have expected that the Augustales would be those writers who were specially appropriated to the Emperor's service, but the other conclusion necessarily follows from the language of Lydus (iii. 10): 'ωστε και πεντεκαιδεκα εξ αυτων των πεπανωτερων πειρα τε και τω χρονω κρειττονων προς 'υπογραφην τοις βασιλευσιν αφορισθηναι, ους ετι και νυν δηπουτατους καλουσιν, 'οι του ταγματος των Αυγουσταλιων πρωτευουσιν.
[171] The form of the word must I think prevent us from applying the Princeps Augustorum of xi. 35 to the same class of officers.
[172] τους επι ταις λογικαις τεταγμενους λειτουργιαις (Lydus iii. 7). Περας μεν 'οδε των λογικων της ταξεως συστηματων (iii. 21). The 'Learned Service' may be taken as corresponding to 'a post fit for a gentleman,' in modern phraseology. In our present Official Directories the members of the λογικη ταξις appear to be all dignified with the title 'Esq.;' the others have only 'Mr.'
[173] Occidentis ix. 15.
[174] In Var. xi. 6, which see.
[175] iii. 36, 37.
[176] About twelve shillings.
[177] This derivation from casses is, of course, absurd.
[178] Can this be the meaning of εις πληθος?
[179] Κομποφακελλορρημοσυνη = Pomp-bundle-wordiness, an Aristophanic word.
[180] De Dignitatibus iii. 7.
[182] This seems a probable explanation of a rather obscure passage.
[183] See the following sections of the Notitia: Magister Militum Praesentatis (Oriens v. 74, vi. 77; Occidens v. 281, vi. 93); M.M. per Orientem (Or. vii. 67); M.M. per Thracias (Or. viii. 61); M.M. per Illyricum (Or. ix. 56); Magister Equitum per Gallias (Occ. vii. 117). The only civil officer who has Apparitores is the Proconsul Achaiae (Oriens xxi. 14).
[184] This edition is described by Dibdin (Bibliotheca Spenceriana iii. 244-5).
[185] p. 492.
[186] See Usener, p. 32.
[187] Compare Marquardt (Römische Staatsverwaltung ii. 237). He remarks that the Indiction seems to have been first adopted in Egypt, and did not come into universal use all over the Empire till the end of the Fourth Century.
[188] The Twelfth Century, according to Marquardt.
[189] Vol. ii. pp. 214-216. See his remarks, p. 210: 'The Indictions in Marcellinus and in the Tables of Du Fresnoy are compared with the Consulship and the Julian year in which they end. In the following Table they are compared with the year in which they begin, because the years of the Christian era are here made the measure of the rest, and contain the beginnings of all the other epochs.'
[192] Translated in full.
[193] 'Alii furiosa contentionum seditione circumdant.' This is probably meant to describe turbulent Goths.
[194] ου χρη παννυχιον ευδειν βουληφορον ανδρα (Il. ii. 24).
[195] 'Quia non sufficit agenda militibus imperare, nisi haec Judicis assiduitas videatur exigere.'
[196] 'Addimus etiam quod frequenter Quaesturae vicibus ingravato otii tempus adimit crebra cogitatio, et velut mediocribus fascibus insudanti, illa tibi de aliis honoribus principes videntur imponere, quae proprii Judices nequeunt explicare.' This is probably the clearest account that is anywhere given of the peculiar and somewhat undefined position held by Cassiodorus during the greater part of the reign of Theodoric.
[197] 'Regum quinetiam gloriosa colloquia pro magnâ diei parte in bonum publicum te occupare noverunt.' It is difficult to translate the expressive term, 'gloriosa colloquia.'
[198] 'Ut fastidium sit otiosis exspectare quae tu continuo labore cognosceris sustinere.' I cannot translate this literally.
[199] 'Rudes viros et ad Rempublicam consciâ facundiâ praeparatos.' Surely some negative has dropped out of the latter clause.
[200] 'Tu enim illos assumpsisti verâ laude describere, et quodammodo historico colore depingere.'
[201] 'Contingit enim dissimilem filium plerumque generari, oratio dispar moribus vix potest inveniri.'
[202] 'Duodecim libris Gothorum historiam defloratis prosperitatibus condidisti.' By an extraordinary error this sentence has been interpreted to mean that Cassiodorus wrote his history of the Goths after their prosperity had faded; and some writers have accordingly laboured, quite hopelessly, to bring down the composition of the Gothic History to a late period in the reign of Athalaric. It is perfectly clear from many passages that Cassiodorus uses 'deflorare' in the sense of 'picking flowers,' 'culling a nosegay.' See Historia Tripartita, Preface (twice); De Instit. Divin. Litterarum, cap. xxx; and De Orthographiâ, cap. ii (title). I doubt not that careful search would discover many more instances. It is only strange to me that Cassiodorus should, by the words 'defloratis prosperitatibus,' so naïvely confess the one-sided character of his history.
[203] The editors waver between 'quod est in edicto' and 'quod est in edito (constitutum).'
[204] 'Vos totius orbis salutare praesidium, quod caeteri dominantes jure suspiciunt quia in vobis singulare aliquid inesse cognoscunt.' 'Suspiciunt' seems to give a better sense than the other reading, 'suscipiunt.'
[205] 'Quia in vobis singulare aliquid inesse cognoscunt.'
[206] 'Illum atque illum.' I shall always render this phrase (which shows that Cassiodorus had not preserved the names of the ambassadors) as above.
[207] 'Quia pati vos non credimus, inter utrasque Respublicas, quarum semper unum corpus sub antiquis principibus fuisse declaratur, aliquid discordiae permanere.'
[208] 'Pomâ meute deposcimus ne suspendatis a nobis mansuetudinis vestrae gloriosissimam caritatem.'
[209] For some remarks on the date of this letter, see Introduction, p. 23. The mention of interrupted peace, which evidently requires not mere estrangement but an actual state of war, points to the year 505, when Sabinian, the general of Anastasius, was defeated by the Ostrogoths and their allies at Horrea Margi; or to 508, when the Imperial fleet made a raid on the coast of Apulia, as probable dates for the composition of the letter. Its place at the beginning of the Variae does not at all imply priority in date to the letters which follow it. It was evidently Cassiodorus' method to put in the forefront of every book in his collection a letter to an Emperor or King, or other great personage.
As for the tone of the letter, and the exact character of the relation between the Courts of Ravenna and Constantinople which is indicated by it, there is room for a wide divergence of opinion. To me it does not seem to bear out Justinian's contention (recorded by Procopius, De Bello Gotthico ii. 6) that Theodoric ruled Italy as the Emperor's lieutenant. Under all the apparent deference and affectation of humility the language seems to me to be substantially that of one equal addressing another, older and with a somewhat more assured position, but still an equal.
[210] Otranto.
[211] Vernans.
[212] Blatta.
[213] I presume the same as Hydruntum (Otranto).
[214] Father of the Author.
[215] 'In ipso quippe imperii nostri devotus exordio, cum adhuc fluctuantibus rebus provinciarum corda vagarentur, et negligi rudem dominum novitas ipsa pateretur.'
[216] Father of Cassiodorus Senator.
[217] Grandfather of Cassiodorus Senator.
[218] Great-grandfather of Cassiodorus Senator.
[219] 'Nec aliqua probatur appellatione suspensa.'
[220] 'Et venis colludentibus illigata naturalem faciem laudabiliter mentiantur.'
[221] 'Neotherium fratrem suum, affectum germanitatis oblitum, bona parvuli hostili furore lacerasse.'
[222] 'Nihil enim in tali honore temeraria cogitatione praesumendum est, ubi si proposito creditur, etiam tacitus ab excessibus excusatur. Manifesta proinde crimina in talibus vix capiunt fidem. Quidquid autem ex invidia dicitur, veritas non putatur.'
[223] If the MSS. are correctly represented in the printed editions, the name of the author of the Consolation of Philosophy was spelt Boetius in the Variae. There can be little doubt however that Boethius is the more correct form, and this is the form given us in the Anecdoton Holderi.
[224] Why are these called 'Domestici patres equitum et peditum?'
[225] Perhaps the name really was Eugenes, -etis. See Var. viii. 19, and Ennodii, Epist. iv. 26.
[226] 'Pio principi sub quodam sacerdotio serviatur.' Cf. Claudian, 'Nunquam libertas gratior exstat quam sub rege pio.'
[227] 'Ut quantum eos minus vendidisse constiterit, de reliquis primae indictionis habita moderatione detrahatis.'
[228] 'Durissimae mansiones.'
[229] 'Ex quo, Deo propitio, Sonti fluenta transmisimus ubi primum Italiae nos suscepit imperium.'
[230] 'Illud enim, propitiante Deo, labores nostros asserit quod se otiosam generalitas esse cognoscit.'
[231] 'Quapropter illustris magnitudo vestra praesenti jussione commonita, patrocinium partis Prasini, quod gloriosae recordationis pater noster impendit, dignanter assumat.' This passage probably alludes to Theodoric's adoption by Zeno. But one reading is 'pater vester.'
[232] See for the office of the Sajo, note on ii. 13.
[233] I presume that 'portum Lucini' is an error for the Lucrine harbour; but there is an allusion which I do not understand in the following passage: 'Simul etiam portubus junctis, qui ad illa loca antiquitus pertinebant, et nunc diversorum usurpatione suggeruntur invasi?'
[234] This is evidently the writer's father.
[235] 'Onera indictorum titulorum.'
[236] 'Tributa sunt purpurae, non lacernae.'
[237] See i. 23, from which it appears that these two men had special jurisdiction in cases affecting Patricians.
[238] See Letter i. 20.
[240] 'Expensae publicae' perhaps = curatores annonae.
[241] For a fuller translation of this marvellous letter, see Introd. p. 18.
[242] See remarks on this letter in Dahn, Könige der Germanen iv. 147-8. Some MSS. read Coion or Goinon, as the name of the Senator to whom it is addressed.
[243] 'Quae circa referendos curiae priscus ordo designavit.'
[244] Either 509-510 or 524-525; more probably the former.
[245] An unintelligible translation doubtless, but is the original clearer? 'Burgundionum dominus a nobis magnopere postulavit ut horologium quod aquis sub modulo fluentibus temperatur et quod solis immensi comprehensa illuminatione distinguitur ... ei transmittere deberemus.' It is pretty clear that the first request of the Burgundian King was for a clepsydra of some kind. The second must be for some kind of sundial, but the description is very obscure.
[246] Evidently 'sic enim Atheniensium scholas longe positus introisti' does not mean that Boethius actually visited Athens, but that he became thoroughly at home in the works of Athenian philosophers.
[247] 'Portamque dierum tali nomine dicatus annus, tempos introeat.' The figure here used seems borrowed from Claudian, In Primum Cons. Stilichonis ii. 425-476.
[248] 'Cum soli genitalis fortunâ relictâ, velut quodam postliminio in antiquam patriam commeasses.'
[249] 'Ubi praeconium meretur effusio.'
[250] 'Illud Humani generis procreabile Sacramentum.'
[251] 'Foemina spectabilis.'
[252] 'Retentatores.' So the Gepid Prince is called the Retentator of Sirmium (Ennodius, Panegyric. Theod. 178. Ed. Migne).
[253] The Sajo was an officer, not of very high rank, apparently always of Gothic nationality, who was charged with executing the King's mandates. Perhaps our word 'henchman' would be the best translation of his title. His conventional attribute was 'devotio.' See Dahn, 'Könige der Germanen' iii. 181-186, and my 'Italy and her Invaders' iii. 282-284.
[254] Quaere if named from the last Emperor.
[255] 'Quam etiam ferocitas gentilis expavit.'
[256] Cf. iii. 9 for a similar heading.
[257] 'Quod si eos vel ad honores transire jura vetuerunt, quam videtur esse contrarium, Curialem Reipublicae, amissâ turpiter libertate, servire? et usque ad conditionem pervenisse postremam quem vocavit antiquitas Minorem Senatum.'
[258] 'Cum jam in soli faciem paulatim mollities siccata duresceret, celatamque longâ voracitate tellurem sol insuetus afflaret.' I cannot understand these words. I suppose there was a hard cake of clay left when the water was drained off, which was baked by the sun, and that there should have been further digging to work through this stratum and get at the good soil beneath; but the wording is not very clear.
[259] 'Primae transmissionis tempus.'
[260] See Dahn, 'Könige der Germanen' iii. 153 and 112, n. 5.
[261] Here follows a sentence which I am unable to translate: 'Superbia deinde conductorum canonicos solidos non ordine traditos, sed sub iniquo pondere imminentibus fuisse projectos nec universam siliquam quam reddere consueverant solemniter intulisse.' I think the meaning is, that the stewards of the Senators (conductores) arrogantly refused to allow the money paid to the tax-collectors (canonici solidi) to be tested, as in ordinary course it should have been, to see if it was of full weight. The 'imminentes' are, I think, the tax-collectors. I cannot at all understand the clause about 'universam siliquam.'
