Cassiodorus: VARIARUM LIBRI XII

[1] Cum disertorum gratiam aut communibus fabulis aut gratuitis beneficiis, nullis tamen veris meritis collegissem, dicta mea, quae in honoribus saepe positus pro explicanda negotiorum qualitate profuderam, in unum corpus redigere suadebant, ut ventura posteritas et laborum meorum molestias, quas pro generalitatis commodo sustinebam, et sinceris conscientiae inemptam dinosceret actionem.

[1] When I had collected the favor of the eloquent either by common tales or by gratuitous benefactions, yet by no true merits, they were urging me to bring my sayings, which, often placed in honors, I had poured forth for the explaining of the quality of affairs, into one body, so that coming posterity might discern both the vexations of my labors, which I was bearing for the advantage of the generality, and the unbought action of a sincere conscience.

[2] Dicebam dilectionem ipsorum mihi potius fore contrariam, ut, quod modo propter desideria supplicantium putabatur acceptum, postea legentibus videretur insubidum. addebam debere illos Flacci dicta recolere, qui monet, quid periculi vox praecipitata possit incurrere.

[2] I was saying their affection would rather be contrary to me, so that what just now was thought acceptable on account of the desires of the suppliants would afterward seem insipid to readers. i added that they ought to recall the sayings of Flaccus, who warns what danger a precipitate voice can incur.

[3] Respondendi celeritatem cunctos videtis exigere, et creditis me impaenitenda proferre? dictio semper agrestis est, quae aut sensibus electis per moram non comitur aut verborum minime proprietatibus explicatur. loqui nobis communiter datum est: solus ornatus est, qui discernit indoctos.

[3] You see everyone demanding the speed of replying, and do you believe that I will bring forth things not-to-be-regretted? diction is always rustic, which either is not accompanied, through delay, by chosen senses, or is not at all unfolded by the proprieties of words. speaking has been given to us in common: it is ornament alone that distinguishes the unlearned.

[4] Nonus annus ad scribendum relaxatur auctoribus: mihi nec horarum momenta praestantur: mox ut coepero, clamoribus imminetur et festinatione nimia geritur, ne cautius coepta peragantur. alter nos frequentia invidiosae interpellationis exaggerat: alter miseriarum mole castigat: alii furiosa contentionum seditione circumdant.

[4] A ninth year is allowed to authors for writing; to me not even moments of hours are afforded: as soon as I have begun, there is menace with clamors and the business is driven on with excessive haste, lest the things begun be carried through more cautiously. The one aggravates us by the frequency of invidious interpellation; the other chastises by the mass of miseries; others surround us with the frenzied sedition of contentions.

[5] Inter haec cur requiritis dictationis eloquium, ubi copiam vix possumus habere sermonum? ipsas quoque noctes inexplicabilis cura circumvolat, ne desint alimonia civitatibus, quae supra omnia populi plus requirunt, studentes ventri, non auribus. hinc est quod cogimur animo per cunctas ire provincias et iniuncta semper inquirere, quia non sufficit agenda militibus imperare, nisi haec iudicis assiduitas videatur exigere.

[5] Amid these things, why do you require the eloquence of dictation, where we can scarcely have a copiousness of words? An inexplicable care hovers even about the nights, lest nourishments be lacking to the cities, which the peoples require more than anything, attending to the belly, not to the ears. Hence it is that we are compelled in mind to go through all the provinces and to inquire always after the things enjoined, because it does not suffice to command the agenda to the soldiers, unless this seems to be exacted by the assiduity of the judge.

nolite, quaeso, noxie nos amare. declinanda est suasio quae plus habet periculi quam decoris.

do not, i beg, love us harmfully. the suasion that has more peril than decorum must be declined.

[6] Sed illi me potius tali disceptatione fatigabant: ëpraefectum te praetorianae sedis omnes noverunt, cui dignitati occupationes publicae velut pedisequae semper assistunt. ab hac enim exercituales flagitantur expensae: ab hac victus quaeritur sine temporis consideratione populorum: huic etiam vel solum grave iudiciorum pondus adiectum est. cui ideo leges visae sunt inmensum onus imponere, dum ad ipsam honoris gratia maluerunt paene omnia pertinere.

[6] But they rather wearied me with such a disputation: ëeveryone knows you to be prefect of the praetorian seat, to which dignity public occupations, like handmaids, always attend. from this, indeed, the military expenses are demanded: from this, the victual of the peoples is sought without consideration of time: to this also, or even to this alone, the heavy weight of judgments has been added. to which therefore the laws seemed to impose an immense burden, since for the sake of the honor they preferred that almost all things should pertain to it.

quod enim spatium possis publico labori subripere, quando in unum pectus confluit, quicquid utilitas generalitatis exposcit?

For what span can you steal away from public labor, when into one breast there flows together whatever the utility of the generality demands?

[7] 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 iudices nequeunt explicare. haec autem facis nulla vendendo, sed exemplo proprii genitoris ab sperantibus accipis solos labores: sic petentibus praestando gratis sub continentiae munere cuncta mercaris.

[7] We add also that, with the turns of the quaestorship made heavy, frequent reflection takes away the time of leisure, and, as you sweat under only moderate fasces, the princes seem to impose upon you from other honors those matters which the proper judges cannot unfold. Yet you do these things by selling nothing, but, after the example of your own father, you accept from those who hope only the labors: thus, by granting to petitioners for free, under the gift of continence, you “purchase” everything.