[262] This appears to have been a tax levied on all traders, otherwise known as the Chrysargyron. See Cod. Theod. xiii. 1. Aurarii is therefore equivalent to Licensed Traders.
[263] Are we to understand by this expression the Officium of the Praetorian Praefect?
[264] Curial obligations.
[265] 'Fixum tenuisti militiae probatae vestigium. Spectabilitatis honorem, quem militiae sudore detersis justa deputavit antiquitas praesenti tibi auctoritate conferimus ut laboris tui tandem finitas excubias ... intelligas ... Tibique utpote militiae munere persoluto.' The term 'militia' is employed here, as in the Codes, of 'service in a bureau.'
[266] 'Quia Regnantes est gloria, subjectorum otiosa tranquillitas.'
[267] For Eustorgius, cf. Letter i. 9.
[268] Auraria pensio. See note on ii. 26.
[269] 'Ad exhibitionem thermarum supra consuetudinem.'
[270] απονος.
[271] I think this is Cassiodorus' meaning, but his language is obscure.
[272] Cf. Milton:
'To the Dorian mood
Of flutes and soft recorders; such as rais'd
To highth of noblest temper heroes old
Arming to battle, and instead of rage
Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmov'd
With dread of death to flight or foul retreat.'
[273] 'Bene quidem arbitrati, si causam celestis beatitudinis non in sonis sed in Creatore possuissent; ubi veraciter sine fine gaudium est, sine aliquo taedio manens semper aeternitas: et inspectio sola Divinitatis efficit, ut beatius esse nil possit. Haec veraciter perennitatem praestat: haec jucunditates accumulat; et sicut praeter ipsam creatura non extat, ita sine ipsâ incommutabilem laetitiam habere non praevalet.'
[274] There are two allusions to the relationship between the Kings: 'vestrae virtutis affinitate' (line 1), and 'ad parentum vestrorum defensionem confugisse' (line 10).
[275] 'Quamvis Attilam potentem reminiscamini Visigothorum viribus inclinatum.'
[276] Compare the state of Europe during the wars of the French Revolution, as expressed by Tennyson:
'Again their ravening eagle rose,
In anger, wheel'd on Europe-shadowing wings,
And barking for the thrones of kings.'
[277] 'Et leges gentium quaerat.' But how was the law of nations to be enforced?
[278] Notice the use of the word modernus here, a post-classical word, which apparently occurs first in Cassiodorus.
[279] 'Origo ipsa jam gloria est: laus nobilitati connascitur. Idem vobis est dignitatis, quod vitae principium. Senatus enim honor amplissimus vobiscum gignitur, ad quem vix maturis aetatibus pervenitur.'
[280] 'Et quot edidit familiae juvenes, tot reddidit curiae consulares.'
[281] iii. 145, n. 4.
[282] Note these three classes; as also in ii. 17.
[283] I have not been able to identify this place.
[284] 'Moderna sine priorum imminutione desideramus erigere.'
[285] 'Platonias.' This, which is the spelling found in Nivellius' edition, seems to be a more correct form than the 'platomas' of Garet. Ducange, who has a long article on the subject, refers the word to the Greek πλατυνιον.
[286] Possibly the columns in S. Apollinare Deutro may have been some of those here mentioned.
[287] 'Catabulenses,' or 'Catabolenses'—freighters, contractors, who effected the transport of heavy goods by means of draught-horses and mules.
[288] Tillemont understands this of the times of Odovacar, vi. 438.
[289] This is no doubt the nephew of Theodoric.
[290] 'Vicarius Praefectorum.' Vicar of what Praefects? Why the plural number? Had Theodoric a titular Praefect of the Gauls, to whom this Vicarius was theoretically subject while practically obeying the Praefect of Italy? Or, to prevent bickerings, did he give the 'Praefectus Italiae' and the 'Praefectus Urbis' conjoint authority over the new conquests? There is some mystery here which would be worth explaining.
[291] 'Consuetudines abominanter inolitas.' Fornerius thinks this means 'all extortionate taxes.' Compare the English use of the word 'customs.'
[292] 'Cur ad monomachiam recurritis, qui venalem judicem non habetis?'
[293] 'Aut unde pax quaeritur si sub civilitate pugnetur.'
[294] Father of the writer.
[295] There is an obscure sentence in this letter: 'Hinc omnibus factus notior, quia multi te positum in potestate nesciunt.' Possibly the meaning is that the elder Cassiodorus used his power so little for his own private aggrandisement, that many people did not even know that he possessed it.
[296] This letter is well illustrated by an inscription of the time of Severus Alexander, found at Great Chesters in Northumberland, and recording the repair of 'horreum vetustate conlabsum.' The words of Cassiodorus are 'horrea longi temporis vetustate destructa.'
[297] 'Per ingentia ligna decurrere.' Fornerius proposes to read 'stagna.'
[298] 'Si vero aliquid modernâ praesumptione tentatum est.' (Again 'modernus.')
[299] Possibly Referendi is the same as Referendarii. See Var. vi. 17.
[300] 'Causae sacerdotum a sacerdotibus debent terminari.'
[301] Probably a Gothic officer.
[302] See Letters iii. 16 and 32.
[303] 'In sacratissimâ urbe.'
[304] The double 'r' seems to be the correct spelling, though the MSS. of the Variarum apparently have the single 'r.'
[305] 'Milites ad Verrucam illum—sic enim M. Cato locum editum asperumque appellat—ire jubeas' (Gell. 3. 7. 6). Verruca therefore means primarily a steep cliff, and only secondarily a wart. See White and Biddell, s.v.
[306] 'Agger sine pugna.'
[307] 'Obsessio secura.'
[308] 'Tenens claustra provinciae.'
[309] 'Nostri sedes delegit fovere Imperii.'
[310] The Ostia are denoted by A and the Hermulae by H in the accompanying plan. (See page 230.)
[311] 'Ut quadrigis progredientibus, inde certamen oriretur: ne dum semper propere conantur elidere, spectandi voluptatem viderentur populis abrogare.' In fact, to compel the charioteers to start fair.
[312] Each sign of the Zodiac was considered to have three decani, occurring at intervals of ten days.
[313] 'Unde illuc delphini aequorei aquas interfluunt.' The sentence is very obscure, but the allusion must be to the dolphins, the figures of which were placed upon the spina.
[314] 'Obeliscorum quoque prolixitates ad coeli altitudinem sublevantur: sed potior soli, inferior lunae dicatus est: ubi sacra priscorum Chaldaicis signis, quasi litteris indicantur.'
[315] I can extract no other meaning than the above from this extraordinary sentence: 'Circenses, quasi circu-enses: propterea quod apud antiquitatem rudem, quae necdum spectacula in ornatum deduxerat fabricarum, inter enses et flumina locis virentibus agerentur.'
[316] Missibus. In a previous sentence Cassiodorus makes the acc. plural missos.
[317] The number of times that the charioteers had rounded the goal was indicated by large wooden eggs, which were posted up in a conspicuous place on the spina. It seems that in a corresponding place near the other end of the spina figures of dolphins were used for the same purpose. Upon the Cilurnum gem (figured on page 231) we can perceive four eggs near one end of the spina, and four creatures which may be dolphins near the other, indicating that four circuits out of the seven which constitute a missus have been accomplished by the quadrigae.
[318] Alluding probably to the story of Castor and Pollux.
[319] 'Et ideo datur intelligi, volitantes atque inconstantissimos inde mores nasci, quos avium matribus aptaverunt.' Ovium would seem to give a better sense than avium.
[320] 'Casarum.' Casa is evidently no longer a cottage; perhaps the estate attached to a villa. There is probably still a flavour of rusticity about it.
[321] 'Votiva inundatione.'
[322] An excellent description of an antiquary walking along a Roman 'Limes Imperii.'
[323] 'Apud Graecos ille.' Cassiodorus has left the name blank, and has either forgotten or been unable to fill it up; like the 'ille et ille' in his State documents.
[324] 'Nunc etiam longius claritate Imperialis sanguinis fulgeatis.'
[325] Notice the strong expression, 'Et ideo more gentium et conditione virili filium te praesenti munere procreamus.'
[326] 'Damus quidem tibi equos, enses clypeos, et reliqua instrumenta bellorum, sed quae sunt omnimodis fortiora, largimur tibi nostra judicia.'
[327] In 512, says Marcellinus Comes, 'Gens Erulorum in terras atque civitates Romanorum jussu Anastasii Caesaris introducta.' But what relation that entry of the Heruli into Roman territory may bear to this letter is a very difficult question. See Dahn, Könige der Germanen ii. 8, n. 2.
[328] Same expression as in preceding letter.
[329] 'Subiisti saepe arduae legationis officium. Restitisti regibus non impar assertor, coactus justitiam nostram et illis ostendere, qui rationem vix poterant cruda obstinatione sentire. Non te terruit contentionibus inflammata regalis auctoritas,' etc.
[330] 'Usus es sub exceptionis officio eloquentis ingenio.' 'Exceptio' is a law term, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's bill; but is it so used here?
[331] Again we have 'exceptiones' mentioned (see preceding letter). 'Nunc ad colloquia dignus, nunc ad exceptiones aptissimus, frequenter etiam in legationis honorem electus.'
[332] Probably this epithet means that Amabilis was a Sajo.
[333] 'Non ergo sibi putet impositum quod debuit esse votivum. Nulli sit ingrata Roma, quae dici non potest aliena. Illa eloquentiae foecunda mater, illa virtutum omnium latissimum templum.'
[334] Cf. the very similar letter, i. 39.
[335] 'Prosecutores frumentorum.' It would seem that these are not merchants supplying the famine-stricken Provinces of Gaul as a private speculation (according to iv. 5), but public officers who have had certain cargoes of corn entrusted to them from the State magazines, and who, but for this letter, would be bound to make good the loss suffered under their management.
[336] Where is this?
[337] 'Omni incivilitate submotâ.'
[338] 'Necessitas moderamen non diligit.'
[339] 'Gothi per Picenum sive Thuscias utrasque residentes.' What are the two Thusciae?
[340] 'Debitas functiones.'
[341] 'Si quis ergo jussa nostra agresti spiritu resupinatus abjecerit, casas ejus appositis titulis fisci nostri juribus vindicabis; ut qui juste noluit parva solvere, rationabiliter videatur maxima perdidisse.'
[342] 'Scelus enim, quod nos pro sacerdotali honore relinquimus impunitum, majori pondere credimus vindicandum.' The words seem to be purposely vague, but I think they allude to the judgment of Heaven on the offender.
[343] Basilius, the patron of Sidonius, was Consul in 463, and another Basilius, perhaps the father of the accused, was Consul in 480. The person here spoken of may be the same as the Basilius, 'olim regio ministerio depulsus,' whom Boethius (Phil. Cons. i. 4) mentions as one of his accusers; but it seems more likely that in that case this imputation of magical practices would also have been referred to by him. The name Basilius was a somewhat common one at this time.
[344] At the beginning of the first letter occurs the remarkable expression 'Abscedat ritus de medio jam profanus; conticescat poenale murmur animarum,' which the commentator interprets of the ventriloquistic sounds produced by soothsayers. Cf. Milton's Christmas Hymn:
'No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.'
[345] 'Universis Massiliae constitutis.' A curious expression.
[346] The story of this assault is a typical specimen of the style of Cassiodorus, high-flown yet not really pictorial: 'Ita ut ictum gladii in se demersum, aliquatenus postium retardaret objectio: subjecta est vulneri manus, quae ut in totum truncata non caderet, januarum percussa robora praestiterunt: ubi lassato impetu corusca ferri acies corporis extrema perstrinxit.'
[347] Fabricae.
[348] 'Marini relatione comperimus res Tuphae apud Joannem quondam sub emissione chirographi fuisse depositas.'
[349] 'Privilegia debere servari quae Judaicis institutis legum provida decrevit antiquitas.'
[350] 'Quod nos libenter annuimus qui jura veterum ad nostram cupimus reverentiam custodiri.'
[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.
[352] 'Amali sanguinis virum nos decet vulgare desiderium: quia genus suum conspicit esse purpuratum.'
[353] 'Si momenti tempora suffragantur.' What is the meaning of this limitation?
[354] Can this be the Amphitheatrum Castrense?
[355] 'Levitates quippe seditionum et ambire propriae civitatis incendium, non est velle Romanum.'
[356] It happens that one of the letters addressed to Count Arigern also refers to a Jewish synagogue. See iii. 45.
[357] 'Quod in dominorum caede proruperit servilis audacia: in quibus cum fuisset pro districtione publicâ resecatum, statim plebis inflammata contentio synagogam temerario duxerunt incendio concremandam.' The above is Gregorovius' explanation of the somewhat enigmatical language of Cassiodorus.
[358] There are some technical terms in this letter the meaning of which is not clear to me: 'Eam justitiae consideratione momenti jure restituite supplicanti.... Veruntamen si partibus vestris in causa possessionis momentaria vel principali justitiam adesse cognoscitis.'
[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.
[360] Possibly a son of the Praefect Liberius.
[361] 'Mittendarii.' A 'Scrinium Mittendariorum' formed part of the staff of the Count of Sacred Largesses. See Theodosian Code vi. 30. 7.
[362] 'Catabulensis.' See iii. 10.
[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 corvée.
[364] Capillatis. The only passage 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 reminiscuntur.'
[365] Suavia is nearly equivalent to the modern Sclavonia, between the rivers Drave and Save.
[366] The passage 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.
[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 instituted a yearly religious service in memory of the event: 'Vesuvius mons Campaniae torridus intestinis ignibus aestuans exusta evomuit viscera, nocturnisque in die tenebris incumbentibus, 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' (Marcellinus Comes, sub anno).
[368] The father-in-law of Boethius.
[369] We have here a striking description of the massive strength of the public buildings of Rome: '[Videmus] caveas illas saxis pendentibus apsidatas ita juncturis absconditis in formas pulcherrimas convenisse, ut cryptas magis excelsi montis crederes quam aliquid fabricatum esse judicares.'
[370] No doubt Thrasamund, who married Theodoric's sister. He reigned from 496 to 523.
[371] 'Ut speculum quoddam virorum faciat ferream lucem.'
[372] 'Quarum margines in acutum tali aequalitate descendunt, ut non limis compositae, sed igneis fornacibus credantur effusae.'
[373] 'Harum media pulchris alveis excavata, quibusdam videntur crispari posse vermiculis, ubi tanta varietatis umbra concludit, ut intextum magis credas variis coloribus lucidum metallum.'
[374] Germ. 45: 'Ergo jam dextro Suevici maris litore Aestiorum gentes alluuntur, quibus ritus habitusque Suevorum, lingua Britannicae propior.... Sed et mare scrutantur ac soli omnium sucinum quod ipsi glesum vocant, inter vada atque in ipso littore legunt.' Then follows an account of the nature of amber, and a history of its supposed origin, from which Cassiodorus has borrowed in this letter.
[375] Cassiodorus apparently spells this word with two c's. The more usual spelling is with one.
[376] 'Modo croceo colore rubens, modo flammea claritate pinguescens.'
[377] We have here a remark on unconscious prophecies: 'Loqui datur quod nos sensisse nescimus: sed post casum reminiscimur, quod ignorantes veraciter dixeramus.'
[378] 'Inferior gradu praestabat viris consularibus se patronum et cum honoribus vestris impar haberetur, Patricius ei dictus est in celeberrima cognitione susceptus.' The last part of this sentence is very obscure.
[379] Decoratus is called by Boethius, who was his colleague in some office, 'a wretched buffoon and informer' (nequissimus scurra et delator. Cons. Phil. iii. 4). But Ennodius addresses him in friendly and cordial language (Epist. iv. 17). His epitaph, which mentions his Spoletan origin, is of course laudatory:
'Nam fessis tribuit requiem, miseros que levavit,
Justitiae cultor, largus et hospes erat.'
(Quoted in the notes to Ennodius in Migne's Patrologia.)
[380] 'Primo avulso non deficit alter' (Aen. vi. 143).
[381] Officer of the Court. See vi. 13.
[382] 'Thomatem domus nostrae certa praedia suscepisse sed eum male administrando suscepta usque ad decem millia solidorum de Indictionibus illa atque illa reliquatorem publicis rationibus extitisse.' It is not quite clear whether the debt is due as what we should call rent or as land-tax. Perhaps the debt had accumulated under both heads.
[383] 'Ut multitudinem Gepidarum quam fecimus ad Gallias custodiae causâ properare, per Venetiam atque Liguriam sub omni facias moderatione transire.'
[384] 'Massa;' cf. the American 'block.'
[385] In the next letter the same official is called Severinus.
[386] Cassiodorus uses the rare nominative form 'assis.'
[387] 'Tabularius a cubiculo nostro.'
[388] 'Antiqui Barbari qui Romanis mulieribus elegerint nuptiali foedere sociari, quolibet titulo praedia quaesiverint, fiscum possessi cespitis persolvere, ac super indictitiis oneribus parere cogantur.'
[389] 'Quando libertatis genus est servire Rectori.'
[390] 'Arrharum nomine.'
[391] 'Linum volatile.'
[392] 'Non habet quod nobis Graecus imputet aut Afer insultet.'
[393] 'Locum primi ordinis.'
[394] 'Quia caduca bona fisco nostro competere legum cauta decreverunt.'
[395] The name is a peculiar one, reminding us of the Bacaudae, who for more than a century waged a sort of servile war in Gaul against the officers of the Empire. It is not probable, however, that there is any real connection between them and the receiver of this letter.
[396] 'Quod est in Reipublicae militiâ novum.' Observe the use of militia for civil service.
[397] 'Nam pene similis est mortuo qui a suo Dominante nescitur.' A motto more suited to the presence-chamber of Byzantium than the camp-fires of a Gothic King.
[398] 'Millenarii.' Cf. the χιλιαρχοι, who, as Procopius tells us, were appointed by Gaiseric over the Vandals; also the thusundifaths of Ulfilas.
[399] 'Servata in omnibus civilitate.'
[400] Into Gaul; see next letter.
[401] 'Atque ideo decretis te praesentibus admonemus, ut si factum evidenter agnoscis, delatam querimoniam, pudori tuo consulens, maritali districtione redarguas; quatenus ex eâdem causâ ad nos querela justa non redeat.'
[402] 'Et rerum veritate discussâ sicut jura nostra praecipiunt, in adulteros maritorum favore resecetur.'
[403] This is perhaps a specimen of the 'honesta missio' of which we read in the Theodosian Code xii. 1. 43, 45.
[404] 'Nonnullorum vos frequenter causamini praesumptione laceratos et quae ad synagogam vestram pertinent perhibetis jura rescindi.'
[405] 'Tricennalis humano generi patrona praescriptio vobis jure servabitur; nec conventionalia vos irrationabiliter praecipimus sustinere dispendia.' I do not know what is meant by 'conventionalia dispendia.'
[406] 'Sed quid, Judaeo, supplicans temporalem quietem quaeris si aeternam requiem invenire non possis.'
[416] Cf. the 30th letter of this book.
[417] 'Vir quidem abjectis temporibus ad excubias tamen Palatinas electus.' The time of Odovacar's government is here alluded to (see viii. 17). An Opilio, probably father of the one here mentioned, was Consul under Valentinian III in 453.
[418] Anonymus Valesii says: 'Cyprianus, qui tunc Referendarius erat postea Comes Sacrarum et Magister,' § 85.
[419] 'Nam cum oratoribus sit propositum diu tractata unius partis vota dicere, tibi semper necesse fuit repentinum negotium utroque latere declarare.'
[420] 'Talibus igitur institutis edoctus, Eoae sumpsisti legationis officium, missus ad summae quidem peritiae viros: sed nulla inter eos confusus es trepidatione quia nihil tibi post nos potuit esse mirabile. Instructus enim trifariis linguis, non tibi Graecia quod novum ostentaret invenit; nec ipsâ quâ nimium praevalet, te transcendit argutiâ.'
[421] 'Fecimus utrique regalia.'
[422] For the reasons which induced Cassiodorus to compile the two books of Formulae, see his Preface (translated, p. 133).
[423] 'Palmata vestis.'
[424] 'Pinge vastos humeros vario colore palmatae.'
[425] 'Validam manum victoriali scipione nobilita.'
[426] 'Hic est ambitus qui probatur;' or, 'allowable bribery.'
[427] 'Ipse carpentum reverendus ascendit.' The carpentum was one great mark of the dignity of the Praetorian Praefect, as of his inferior, the Praefectus Urbis.
[428] 'Exhibet enim sine prescriptione longinquos.'
[429] 'Evectiones,' free passes by the Cursus Publicus.
[430] 'Ingressus palatium nostra consuetudine frequenter adoratur.' We know from Lydus (De Mag. ii. 9) that the highest officers of the army knelt at the entrance of the Praetorian Praefect. Perhaps we need not infer from this passage that Oriental prostration was used either towards Theodoric or his Praefect.
[431] 'Et tale officium morem videtur solvere, quod alios potuit accusare.'
[432] 'Vice sacrâ ubique judicat.'
[433] 'Officium plane geniatum, efficax, instructum et totâ animi firmitate praevalidum.'
[434] 'Humanitates quoque judicibus ipsis facit.'
[435] 'Legatos gentium voraces explet ordinationibus suis.' Voraces seems to give a better sense than the other reading, veraces.
[436] 'Quamvis in illa contineantur universa.'
[437] 'Carpento veheris per nobilem plebem.'
[438] i.e. probably, 'that you are not bribed by monopolists.' Perhaps there is a reference to the Annona Publica.
[439] 'Tanta est enim vis gloriosae veritatis, ut etiam in rebus scenicis aequitas desideretur.'
[440] According to Lydus (ii. 10), the Cursus Publicus was transferred from the Praefect to the Master, and afterwards, in part, retransferred to the Praefect.
[441] 'Per eum nominis nostri destinatur evectio.' The above is a conjectural translation.
[442] Are these Superintendents of the Markets, charged with the regulation of prices?
[443] 'Miroque modo inter Praetorianas cohortes et Urbanae Praefecturae milites videantur invenisse primatum, a quibus tibi humile solvebatur obsequium. Sic in favore magni honoris injustitia quaedam a legibus venit, dum alienis excubiis praeponitur, qui alibi militasse declaratur.'
[444] 'Regalibus magna profecti felicitas militare donis.... Laetitia publica militia tua est.' Observe the continued use of military terms for what we call the Civil Service.
[445] 'Caduca bona non sinis esse vacantia.'
[446] 'Alioqui omnes ad quietas possunt currere dignitates, si laborantes minime praeferantur ociosis.'
[447] 'Noblesse oblige.'
[448] 'Cape igitur ... Comitivae Domesticorum Illustratum Vacantem.'
[449] Betokened by the expression 'Ociosum cingulum.'
[450] A conjectural translation of 'Sic nos virtutum jucundissimas laudes incinctum Graium desideramus includere.' Perhaps 'incinctum' means, 'though not girded with the belt of office.' Graium must surely be a proper name, and this document is therefore, strictly speaking, not a 'Formula.'
[451] 'Partes apud te sub Praetorianâ advocatione confligunt' (?).
[452] 'Vice sacrâ sententiam dicis.'
[453] 'Carpentum.'
[454] 'Aula libertatis.'
[455] I think this must be the meaning of the sentence: 'Additur etiam perfuncti laboris aliud munus, ut si quo modo ad Illustratum vel Vacantem meruerit pervenire, omnibus debeat anteponi, qui Codicillis Illustratibus probantur ornari.'
[456] 'Sub nobis enim non licet esse imperitos; quando in vicem cotis ingenia splendida reddimus, quae causarum assiduitate polimus.' Strange words to put into the mouth of a monarch who could not write.
[457] 'Quando in quavis abundantia querela non tollitur, si panis elegantia nulla servetur.'
[458] An attempt to translate 'Honoratis possessoribus et curialibus civitatis Neapolitanae.'
[459] 'Erit nostrum gaudium vestra quies.... Degite moribus compositis, ut vivatis legibus feriatis.'
[460] 'Omnes apparitiones decet habere judices suos. Nam cui praesul adimitur et militia denegatur.'
[461] 'Ut judicibus annuâ successione reparatis, vobis solemnitas non pereat actionis.'
[462] 'Vos non patimur emolumentorum commoda perdere.'
[464] 'Nostrum est merentibus tempus augere.' The limit of one year might therefore be exceeded by favour of the Sovereign.
[465] 'Adhibito sibi prudente Romano.'
[466] 'Aequabili ratione.'
[467] 'Qui leges moderatâ voluntate dilexerit.' To translate this literally might give a wrong idea, because with us 'to love the law' means to be litigious.
[468] 'Non amamus aliquid incivile.'
[469] 'Violentos nostra pietas execratur.'
[470] 'Vos autem, Romani, magno studio Gothos diligere debetis, qui et in pace numerosos vobis populos faciunt, et universam Rempublicam per bella defendunt.'
[471] Raetia, from rete, a net.
[472] 'Camerarum rotator.'
[473] 'Trajani Forum vel sub assiduitate videre miraculum est.'
[474] 'Opulentissima siquidem et hinc gratia civium colligitur, si pretia sub moderatione serventur.'
[475] 'Si esset humanis rebus ulla consideratio Romanam pulchritudinem non vigiliae sed sola deberet reverentia custodire.'
[476] 'Quia juste tales persequitur publicus dolor.'
[477] 'Negociatorum operas consuetas nec nimias exigas, nec venalitate derelinquas.' Apparently then a certain amount of forced labour could be claimed from the owners of merchant-vessels by the Count of Ravenna.
[478] 'Pompa osculationis.' Another reading is 'Pompa postulationis.'
[479] 'Tu vitem tenes improbis minantem.' The allusion is to the vine-bough, which was used in scourging. The alternative reading, vitam, does not seem to give so good a sense.
[480] Plural. Apparently, therefore, each Count had more than one Princeps, perhaps one for each large city in his Province.
[481] 'Rationabili debeant antiquitate moderari.' Perhaps we might translate, 'with the Common Law.'
[482] The title runs thus (in Nivellius' Edition): 'Formula Comitivae Honorum Scientiae Ordinis diversarum Civitatum.' I do not know what is meant by 'Honorum Scientiae.' Can 'Scientiae' be a transcriber's blunder for 'secundi?'
[484] This must, I think, be the meaning; but it is hard to extract it from the words 'Formula Principis Militum Comitivae.'
[485] 'Comitem Militiae Vestrae.'
[486] 'Nec istud leve credatis beneficium, ut cum vos scitis obsequium, vobis occurrat electio cognitorum.' For Cognitores, see vii. 3. These Cognitores had virtually the decision of all 'issues of fact,' and consequently their nomination was a very important matter. I think the meaning of this passage is: 'I, the King, appoint the Comes (= Judex), and graciously inform you of my decision. But you (the Officium) have the privilege—and it is no small one—of electing the Cognitores.'
[487] 'Principem nostrum cardinalem' (observe this use of the word).
[488] 'Compendium et dispendium' (from pendere, to weigh).
[489] 'Spectandam,' an allusion to the derivation of spectabilis.
[490] 'Tuitio nostri nominis.'
[491] 'Validissimam turrem contra inciviles impetus et conventionalia detrimenta.'
[492] 'Praesentis beneficii jussione adversus Gothis illa, adversus Romanos illa, facile te fides et diligentia custodiet' ('custodivit' is surely an error).
[493] 'Ut in foro competenti ea quae in his causis reverenda legum dictat Antiquitas solenniter actitentur.'
[494] 'Ita ut in alienandis rusticis vel urbanis praediis constitutionum servitus auctoritas.'
[495] 'Sajus' in the original, and so in the next place where it occurs.
[496] Formula de Competitoribus is the somewhat obscure title of this document, which might perhaps be compared to our Commons' Enclosure Acts.
[497] 'Securus etiam ad posteros transmissurus, quod proprio fuerit labore compositum.'
[498] 'Decernimus ut, si ita est, tot solidos tributario supradictae possessionis ... ita faciatis de vasariis publicis diligenter abradi ut hujus rei duplarum vestigium non debeat inveniri.' Cf. what is said by Evagrius (iii. 39) of the proceedings of Anastasius at the time of the abolition of the Chrysargyron.
[499] 'Ne dilationem providam in genus extraneum non haberent.'
[500] 'Quapropter provide vobis permisit antiquitas de illâ causa decernere, cui est utile Curiam custodire. A quibus enim munia petuerunt sustineri, si civitatum nervi passim videantur abscidi.'
[501] The text is evidently corrupt here: 'Genitor meus desiderio quoque concordiae factus est per arma filius, quia unis nobis pene videbatur aequaevus.' The suggested reading, 'quamvis vobis,' does not entirely remove the difficulty.
[502] That is, of course, not from Justin himself but from his predecessors.
[503] 'Ut amicitiam nobis illis pactis, illis conditionibus concedatis, quas cum divae memoriae domino avo nostro inclytos decessores vestros constat habuisse.'
[504] 'Quoniam quaevis claritas generis Amalis cedit.'
[505] 'Justitiam nos et aequabilem clementiam, quae populos nutrit, juvante domino, custodire et Gothis Romanisque apud nos jus esse commune, nec aliud inter vos esse divisum, nisi quod illi labores bellicos pro communi utilitate subeunt, vos autem civitatis Romanae habitatio quieta multiplicat.' I do not consider that the words in Italics, taken with the context, are irreconcilable with Dahn's view that the Goths were still, to a certain extent, under Gothic law.
[506] 'Amalorum regalem prosapiem, Baltheum germen.' I know not how Athalaric had any blood of the Balths in his veins. The other reading, 'blatteum,' gives the same idea as the following clause, 'infantiam purpuratam.'
[507] 'Inter tam prolixum ordinem Regum susceperunt semper augmenta.' Perhaps we should translate 'by such a long line of (Amal) kings obtained advancement for their nation;' but the meaning is not very clear.
[508] Baronius says (vii. 121): 'Cujusnam Ecclesiae Antistes fuerit Victorinus ignoratur.' From the tone of the letter one may conjecture that Victorinus was a Bishop in Gaul.
[509] Probably Tulum had gone on some embassy to Constantinople.
[510] 'Hac igitur honoris remuneratione contentus, pro exteris partibus indefessa devotione laboravit: et praestare com suis parentibus principi dignabatur obsequium, qui tantorum regum fuerat stirpe procreatus.' This sentence is full of difficulties. What can he mean by the labour 'pro exteris partibus?' Who is the 'Princeps' whom Tulum deigns to serve: the Eastern Emperor or Theodoric? Above all, who is 'tantorum regum stirpe procreatus?' I think the turn of the sentence requires that it should be Tulum; but Dahn has evidently not so understood it, for in his Könige der Germanen (iii. 29, 30) he makes Tulum a conspicuous example of a man not of noble birth raised to high dignity, and says that the two long letters about him in the Variae contain no allusion to illustrious descent.
[511] 'Exstat gentis Gothicae hujus probitatis exemplum: Gensemundus ille toto orbe cantabilis, solum armis filius factus, tanta se Amalis devotione conjunxit ut haeredibus eorum curiosum exhibuerit famulatum, quamvis ipse peteretur ad regnum.' Dahn (ii. 61 and iii. 309) and Köpke (p. 142) refer this mysterious affair of Gensemund's renunciation to the interval after the death of Thorismund (a.d. 416). But this is mere conjecture. See Italy and her Invaders iii. 8-10.
[512] 'Primum, quod inter nationes eximium est, Gothorum nobilissima stirpe gloriatur.'
[513] 'Statim rudes annos ad sacri cubiculi secreta portavit.'
[514] We do not hear from the other authorities of Huns being engaged in this war. In 505 Mundo the Hun was in alliance with Theodoric against the Empire.
[515] 'Tales mittunt nostra cunabula bellatores: sic paratae sunt manus, ubi exercetur animus.'
[516] 'Et ministrando consilium regebat ipse Rectorem.'
[517] 'Arelate est civitas supra undas Rhodani constituta, quae in Orientis prospectum tabulatum pontem per nuncupati fluminis dorsa transmittit.'
[518] 'Discrimina dum feliciter cedunt, suavissimae memoriae sensum relinquunt.' Compare Claudian (De Bella Getico 207-8):
'An potius meminisse juvat semperque vicissim
Gaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores.'
[519] 'Favete nunc auspiciis candidati, et viris nostris libertatis atria reserate.'
[520] 'Ut aliquid studiose exquisitum dicere videamur.'
[521] 'Juvat repetere pomposam legationem.'
[522] 'Gratiam quoque loci alterius invenisti. Dictationibus enim probaris adhibitus, cum sit offensionibus alter expulsus: et ita suspensum honorem tuum sustinebat ingenium, ut Palatio non sineres decesse Judicem, cujus ad tempus abrogatam cognovimus dignitatem.' I do not think we can say from this what the office temporarily filled by Arator was.
[523] 'Sume dicationem, si bonus fuero, pro Republica et me: si malus, pro Republica in me.'
[524] 'Quando et moderna quae loquimur.' (Notice again moderna.)
[525] So the contemporary poet Maximian, speaking of his own past successes as an orator, and a good-looking one, says:
'Nec minor his aderat sublimis gratia formae
Quae vel si decent cetera, muta placet.'
Elegiae i. 17-18.
[526] 'Qui sapienti deliberatione pertractans quamvis in aliena religione.'
[527] The words of Cassiodorus are, 'crinea sunt ista certamina.' No one seems able to suggest a meaning for crinea. The editors propose to read civica, which however is very flat, and not exactly in Cassiodorus' manner. I suspect some recondite classical allusion, which has been missed by the transcribers, has led to the corruption of the text.
[528] 'Pater his fascibus praefuit sed et frater eadem resplenduit claritate.'
[529] 'Nam cum ... auspicia nostra Liguribus felix portitor nuntiasti, et sapientiae tuae allocutione firmasti, in errorem quem de occasu conceperant, ortum nostri imperii in gaudia commutabant.' Does this obscure passage indicate some revolutionary movements in Liguria after the death of Theodoric, perhaps fomented by the Frankish neighbours of Italy?
[530] 'Quando sub ingrato successore palatinum officium praeconia ejus tacere non potuit.'
[531] 'Adjectis saeculi vitiis, ditatus claris honoribus.' The text is evidently corrupt. 'Abjectis' seems to be required; but some MSS. instead of 'vitiis' read 'Odovacris.' In any case Odovacar's government is evidently alluded to. Cf. the words used of the same man in the letter announcing the elevation of his other son, Cyprian (v. 41): 'Nam pater huic, sicut meministis, Opilio fuit, vir quidem abjectis temporibus ad excubias tamen Palatinas electus.'
[532] 'His temporibus habitus est eximius, cum princeps non esset erectus.'
[533] This is probably the Basilius who was concerned in the accusation of Boethius (Phil. Cons. I. iv.); possibly the Consul of 541, who fled to Constantinople when Totila took Rome in 546 (Procop. De Bello Gotthico iii. 20, and Anastasius Lib. Pontif. apud Murator. iii. 132); and perhaps the Basilius whom we find in trouble in Variarum iv. 22, 23: scarcely the Basilius of Variarum ii. 10, 11.
[534] 'Gentiles victu (?), Romanos sibi judiciis obligabat.'
[535] 'Dudum te forensibus negociis insudantem, oculus imperialis aspexit'—an expression which goes very near to styling Theodoric Imperator.
[536] 'Pater ita in Mediolanensi foro resplenduit, ut aeterno fructu e Tulliano cespite pullularet.'
[537] 'Is palmarum Eugenetis linguae ubertate suffecit.' Possibly this is the Magister Officiorum of Var. i. 12, and the person to whom is addressed a letter of Ennodius (iv. 26). The form Eugenetis, instead of Eugenii, belongs to the debased Latinity of the age.
[538] In Nivellius' edition the title of this office is given as Praepositus.
[539] 'Redeat ad nomen antiquum Praefectura illa Praetorii, toto orbe laudabilis.' Is it possible that there had been some attempt to change the title of the Praefect, which accounts for the Praepositus which in some MSS. we find in the heading of this letter?
[540] 'Vidit te adhuc gentilis' (still under the dominion of the Gepidae) 'Danubius bellatorem: non te terruit Bulgarorum globus, qui etiam nostris erat praesumptione certaminis obstaturus. Peculiare tibi fuit et renitentes Barbaros aggredi, et conversos terrore sectari. Sic victoriam Gothorum non tam numero quam labore juvisti.'
[541] For a description of his services in this function, see Var. v. 40.
[542] This is evidently the meaning; but something seems to have dropped out of the text.
[543] 'Hoc est laborum tuorum aptissimum munus: quam sic castâ sic moderatâ mente peregisti ut majora tibi deberi faceres, quamvis eam in magna praemia suscepisses.'
[544] 'Relucent etiam gratia gentili, nec cessant armorum imbui fortibus institutis. Pueri stirpis Romanae nostra linguâ loquuntur; eximie indicantes exhibere se nobis futuram fidem, quorum jam videntur affectasse sermonem.... Variis linguis loquuntur egregie, maturis viris communione miscentur.'
[545] 'Atque ideo illustrem magnitudinem tuam praecelso atque amplissimo viro Theodahado massas subter annexas, tot solidos pensitantes, ex patrimonio quondam magnificae foeminae matris ipsius, praecipimus reformari, ejus feliciter dominio plenissime vendicandas, cujus successionis integrum jus in ea qua praecipimus parte largimur.' According to Dahn (Könige der Germanen iv. 60-61), these lands had been given in her lifetime by Theodahad's mother to the King, and are now begged for by Theodahad. But why 'tot solidos pensitantes?' Why should Theodahad receive both land and money? There seems no authority for translating 'pensitantes' receiving. Probably the solidi thus paid to him are mesne rents received by the King and accounted for to Theodahad. On the whole affair cf. Procopius, De Bello Gotthico i. 4.
[546] 'De cujus fide ac synceritate praesumimus, ut sequenti tempore reliqua supra memorati patrimonii cum omni adjecta quantitate mereatur.' This sentence is to me quite unintelligible.
[547] Cf. the formalities connected with Odovacar's deed of gift to Pierius (Marini, Pap. Diplom. 82, 83), quoted in Italy and her Invaders iii. 165.
[548] In the text, 'Sajus.'
[549] 'Praesenti auctoritate moderato ordine definimus.' Dahn interprets 'moderato ordine,' 'not so absolutely as the Roman clergy desires.' Is not this to attribute rather too much force to the conventional language of Cassiodorus?
[550] 'Definimus, ut si quispiam ad Romanum Clerum aliquem pertinentem, in quâlibet causâ probabili crediderit actione pulsandum, ad beatissimi Papae judicium prius conveniat audiendus. Ut aut ipse inter utrosque more suae sanctitatis agnoscat, aut causam deleget aequitatis studio terminandam: et si forte, quod credi nefas est, competens desiderium fuerit petitoris elusum, tuno ad saecularia fora jurgaturus occurrat, quando suas petitiones probaverit a supradictae sedis praesule fuisse contemptas.'
[551] 'Profitemur itaque alterius quidem donum, sed nostrum esse judicium, et modernam principis mentem praevenisse tantum velocissimam largitatem.' Observe again the use of Cassiodorus' favourite word modernam.
[552] Tholuit, or Tholum, in some MSS., but no doubt the same as the Tulum of Letters 9 and 10.
[553] 'Ubi et si quid esset quolibet casu, qualibet inquisitione fortassis ambiguum, hujus auctoritatis nostrae judicio constat explosum.'
[554] 'Florentino viro devoto Comitiaco.'
[555] 'Quoticus ego Conigastum in inbecillis cujusque fortunas impetum facientem obvius excepi!'
[556] 'Cum suo peculio.' If they were not slaves they could not have peculium in the technical sense. I therefore understand 'peculio' to be simply equivalent to cattle, a sense which is confirmed by 'Calabri peculiosi' in Letter 33.
[557] 'Adjicientes ne rerum suarum repetitionibus imminerent [? imminuerent] liberis sibi conditionem ultimae servitutis imponi.' Cf. Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei v. 8, 9, for a description of similar occurrences in Gaul.
[558] 'Honoratis Possessoribus.'
[559] 'Antiqui operis formam.'
[560] 'Quatenus antiquos cuniculos, sive subterraneos, sive qui junguntur marginibus platearum diligenter emendent.'
[561] 'Coloni sunt qui agros jugiter colunt.'
[562] Cf. what is said (i. 4) as to the large present of horses made by the father of Cassiodorus to Theodoric for the use of the Gothic army.
[563] 'Vivunt illic rustici epulis urbanorum, mediocres autem abundantia praepotentium.' 'Mediocres' and 'tenues' are technical words with Cassiodorus for the poor.
[564] Cassiodorus must have felt the weakness of his logic here. He patriotically praises the rural beauty of Bruttii, yet the conclusion which by main force he arrives at is, 'Leave the country and live in towns.'
[565] 'Cui enim minus grata nobilium videatur occursio. Cui non affectuosum sit cum paribus miscere sermonem, forum petere, honestas artes invisere, causas proprias legibus expedire, interdum Palamediacis calculis occupari, ad balneas ire cum sociis, prandia mutuis apparatibus exhibere? Caret profecto omnibus his, qui vitam suam vult semper habere cum famulis.'
[566] 'Datis fidejussoribus jam Possessores quam Curiales, sub aestimatione virium, poenâ interpositâ, promittant anni parte majore se in civitatibus manere, quas habitare delegerint.'
[567] 'In Scyllatino territoris.' Transcribers, thinking of the Arethusa at Syracuse, have tried to alter this into Siciliano; but there can be little doubt that the above reading is right. As to the situation of the Fountain of Arethusa, see Introduction, p. 72.
[568] 'Spectabilitas vestra praedicto tempore, unâ cum Possessoribus atque Conductoribus diversarum massarum ad quietem convenientium ... reos inveniat,' &c.
[569] 'Inter ipsa initia comprehensus fustuariae subdatur ultioni.'
[570] 'Pompatus mala nota.'
[571] 'Calabri peculiosi.'
[572] 'Praesto sunt pueri ac puellae, diverso sexu atque aetate conspicuo, quos non facit captivitas esse sub pretio sed libertas: hos merito parentes vendunt, quoniam de ipsa famulatione proficiunt. Dubium quippe non est servos posse meliorari qui de labore agrorum ad urbana servitia transferuntur.' With almost any writer but Cassiodorus this would prove that in the Sixth Century free Italians were selling their children into actual slavery. But I doubt whether he really means more than that the children of the country people were for hire as domestic servants in the cities. If so, the scene is not unlike our own 'statute fairs' or 'hirings' in the north of England. It appears from § 94 of the Edictum Theodorici that parents could sell their children, but that the latter did not lose their status ingenuus. Must they then claim it on coming of age? 'Parentes qui cogente necessitate filios suos alimentorum gratia vendiderint ingenuitati eorum non praejudicant. Homo enim liber pretio nullo aestimatur.' Cf. also § 95: 'Operas enim tantum parentes filiorum quos in potestate habuerint, locare possunt.'
[573] Marcilianum is now Sala, in the valley of the Calore (Tanager). Padula is thought by some to mark the site of Cosilinum. The Island of Leucosia, now Licosa, a few miles from Paestum, evidently does not represent the Leucothea of this letter.
[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: Και σφισι (τοις Βανδιλοις) ξυνηνεχθη Θευδεριχω τε και Γοτθοις εν Ιταλια εκ τε συμμαχων και φιλων πολεμιοι γενεσθαι την τε γαρ Αμαλαφριδαν εν φυλακη εσχον και τους Γοτθους διεφθειραν 'απαντας επενεγκοντες αυτοις νεωτεριζειν ες τε Βανδιλους και 'Ιλδεριχον. 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.
[575] 'Praedia Curialium, unde maximae mediocribus parantur insidiae, nullus illicita emptione pervadat. Quia contractus dici non potest nisi qui de legibus venit.'
[576] 'Non enim incassum vobis Curiam concessit Antiquitas, non inaniter appellavit Minorem Senatum, nervos quoque vocitans ac viscera civitatum.'
[578] Have we any clue to the geographical position of this farm? The only Rusticiana known to the Itineraries is in Spain.
[579] 'Origo quidem nobilis, sed de flamma suscipit vim coloris, ut magis credas inde nasci, cujus similitudine videtur ornari. Sed cum 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 transmutation of metals?' Cassiodorus seems to think that it is only the furnace that makes the difference between the colours of gold and of silver.
[580] 'Neque enim ob aliud Curiales leges sacratissimae ligaverunt, nisi ut cum illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae praeconia reperirent.'
[581] 'Formidare delegata incipient, per quae antea timebantur.' To translate by an analogy, 'And will tremble at the rate-summonses, their signatures to which used to make other men tremble.'
[582] 'Episcopis et Honoratis.' Perhaps it is from motives of delicacy that Cassiodorus has not added the name of the Province.
[583] 'In necessitate siquidem penuriae pretii nulla contentio est: dum patitur quis induci ne possit aliquâ tarditate percelli.'
[584] 'Sive in gradu [panis gradilis?] sive in aliis locis.'
[585] A paraphrase, confessedly anachronistic, of 'Ne quis ergo venditionem sibi impositam conqueratur, sciat libertatem in crimine non requiri.'
[586] 'Curiam reparans, pauperibus ablata restituens.'
[587] 'Licet primaevus venias ad honorem.'
[588] Cf. iii. 26 and iv. 9. In the former letter he is called Osun.
[589] We are not told in what capacity Severinus came. Probably it was on account of Osuin's age that Severinus was associated with him.
[590] 'Per quartam Indictionem quod a nobis augmenti nomine quaerebatur illustrem virum Comitem Patrimonii nostri nunc jussimus removere.' As the fourth Indiction began Sept. 525, in the lifetime of Theodoric, it is clear that that date belongs to the imposition, not to the removal of the 'augmentum.'
[591] 'Avus noster de suis beneficiis magna praesumens (quia longa quies et culturam agris praestitit et populos ampliavit) intra Siciliam provinciam sub consueta prudentiae suae moderatione censum statuit subflagitari ut vobis cresceret devotio, quibus se facultas extenderat.'
[592] This most be the meaning of 'quicquid a discursoribus novi census per quintam Indictionem probatur affixum, ad vestram eos fecimus deferre notitiam.'
[593] Tax-collectors. The word is unknown to the Notitia, but Censuales occurs once in it (Not. Occ. iv.).
[594] 'Quos etiam seris praeceptionibus credidit esse admonendos, ut relicto tandem provincialium gravamine ad ejus deberetis justitiam festinare.'
[595] 'Nimis enim absurdum est, spondere munitiones et dare civibus excecrabiles vastitates.'
[596] 'Conventiones.' I think the complaint here is of the expenses of 'executing process.' It is not as Judge but as the functionary who carries the Judge's orders into effect that Gildias is here blamed.
[597] 'Nostra' (the reading of Nivellius) seems evidently a better reading than 'vestra' (which Migne has adopted).
[598] 'Commodum debet esse cum modo.' A derivation or a pun.
[599] 'Duntaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te misceri edicta voluerunt.'
[600] 'Quisquis belluinis moribus excitatus munimen tentaverit irrumpere jussionum.'
[601] 'Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita.'
[602] This seems a possible interpretation of a dark sentence: 'Navigiis vecta commercia te suggerunt occupare, et ambitu cupiditatis exosae solum antiqua pretia definire, quod non creditur a suspicione longinquum etiam si non sit actione vicinum.'
[603] Is this a kind of compurgation which is here proposed?
[604] 'Quosdam nefariâ machinatione necessitatem temporis aucupatos, ita facultates pauperum extortis promissionibus ingravasse, ut quod dictu nefas est, etiam sacra vasa emptioni publicae viderentur exposita.'
[605] 'Et quia omnia decet sub ratione moderari, nec possunt dici justa quae nimia sunt, cum de Apostolici consecratione Pontificis intentio fortasse pervenerit, et ad Palatium nostrum producta fuerit altercatio populorum, suggerentes (?) nobis intra tria millia solidorum, cum collectione cartarum censemus accipere.'
[606] 'Nec ulla—quae apud nos est gratissima—nominis sui dignitas subveniret.' I think sui must refer to the recently-mentioned Papa Johannes.
[607] 'Affectare vivere belluinâ saevitiâ.'
[608] 'Praedia urbana vel rustica.'
[609] The punishment consisted in loss of all claim to the property—which was generally seized by someone who had some kind of ostensible claim to it—and a penalty of equal value with that of the property wrongfully seized.
[610] 'Illis quos spes non habet praesentis conjugii vel futuri.' It is not easy to see how the Judge could ascertain whether a man belonged to this claim or not.
[611] 'Quod si ad tale flagitium ancilla pervenerit, excepta poena sanguinis, matronali subjaceat ultioni: ut illam patiatur judicem, quam formidare debuisset absentem.' These provisions are probably of Germanic origin.
[612] 'Quae sunt venerabili deliberatione firmata.' Is it possible that we have here a reference to a theoretical right of the Senate to concur in legislation?
[613] 'Et usualia jura publica.' Dahn expands: 'All other juristic material, all sources of law—Roman leges and jus, and Gothic customary law—the whole inheritance of the State in public and private law.'
[614] 'Necessaria quaedam Romanae quieti edictali programmate duodecim capitibus sicut jus civile legitur institutum in aevum servanda conscripsimus, quae custodita residuum jus non debilitare, sed potius corroborare videantur.'
[615] Evidently aimed at the Goths.
[616] 'Hac non utuntur barbari reges: apud legales dominos manere cognoscitur singularis.'
[617] 'Et, ut reliqua taceamus, hoc quod loquimur inde est.'
[618] 'Et semel Primi Ordinis vestri ac reliqui Senatus amplissimi auctoritate firmatus.' What is the meaning of 'Primi Ordinis vestri?'
[619] The twelfth Indiction began Sept. 1, 533. The Consul would enter office Jan. 1, 534. Was he designated when the great Imperial officers were appointed at the beginning of the Indiction?
[620] Curia, from cura.
[621] 'Primaevum recipiens ad Quaestoris Officium, mox reperit conscientia praeditum, et legum eruditione maturum.'
[622] 'Et quadam gratia praejudiciali vacabat alios laborare, ut te sententiae suae copiosa laude compleret.' One would have expected Cassiodorus to say, 'You had the special privilege of doing other people's work and being praised for it, while they enjoyed their leisure;' but I hardly see how we can get this meaning out of 'vacabat alios laborare.'
[623] 'Egisti rerum domino judicem familiarem et internum procerem.'
[624] 'Nam cum esset publica cura vacuatus, sententias prudentum a tuis fabulis exigebat; ut factis propriis se aequaret antiquis.'
[625] 'Quamvis habeas paternam Praefecturam, Italico orbe praedicatam.' This is one of the many proofs that Senator (now first advanced to the office of Praefectus Praetorio) is the son of the Cassiodorus to whom the letter (i. 3) is addressed on his retirement from that office.
[626] 'Tetendit se etiam in antiquam prosapiem nostram, lectione discens, quod vix majorum notitia cana retinebat. Iste Reges Gothorum longa oblivione celatos, latibulo vetustatis eduxit. Iste Amalos cum generis sui claritate restituit, evidenter ostendens in decimam septimam progeniem stirpem nos habere regalem. Originem Gothicam historiam fecit esse Romanam, colligens quasi in unam coronam germen floridum quod per librorum campos passim fuerat ante dispersum.'
[627] Probably from some expected descent of the Vandals, in connection with the affair of Amalafrida.
[628] 'Par suis majoribus ducatum sumpsit intrepidus.'
[629] 'Deputatos.'
[630] A conjectural translation of a difficult sentence: 'Mox autem ut tempus clausit navium commeatum, bellique cura resoluta est, ingenium suum legum potius ductor exercuit: sanans sine damno litigantium quod ante sub pretio comstabat esse laceratum.' I conjecture that by the sudden stoppage of the warlike preparations several of the contractors were in danger of being ruined, and there was a general disposition to repudiate all purchases.
[631] 'Nam licet concordia Principum semper deceat, vestra tamen absolute me nobilitat; quoniam ille redditur amplius excelsus, qui vestrae gloriae fuerit unanimiter conjunctus.'
[632] 'Divae recordationis.'
[633] Is there any authority for the reading of Nivellius, 'Theobaldum?'
[634] 'Veniamus ad illam privatae Ecclesiae (?) largissimam frugalitatem.' 'Ecclesiae,' if it means here 'the Church,' seems to spoil the sense. Can Cassiodorus mean to compare the household of Theodahad to a 'private Ecclesia?'
[635] 'Talem universitas debuit optare, qualem nos probamur elegisse, qui rationabiliter disponens propria, non appetat aliena.' And this of Theodahad!
[636] 'Dominam rerum.'
[637] 'Cujus prius ideo justitiam pertuli ut prius [posterius?] ad ejus provectionis gratiam pervenirem. Causas enim, ut scitis, jure communi nos fecit dicere cum privatis.' We have here, no doubt, an allusion to the punishment which, as we learn from Procopius, Amalasuentha inflicted on her cousin for his various acts of injustice towards his Tuscan neighbours.
[638] 'Et summâ felicitate componitur quod ab aliis sub longâ deliberatione componitur.' 'Ab aliis' probably refers to Cassiodorus himself. The contrast between his elaborate and diffuse rhetoric, and the few, terse, soon-moulded sentences of his mistress is very fairly drawn.
[639] 'Minus fuit ut generalitas sub libertate serviret.'
[640] 'Theodosio homini suo Theodahadus rex.' Does 'homo suus' mean a member of his Comitatus? We seem to have here an anticipation of the 'homagium' of later times.
[641] 'Mutavimus cum dignitate propositum, et si ante justa districte defendimus, nunc clementer omnia mitigamus.' A pretty plain confession of Theodahad's past wrong-doing, and one which was probably insisted upon by Amalasuentha in admitting him to a share in the kingship.
[642] 534-535. As Athalaric died Oct. 2, 534, the appointment of Patricius cannot have taken place on the usual day, Sept. 1.
[643] 'Velle nostrum antiquorum principum est voluntas, quos in tantum desideramus imitari quantum illi justitiam sunt secuti.'
[644] There is something in the tone of this letter which suggests that Theodora was known to be pregnant when it was written.
[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 Cassiodorus 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.
[646] 'Anicios quidem pene principibus pares aetas prisca genuit.'
[647] 535 to 536.
[648] 'Laudati sunt hactenus parentes tui, sed tantâ non sunt conjunctione decorati. Nobilitas tua non est ultra quod crescat. Quicquid praeconialiter egeris, proprio matrimonio dignissimus aestimaris.'
[649] Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul in 523.
[650] 'Nihil debemus et solvimus.' Have we here an echo of St. Augustine's thought, 'Reddis debita nulli debens?'
[651] 'Qui maximo labore defenditur, cujus per dies singulos civilitas custoditur.'
[652] 'Ut illos diligat super omnia, per quos habere probatur universa.'
[653] 'Salutiferos apices.'
[654] 'Ecce nec sollicitos patimur, quibus infensi esse putabamur.'
[655] 'Postulata siquidem sacramenta vobis, ab Illo atque Illo praestari nostra decrevit auctoritas.'
[656] 'Quâ nos convenit cautelâ Romam defendere, quam constat in mundo simile nihil habere?'
[657] 'Quos tamen locis aptis praecipimus immorari, ut foris sit armata defensio, intus vobis tranquilla civilitas.'
[658] 'Absit enim ut nostris temporibus Urbs illa muris videatur protegi, quam constat gentibus vel sola opinione fuisse terrori.'
[659] 'Ut quae semper fuit libera, nullius inclusionis decoloretur injuria.'
[660] 'Non enim rixas viles per regna requiritis: non vos injusta certamina quae sunt bonis moribus inimica, delectant.' No doubt this was meant to be taken as a hint of the censure which it professes to deny.
[661] 'Pacem quam et iracundis gentibus consuevistis imponere.' An allusion, perhaps, to the peace concluded with Persia.
[662] The name of 'virum illum venerabilem' is not given, but we learn from Procopius (De Bello Gotthico i. 6) that it was Rusticus, a priest, a Roman, and an intimate friend of Theodahad.
[663] Wife of Theodahad.
[664] 'Hortamini enim ut quidquid expetendum a triumphali principe domino jugali nostro (?) credimus vestris ante sensibus ingeramus.' It seems to me that the sense requires vestro instead of nostro, and I have translated accordingly. (Dahn also makes this correction.)
[665] 'Et vestra decet obsequia retinere.' Here 'nostra' seems to give a better sense than 'vestra.'
[666] 'Dubium enim non est illam mores dare cui observatur assidue, dum constat defaecari animum bonis praeceptionibus institutum.' Rather hazardous praise to address to a Theodora.
[667] 'Nam et de illâ personâ, de quâ ad nos aliquid verbo titillante pervenit, hoc ordinatum esse cognoscite, quod vestris credidimus animis convenire.'
[668] These mysterious sentences, according to Gibbon, cap. xli. n. 56 (following Buat), refer to Amalasuentha, and thus lend probability to the story in the Anecdote of Procopius that Theodora, out of jealousy, intrigued with Theodahad to have Amalasuentha put to death. But whatever may be the truth of that story, this sentence can hardly by any possibility refer to it. For (1) it is clear that this letter was written at the same time as Theodahad's, which precedes it, therefore after the arrival of Peter in Italy. But Procopius is clear that Amalasuentha was put to death before Peter had crossed the Hadriatic, whereas this event, whatever it be, is evidently a piece of news which Gudelina has to communicate to Theodora. (2) This letter, though purporting to be from Gudelina, is confessedly written by Cassiodorus, and published by him at the end of his official career. It is hardly conceivable that he would deliberately publish to the world his connection with the murder of Theodoric's daughter and his own friend and benefactress. It is remarkable, on the contrary, how complete (but for this passage) is the silence of the Variae as to Amalasuentha's deposition and death: as if Cassiodorus had said, 'If you do anything to harm her, you may get other apologists for your deeds; I will be no champion of such wickedness.' It is scarcely necessary to remark that there is nothing in the wording of the sentence 'de illa persona,' &c. which makes it more applicable to a woman than to a man. As Peter's embassy was ostensibly connected with ecclesiastical affairs, there is perhaps an allusion in this sentence to some scheme of Theodora's with reference to the Papacy. It is possible that she may have been already working for the election of Vigilius to the chair of St. Peter, and therefore that he is meant by 'illa persona.'
[669] 'Nullam inter Romana regna decet esse discordiam.'
[670] This letter seems as if it was written on precisely the same occasion as x. 19. Again Peter is sent back, and with him a 'venerable man' to represent Theodahad. We learn from Procopius (i. 6) that Theodahad, in his fear of war, recalled Peter when he had already got as far as Albano, and gave him another set of propositions for Justinian. It seems possible that these fresh letters (22 and 23) from Theodahad and his Queen were given him when he set out the second time.
[671] Zeno (not of course an ancestor in natural relationship, but predecessor in the third degree).
[672] 'Considerate etiam, principes docti, et abavi vestri historica monumenta recolite, quantum decessores vestri studuerint de suo jure relinquere ut eis parentum nostrorum foedera provenirent.'
[673] 'Nunc illi vestram gratiam ultro quaerunt, qui suis parentibus meliores se esse cognoscunt.' Dahn remarks that Theodahad's asserted superiority to Theodoric probably consisted in his philosophical culture.
[674] See note on the preceding letter.
[675] 'Ut per eum disceremus acceptum vobis esse quod in hac republicâ constat evenisse.' At first sight this seems to refer to the death of Amalasuentha or to the accession of Theodahad. Dahn thinks that those events have been disposed of in previous letters. Perhaps it is a general expression for 'the whole course of recent events in Italy.' Though upon the whole rejecting the story of Theodora's complicity in the death of Amalasuentha, I am bound to admit that this passage lends a certain amount of probability to the charge. At the same time, the words in the next sentence, 'per divinam providentiam omni suspicione detersâ,' are susceptible of an honourable meaning, even if the death of Amalasuentha be alluded to. 'You and your husband accused us of that crime. Now by God's providence we have been able to show that we were guiltless of it [that it was done without our privity by the relations of the three Gothic nobles whom she had put to death]. Nothing therefore remains to hinder peace between us.'
[676] Apparently sent at the same time as the two preceding letters.
[677] Negotiations were evidently still going on between the Emperor and the Pope, probably with reference to the election of Anthimus, who, though accused of Monophysitism, had been made Patriarch of Constantinople in 535 by Theodora's influence, and whom the Pope apparently refused to recognise. He was afterwards deposed by Pope Agapetus when he visited Constantinople.
[678] Cassiodorus.
[679] Apparently Veranilda had in the reign of Theodoric become a convert from Arianism to Orthodoxy, and had suffered some pecuniary losses in consequence, which Theodahad now proposes to make up to her. See Dahn, Könige der Germanen iii. 199, n. 4.
[680] Cassiodorus.
[681] 'Quorum dignitas ad hoc legitur instituta, ut de repositis copiis populum saturare possetis.' Probably an allusion to Joseph, whom Cassiodorus celebrates as the first Praefectus Praetorio.
[682] Six bushels for twelve shillings, or sixteen shillings a quarter.
[683] Cassiodorus.
[684] The sentence is so long that Cassiodorus seems to have forgotten its construction, and these important words are in fact omitted.
[685] 'Arcarios.'
[686] 'Prorogatores.'
[687] 'Capitularios horreariorum et tabernariorum.'
[688] 'Cellaritas.'
[689] 'Mansionem Ravennatem.'
[690] 'Ripam Ticinensem vel Placentinam.'
[691] Here follows, 'Ut hi quibus commissum est exercere singulos apparatus de injusto gravamine non querantur,' which I do not venture to translate, as I am not sure whether it relates to buyers or sellers.
[692] £1,200.
[693] 'Limosae podagrae subitâ inundatione complutus.'
[694] The nature-heated springs of Bormio are still resorted to; and some pedestrian travellers, who have crossed the Stelvio from Trafoi, have a grateful remembrance of their soothing waters.
[695] I have not found any other mention of these brazen elephants. Nardini (Roma Antica i. 295) cites this passage, and illustrates it by quotations from Suetonius, Pliny, and the Historia Augusta, showing that it was the custom to erect to Emperors and Empresses statues of elephants drawing triumphal chariots.
[696] Cassiodorus calls it 'promuscis.'
[697] 'A quâ transportaneorum (?) nefanda passio nomen accepit.'
[698] Hist. Nat. xxviii. 8.
[699] Spelt 'Vitigis' by Cassiodorus.
[700] 'Parentes nostros Gothos.'
[701] 'Ut de ejus fama laboraret quamvis de propria virtute praesumeret.' I have translated as if 'laboraret' and 'praesumeret' were in the plural, and even so, find it difficult to get a satisfactory meaning out of these words.
[702] 'Arma Gothorum nullâ promissionum mearum varietate frangenda sunt.' An evident allusion to the treacherous and unpatriotic diplomacy of Theodahad, as described by Procopius.
[703] 'Non in provinciis tantum sed in ipso rerum capite probatur inflictum.'
[704] 'Talis res effecta est quam mundus loquatur.' The commentator Fornerius absurdly understands this of Mundus, the general of Justinian in Dalmatia, who had already fallen in battle before the accession of Witigis.
[705] Matasuentha, now wife of Witigis.
[706] 'Quando non est difficile illum in affectu retinere, qui gratiam constat desideranter expetere.' Very nearly, but not quite, the modern proverb which says that gratitude is 'a lively sense of favours to come.'
[707] 'Salutiferos apices.' See x. 15.
[708] 'Secretum.'
[709] Here follows a sentence which I do not understand: 'Remanet itaque ad excusandum brevitas insperata librorum, quam nemo purgat diutius, nisi qui bene creditur esse dicturus.'
[710] This can hardly be the Consul of a.d. 511, since he is called in the next sentence 'senilis juvenis.'
[711] 'De Animae substantiâ vel de virtutibus ejus amici me disserere coëgerunt: ut per quam multa diximus, de ipsa quoque dicere videremur.'
[712] This letter, which was not composed immediately after Cassiodorus' accession to office, most have been written after the death of the Frankish King Theodoric, which occurred, according to Clinton, early in 534, and before October 2 of the same year, the date of the death of Athalaric. Notwithstanding the obscurity of many of the allusions in it, this document is one of our best authorities for the history of Amalasuentha's regency, and is therefore translated almost verbatim.
[713] Partly a pun on his name, partly an allusion to his rank.
[714] The letter written by Cassiodorus himself, in the name of Athalaric, to announce his elevation to the Praefecture (Var. ix. 25).
[715] 'Et temperamento mirabili dissimulando peragit quod accelerandum esse cognoscit.'
[716] 'Eudoxia.'
[717] 'Nurum denique sibi amissione Illyrici comparavit: factaque est conjunctio Regnantis, divisio dolenda provinciis.' On this alleged loss of Illyricum by the Western Empire, see Gibbon, cap. xxxiii. note 6. One may doubt, however, whether Cassiodorus has been correctly informed concerning it. Noricum and Pannonia at the time of Valentinian's marriage must have been entirely in the possession of the Huns; and on the dissolution of their monarchy Noricum at any rate seems to be connected with the Western rather than the Eastern Empire. As for Dalmatia, or the Province (as distinct from the Praefecture) of Illyricum, the retirement thither of the Emperor Nepos in 475, and the previous history of his uncle Marcellinus, point towards the conclusion that this Province was then considered as belonging de jure to the Caesar of Rome rather than to him of Constantinople.
[718] 'Et singularis illa potentia, ut Italicos Dominos, erigeret, reverentiam Eoi culminis ordinavit.' This somewhat favours the notion that Theodoric and his successors called themselves Kings of Italy.
[719] Theodoric I, son of Clovis, King of the Franks, reigning at Metz, died, as before stated, in 534.
[720] 'Et nobis nec unius ultimi facta subducis (?).'
[721] 'Burgundio quinetiam, ut sua reciperet, devotus effectus est: reddens se totum dum accepisset exiguum. Elegit quippe integer obedire, quam imminutus obsistere: tutius tunc defendit regnum quando arma deposuit. Recuperavit enim prece, quod amisit in acie.' The meaning of these mysterious words, as interpreted by Binding (268-270) and Jahn (ii. 252), is that Godomar, King of the Burgundians, received back from Amalasuentha (probably about 530, or a little later) the territory between the Durance and the Isere, which Theodoric had wrested from his brother in 523. The occasion of this cession was probably some league of mutual defence against the Franks, which Cassiodorus could without dishonesty represent as a kind of vassalage of Burgundy to Ostrogothia. If so, it availed Godomar little, as his territories were overrun by the Frankish Kings in 532, and the conquest of them was apparently completed by 534 (Jahn ii. 68-78).
[722] 'Afflictos statu meliore restituit.' An allusion, probably, to her kindness to the families of Boethius and Symmachus.
[723] No doubt the same Liberius who nobly defended the character of Amalasuentha at the Court of Justinian (Procopius, De Bello Gotthico i. 4). Apparently he was made Consul, but his name does not appear in the Fasti at this time.
[724] Probably to prevent his obtaining the Praefecture.
[725] This and the following names belong to the ancestors of Amalasuentha, and are found with slight variations in the treatise of Jordanes on the History of the Goths, which was founded on a similar treatise by Cassiodorus.
[726] 'Pietate Theudimer.'
[727] 'Specto feliciter virtutis ejus augmenta, qui differo laudare principia.' The annotator says that these words are not to be found in the extant writings of Symmachus [the orator]. It was probably the younger Symmachus, the father-in-law of Boethius, who uttered them. At this time Athalaric was killing himself by his debaucheries.
[728] Pope John II (a Roman, son of Projectus, and originally named Mercurius) succeeded Boniface II Jan. 1, 533. His pontificate lasted till May 26, 535. His successor was Agapetus. This letter appears to have been written at a time of scarcity in Rome.
[729] 'Sum quidem Judex Palatinus, sed vester non desinam esse discipulus.'
[730] 'Confessiones.'
[731] This was written, no doubt, when Athalaric was on his deathbed.
[732] 'Episcopus doceat, ne judex possit invenire quod puniat.'
[733] 'Agenti vices.' Bethmann Hollweg (Gerichtsverfassung des sinkenden römischen Reichs, pp. 49-50) remarks: 'The relation of the Vices Magistratuum agentes does not belong to the Jurisdictio mandata. They are lieutenants (Stellvertreter) who are substituted provisionally in the room of an ordinary official of the Empire or of a Province, on account of his being temporarily disqualified or suspended from office by the Emperor or Praetorian Praefect. The municipal magistrates were also represented by vices agentes. But the extant authorities give us no very clear information as to their position.' Unfortunately this letter, relating to a vices agens of the Praetorian Praefect himself, does not add much to our information.
[734] I suggest this with hesitation as the translation of a difficult sentence: 'Si quos etiam fidejussoribus committere necessarium aestimaveris, confidenter assume: quia illud magis relevare potest animum nostrum, si aliquid per vos cognoscimus impletum.' Cassiodorus seems to be urging his deputy not to shrink from the exercise of even the most stringent rights inherent in his office, in order that causes may be terminated without reference to him. But is there authority for such a translation of the words 'fidejussoribus committere?'
[735] 'Curiositas.'
[736] Athalaric and Amalasuentha.
[737] In the last sentence but one, 'Fidem meam promitto: sed cum ipsis Divinitatis dona sustineo, cautelam offero,' I would suggest ipsius for 'ipsis,' making cum = 'when,' not 'with.' There does not seem to be any antecedent plural to which 'ipsis' can refer.
[738] 'Transgressio matriculae actio tua est.'
[739] September 1, 533.
[740] 'Hoc igitur laudabili praejudicium a duodecima Indictione cancellorum tibi decus attribuit.'
[741] 'Respice quo nomine nuncuperis. Latere non potest quod inter cancellos egeris. Tenes quippe lucidas fores, claustra patentia, fenestratas januas; et quamvis studiose claudas, necesse est ut te cunctis aperias.'
[742] 'Dicationis tuae.' A peculiar and untranslatable form of respect.
[743] September 1, 533.
[744] 'Trina illatio' (See Var. ii. 24). So called because it was collected three times in the year. See Dahn, Könige der Germanen iii. 140; and Sartorius, Regierung der Ostg. 200. The latter seems however to confuse it with the 'tertiae,' from which Dahn very properly distinguishes it.
[745] 'Nundinationes.'
[746] 'Breves.'
[747] 'Scrinia.'
[748] 'Juvante Deo, rerumque Dominis regnantibus.'
[749] 'Sperari a vobis aliquid sola specierum indigentia faciet, non malitiosa venalitas ... nec ad taxationem trahimus quae necessaria non habentur.'
[750] 'Quemadmodum a rerum Dominis mandata suscepimus.'
[751] 'Dicatio tua.'
[752] 'Circa Dominos felices.'
[753] 'Ita se et illi devotos debent pie regnantibus exhibere.' Compare again Claudian's words:
'Nunquam libertas gratior exstat,
Quam sum rege pio.'
[754] 'Sic agite ut cum justitia probata quaeritur, annus vester brevis esse videatur.'
[755] 'Quando et evectiones publicas accepistis et nobis gratum sit audire de talibus.'
[756] 'Rerum Domini clementia.'
[757] Or David, according to some MSS.
[758] This is no doubt the mountain on whose skirts was fought the decisive battle between Narses and Teias in 553, now known as Monte Lettere. It is a spur of the range reaching from Sorrento to Salerno, which attains its highest elevation in Monte San Angelo (4,690 feet high). It rises opposite to Mount Vesuvius on the south-east, the ruins of Pompeii and the valley of the Sarno (formerly the Draco) lying between the two.
[759] 'Per singulos excessus sex solidorum mulctam a se noverit exigendam et fustuario posse subjacere supplicio.'
[760] This is, I believe, the expression used in some of the Australian colonies for what Cassiodorus calls commoda vestra.
[761] 'Pio Principi.'
[762] Thus called by Cassiodorus; not Comum.
[763] 'Se possessores paraveredorum assiduitate suggerunt esse fatigatos.'
[764] 'Quibus indultu Regali beneficium praecipimus jugiter custodiri.' These words do not make it clear how the inhabitants were relieved by the Royal decree; but it was probably by some gift of money like that which is announced in the next letter.
[765] 'Praetoriorum luminibus decenter ornata.'
[766] So Claudian (De VI Consolata Honorii 196), 'et Addua visu caerulus.'
[767] 'Ut nomen retinens et colorem in Septentrionem obesiore alvei ventre generetur.'
[768] 'Sed ut beneficia Dominorum subtractis exactionum, incommodis augeantur, celerius relatio vestra nos instruat, quid unicuique de hac summâ relaxandum esse judicetis, ut tantum de primâ illatione faciamus suspendi quantum ad nos notitia directa vulgaverit.' The meaning of Cassiodorus seems quite clear, though it is not easy to understand how far the actual gift of money was supplemented by, or independent of, remission of land-tax.
[769] 'Exactores atque susceptores.' For the latter office, see Cod. Theod. xii. 6.
[770] This letter was probably addressed to the Princeps, the highest person in the whole Officium, as it contains the words 'unus quisque ... tuâ designatione vulgetur.'
[771] 'Juxta matriculae seriem.'
[772] 'Inter Tribunos et Notarios ad adorandos aspectus properet Principales.'
[773] 'Qui Praetorianis fascibus inculpabiliter noscitur obsecutus.'
[774] 'Quem matriculae series fecit accedere.'
[775] I am unable to suggest any explanation of this title.
[776] I have not found any explanation of this title, which is apparently unknown to the Notitia, to Lydus, and to the Theodosian Code.
[777] Note the corrupt form of the name Heliodorus.
[778] We get this sense of Delegatio in Cod. Theod. vii. 4. 35: 'Annonas omnes, quae universis officiis atque Sacri Palatii Ministeriis et Sacris Scriniis ceterisque cunctarum adminiculis dignitatum adsolent delegari.'
[779] In this letter occurs a sentence of tantalising obscurity: 'Sola nos Alpha complectitur ubi ea littera non timetur.'
[780] It is not clear to whom the letter is addressed.
[781] 'Ex illatione tertiâ.'
[782] The marginal note says: 'i.e. Agentium in Rebus.'
[783] As might be expected from an observer who did not understand the earth's motion in its orbit, the periods assigned to the inferior planets in this paragraph are all wrong, while those assigned to the superior planets are pretty nearly right.
Periods according to Cassiodorus.
True Periods.
Saturn
30
years
29
years
174
days.
Jupiter
12
"
11
"
317
"
Mars
1
year
182
days
1
year
321
"
Venus
1
"
91
"
224
"
Mercury
1
"
30
"
88
"
[784] 'Per illam Indictionem de Samnii provinciâ ex illatione tertiâ sine ambiguitate contrade.'
[785] 'Praefuit enim Cornibus Secretarii Praetoriani, unde ei nomen est derivatum.'
[786] 'Eo ministrante caliculum scripsimus inempti quod magnis pretiis optabatur impleri.'
[787] 'Quod egimus cohortes noverunt.' Observe the military character of the service, 'cohortes.'
[788] 'Eorum est etiam sudoribus applicandum, quod victuales expensae longe quidem positae, sed tamquam in urbe Regiâ natae [I do not quite understand this antithesis] sine querelâ Provincialium congregantur.'
[789] 'Labores, violenti magistri, solliciti paedagogi, per quos cautior quis efficitur dum incurri pericula formidantur.'
[790] 'Ex canone provinciae Campaniae tertiae illationis tot solidos solenniter te dare censemus.'
[791] Tax-collector.
[792] Lydus (De Magistratibus iii. 14) makes a similar remark, but says that in his time the copying clerks (Exceptarii, or Exceptores) supplied disgracefully bad paper made of grass, and charged a fee for doing so.
[793] Sept. 1, 534. The reading 'de tertiae decimae Indictionis rationibus' seems required by the sense, instead of 'tertiam de decimae Indictionis rationibus.' It is quite clear that Cassiodorus was not Praetorian Praefect at the tenth Indiction.
[794] 'Ambos titulos.'
[795] This sum seems ridiculously small for the Province of Bruttii. Can it be the sum assessed on each district?
[796] 'Indulgentia.'
[797] 'Scarus.'
[798] 'Per milites suos judex intelligitur.'
[799] 'Possessor mihi publicas pecunias libens inferat: ego illi in conventus justitiae tributa persolvam.'
[800]'Haec nos annuo sermone convenit loqui: quia bonarum rerum nulla satietas est.'
[801] 'Trina Illatio.'
[802] Sept. 1, 534, to Sept. 1, 535.
[803] 'Expensarum fidelem notitiam quaternis mensibus comprehensam.' As the receipts of the Trina Illatio had to be gathered in every four months, the account of Provincial expenditure covered the same period.
[804] 'Ad scrinia nostra dirigere maturabis.'
[805] 'Devotio tua' was the technical way of addressing the fortis Sajo.
[806] 'In executore illud est pessimum, si judicis relinquat arbitrium.'
[807] 'Rerum Dominus.'
[808] Revenue-officer.
[809] 'Perhaps a kind of lamprey' (White and Riddle's Latin-English Dictionary).
[810] Apparently a kind of raisin wine; from acina, a grape or berry.
[811] What are we to make of 'Stipsis nescio quâ firmitate roboratur?'
[812] 'Tactus ejus densitate pinguescit: ut dicas esse aut carneum liquorem aut edibilem potionem.' Questionable praise, according to the ideas of a modern wine-grower.
[813] We might have expected to find wine-bottles rather than wine-glasses thus requisitioned; but I think the words of Cassiodorus, 'quod lacteo poculo relucescit,' oblige us to adopt the latter translation.
[814] 'Pretia quae antiquus ordo constituit ex jussione rerum Domini cognoscite temperata, ut multo arctius quam vendere solebatis in assem publicum praebita debeant imputari.'
[815] 'Sed quo facilius instrueretur vestra notitia, imputationum summas infra scriptis brevibus credidimus exprimendas.' Apparently the ordinary taxes for the two Provinces are remitted, but a certain quantity of provisions has to be furnished to the army, perhaps by each township; and besides this, the commissariat officers have a right of pre-emption at prices considerably below the market rate.
[816] 'Continete ergo possessorum intemperantes motus.'
[817] 'Ex Regiâ jussione singulos conductores massarum et possessores validos admonete, ut nullam contrahant in concertatione barbariem: ne non tantum festinent bellis prodesse quantum quiete confundere.' Evidently the rustics are dissuaded from taking up arms lest they should use them on the side of Belisarius.
[818] 'Universis Praefecturae titulos administrantibus.'
[819] 'Canonicario Venetiarum.'
[820] Sept. 1, 536, to Sept. 1, 537.
[821] 'Validas contra te apochas invenerunt.'
[822] 'Chlamydes non pavescant, qui arma timuerunt.'
[823] 'Arcarii.'
[824] 'Apochae.'
[825] 'Praefectus Annonae.'
[826] 'Felix illi contigit et praedicanda captivitas.' A little before, we read, 'Resumat facultatem quam se suspiraverat amississe.' These sentences suggest the idea that the petitioner had been brought over in the train of the lately deceased person as a slave. This a little lessens the difficulty of his being admitted to the inheritance. Compare Gen. xv. 3, where Abraham, before the birth of a son, says, 'And one born in my house' (i.e. a slave) 'is mine heir.'
[827] 'Arcarius.'
[828] 'Degeniatus.'
[829] 'Erogatori obsoniorum.'
[830] 'Obsonia.'
[831] 'Cum apud rerum Dominum solemni more pranderemus.'
[832] 'Silanum.' Mount Sila is a range of hills in Calabria immediately to the north of Squillace, forty miles from north to south, and twenty miles from east to west, and occupying the whole of the projecting portion of the south-east side of Italy between the Gulf of Squillace and the Bay of Taranto. The highest peaks, which are about 5,700 feet high, are covered with snow during half the year. It is said that from the beginning of June till far on into October, 15,000 head of cattle and 150,000 sheep, besides horses and mules, graze in these uplands. (See Gael-Fells: Unter Italien, p. 721.)
[833] From the description of Cassiodorus, it seems to have been a kind of cream cheese.
[834] 'Non stipsi asperum sed gratum suavitate perquire.' The same peculiar word, stipsis, which we had in Letter xii. 4. What meaning are we to assign to the word?
[835] 'Magnis odoribus singulare:—quod ita redolet ore ructatum ut merito illi a palma nomen videatur impositum.'
[836] Baronius (Ad Ann. 591) quotes this letter of Cassiodorus to explain an allusion in the life of Pope Gregory the Great, who refused to receive a present of 'Palmatiana' from the Bishop of Messina, and insisted on paying for it.
[837] 'Facientes laicum commodum substantiam clericorum.'
[838] 'Edictali programmate definimus, ut qui in hac fuerit ulterius fraude versatus et militiâ careat et compendium propriae facultatis amittat.' The last clause is perhaps purposely vague. We should have expected to hear something about restitution, but the words will not bear that meaning.
[839] I do not understand the following sentences: 'In hortis autem rusticorum agmen habetur operosum: quia olus illic omne saporum est marinâ irroratione respersum. Quod humanâ industriâ fieri consuevit, hoc cum nutriretur accepit.' Can they have watered any herbs with salt water?
'Nec tamen, haec quum sint hominumque boumque labores
Versando terram experti, nihil improbus anser,
Strymoniaeque grues, et amaris intuba fibris
Officiunt.'—Georgic i. 118-121.
[841] I must renounce the attempt to translate the rest of the sentence: 'Unde in morem nitri aliquid decerptum frangitur, dum a fecundo cespite segregatur.' There is an alternative reading, vitri for nitri; but I am still unable to understand the author's meaning.
[842] Apparently a kind of lamprey. See the fourth letter of this book.
[843] Perhaps Cassiodorus means to say this makes it more easy of capture, but he does not say so.
[844] The praises of the exormiston are not only foreign to the main subject of the letter, but to a certain extent weaken the writer's argument on behalf of his countrymen; but, as a good Bruttian, he cannot help vaunting the products of his country.
[845] The passage to and fro of travellers no doubt brought with it burdensome duties for the inhabitants in connection with the Cursus Publicus. It was therefore a reason for mitigating other taxes.
[846] This letter, being the description by Cassiodorus of his native place, is translated entire.
[847] 'Irrationabiliter dicitur praesumentium nimietate vexari.'
[848] 'Decenter.'
[849] Dust-money.
[850] 'Canonicario.'
[851] 'Dum res nobis etiam asperas captatâ semper opinione conciliat.' Apparently a veiled allusion to the disasters of the Goths.
[852] 'Nec iterum remissione lentatâ quisquam se dicat esse praeteritum.'
[853] This mention of the just weight of course suits a tax paid in kind, not in money.
[854] 'Expensarum quoque fidelem notitiam per quaternos menses ad scrinia nostra solemniter destinabis.'
[855] 'Illum atque illum sedis nostrae milites, tibi officioque tuo periculorum suorum memores praecipimus imminere.'
[856] Collector of the Siliquaticum, or tax of one twenty-fourth on sales. See ii. 30, iii. 35, iv. 19.
[857] No doubt the walls of Ravenna. I cannot identify the Mons Caprarius. The name Caprera is a common one in Italy.
[858] One may conjecture that this letter was written in 535, when war with the Empire was imminent, but before it was actually declared.
[859] 'Videre judicia diligentia.' I leave this clause untranslated, as I cannot understand it.
[860] 'In pontibus contrabium non tremere.'
[861] 'Illum sedis nostrae militem.'
[862] He was sent by Theodahad; entered Constantinople February 20, 536, and died there 21st April of the same year.
[863] 'Facto pictacio.'
[864] 'Vasa sanctorum.' One would think this must refer to the vessels used in celebrating mass; but I do not quite see how the meaning is to be got out of the words.
[865] 'Actoribus.'
[866] Baronius not unfairly argues that if the Roman See was so poor that the Church plate had to be pawned 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.
[867] 'Armarium ipsius fortuna cunctorum est.'
[868] 'Translator esto, non conditor antiquorum gestorum.'
[869] Compare Cassiodorus' treatise De Animâ, 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.
[870] The first Indiction was from September 1, 537, to September 1, 538.
[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.
[872] We have a special allusion in Martial (iv. 25) to the villas of Altinum, and he too compares them to those of Baiae.
[873] Evidently 'the annexed letter' referred to in No. 22.
[874] 'Ut in tot solidos vini, olei, vel tritici species de tributario solido debeas procurare.'
[875] 'Sicut te a Numerariis instruxit porrecta Notitia.' Note this use of the word 'Notitia,' as illustrating the title of the celebrated document bearing that name.
[876] Corn, wine, and oil.
[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 municipal government established in these islands. Tribunus was at this time generally, but not exclusively, a military title. Compare the Tribunus Fori Suarii and Tribunus Rerum Nitentium of the Notitia (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.
[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.'
[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.
[880] 'Venetiae praedicabiles.' An allusion, no doubt, as other commentators have suggested, to the reputed derivation of Venetia from Αινετοι, 'the laudable.'
[881] Alluding probably to the story of the floating island of Delos.
[882] 'Earum similitudine.' Does Cassiodorus mean 'like the water-fowl,' or 'like the Cyclades?'
[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.'
[884] 'Inde vobis fructus omnis enascitur, quando in ipsis, et quae non facitis possidetis.'
[885] 'Moneta illic quodammodo percutitur victualis.' Some have supposed that these words point to a currency in salt; but I think they are only a Cassiodorian way of saying 'By this craft ye have your wealth.'
[886] This is the only translation I can suggest of 'quatenus expensas necessarias nulla difficultate tardetis, qui pro qualitate aeris compendium vobis eligere potestis itineris.'
[887] 'Agenti vices.' See note on xi. 4.
[888] 'Vestros (?) veraciter pandit aspectus.'
[889] Joseph, Praetorian Praefect of Egypt under Pharaoh.
[890] Paulas was probably a Sajo.
[891] Now Cividale in Friuli. Notice the terminations of these names: 'ex Concordiense, Aquileiense, et Forojuliense civitatibus' ('e,' not 'i').
[892] The letter here alluded to does not appear to be preserved.
[893] Cassiodorus, like Procopius, spells this name with a 't.' Some of the ecclesiastical writers spell it with a 'c.'
[894] Pavia.
[895] Tortona.
[896] Twelve shillings for twenty pecks, or about nineteen shillings and twopence a quarter; not a very low price, one would think, for such a grain as millet.
Datius is ordered to sell tertiam portionem of this millet. Probably this expression has the same meaning as the 'tertia illatio' of xi. 37.
In the similar letter, x. 27, 'tertia portio' (whether of wheat or millet is not stated) is to be sold at 25 modii per solidum.
[897] 'Arcarius.'
[898] Literally, 'of the present Empire:' 'subito praesentis Imperii tanquam solis ortus fama radiavit.' I avoid the word 'present,' because of its ambiguity. Observe the use of 'Imperii' applied to the Gothic Kingdom.
[899] 'Quando illum cognovit nominatae (?) gentis esse Rectorem, quem sub militis nomine probaverat esse singularem.' This evident allusion to Witigis obliges us to place the date of this Burgundian invasion not much earlier than the summer of 536, when Witigis was raised to the throne. Apparently the Burgundians were already in Italy when they heard the news of that event.
[900] 'Ut Gothi ad belli studium geminâ se fortitudine contulerunt.' These words perhaps allude to the necessity of fighting two enemies at once, Belisarius and the Burgundians; or perhaps to the existence of two Gothic armies, whose combined operations are indicated by the following words, 'prospera concertatione.'
[901] 'Quasi inde nudos hinc stare contigisset armatos.' 'Hinc' and 'inde' refer to geographical position, not to the order of the words in the sentence.
[902] See von Schubert's 'Unterwerfung der Alamannen,' pp. 57-59, for a careful analysis of the following paragraph.
[903] 'Pace tanti patris dixerim.'
[904] Probably one solidus: making the largesse price 15s. 4d. a quarter (about four shillings less than the price named in the preceding letter for millet); while the market price was 38s. 4d. a quarter. I read these sentences thus: 'Vendit itaque largitas publica vicenos quinque modios, dum possessor invenire non possit, ad denos. Ordinem rerum saeculi mutavit humanitas.' The construction is harsh and elliptical, but this makes sense, which the ordinary punctuation, throwing 'ad denos' into the following sentence, does not.
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