[8] Regum quin etiam gloriosa colloquia pro magna diei parte in bonum publicum te occupare noverunt, ut fastidium sit otiosis expectare, quae tu continuo labore cognosceris sustinere. verum hoc magis tibi ad suffragium laudis potest proficere, si inter tanta et talia valueris legenda proferre: deinde quod rudes viros et ad rem publicam conscia facundia praeparatos labor tuus sine aliqua offensione poterit edocere, et usum, quem tu inter altercantium pericula iactatus exerces, illos, qui sunt in tranquillitate positi, contingit felicius adipisci.

[8] Indeed, they know that even the glorious colloquies of kings occupy you for a great part of the day for the public good, so that it is a tedium for the idle to wait for the things which you are known to sustain with continual labor. But this can profit you more to the suffrage of praise, if among such great and such matters you shall have been able to bring forth things to be read: then that your labor will be able to instruct without any offense both raw men and those prepared for the commonwealth by a conscious eloquence, and that the practice which you, tossed amid the dangers of disputants, exercise, it befalls those who are placed in tranquillity to obtain more happily.

[9] Proinde, quod salva fide, qua frueris, dissimulare non poteris, tanta regum beneficia, si pateris ignorari, frustra maluisti benigna festinatione concedi. noli, quaesumus, in obscurum silentii revocare, qui te dicente meruerunt illustres dignitates accipere. tu enim illos assumpsisti vera laude describere et quodam modo historico colore depingere.

[9] Accordingly, since, with faith intact—which you enjoy—you cannot dissimulate, if you allow such great royal benefactions to be unknown, you have preferred in vain that they be granted by benign haste. Do not, we beseech you, recall into the obscurity of silence those who, with you speaking, have deserved to receive illustrious dignities. For you have undertaken to describe them with true praise and, in a certain manner, to paint them with an historical color.

quos si celebrandos posteris tradas, abstulisti, consuetudine maiorum, morientibus decenter interitum. [10 Deinde mores pravos regis auctoritate recorrigis, excedentis audaciam frangis, timorem legibus reddis. et adhuc dubitas edere quod tantis utilitatibus probas posse congruere?

whom, if you hand down to posterity to be celebrated, you have, by the custom of the ancestors, fittingly taken away extinction from the dying. [10 Then you correct depraved manners by the king’s authority, you break the audacity of the one exceeding bounds, you give back fear to the laws. and do you still hesitate to publish what you prove can be congruent with such great utilities?

celas etiam ut ita dixerim, speculum mentis tuae, ubi te omnis aetas ventura possit inspicere. contingit enim dissimilem filium plerumque generari: oratio dispar moribus vix potest inveniri. est ergo ista valde certior arbitrii proles: nam quod de arcano pectoris gignitur, auctoris sui posteritas veracius aestimatur.

you also conceal, so to speak, the mirror of your mind, where every age to come can inspect you. For it happens that a dissimilar son is very often begotten; an oration disparate from morals can scarcely be found. Therefore this is a far more certain offspring of free choice: for from what is engendered from the secret of the breast, posterity more truly appraises its author.

[11] Dixisti etiam ad commendationem universitatis frequenter reginis ac regibus laudes: duodecim libris Gothorum historiam defloratis prosperitatibus condidisti. cum tibi in illis fuerit secundus eventus, quid ambigis et haec publico dare, qui iam cognosceris dicendi tirocinia posuisse?í

[11] You have also, for the commendation of the universality, frequently offered praises to queens and kings: in twelve books you composed the history of the Goths, having culled the flower of their prosperities. Since the outcome for you in those was favorable, why do you hesitate to give these also to the public, you who are already known to have set down the apprenticeships of speaking?

[12] Victus sum, fateor, in verecundiam meam: nec obsistere tantis prudentibus potui, cum me viderem ex affectione culpari. nunc ignoscite, legentes, et si qua est incauta praesumptio, suadentibus potius imputate, quia mea iudicia cum illo videntur facere, qui me decreverit accusare.

[12] I am overcome, I confess, to my shame: nor could I resist such prudent men, when I saw myself blamed for partiality. Now forgive, readers, and if there is any incautious presumption, impute it rather to the persuaders, since my judgments seem to make common cause with that man who has decreed to accuse me.

[13] Et ideo quod in quaesturae, magisterii ac praefecturae dignitatibus a me dictatum in diversis publicis actibus potui reperire, bis sena librorum ordinatione composui, ut, quamquam diversitate causarum legentis intentio concitetur, efficacius tamen rapiatur animus, cum tendit ad terminum.

[13] And therefore, whatever among the dignities of the quaestorship, the mastership, and the prefecture I was able to find as having been dictated by me in various public acts, I have composed in an ordering of twelve books, so that, although by the diversity of the cases the reader’s attention is stirred, nevertheless the mind is more effectively swept along when it tends toward the end.

[14] Illud autem sustinere alios passi non sumus quod nos frequenter incurrimus in honoribus dandis, impolitas et praecipites dictiones, quae sic poscuntur ad subitum, ut vix vel scribi posse videantur. cunctarum itaque dignitatum sexto et septimo libris formulas comprehendi, ut et mihi quamvis sero prospicerem et sequentibus in angusto tempore subvenirem: ita quae dixi de praeteritis conveniunt et futuris, quia non de personis, sed de ipsis locis quae apta videbantur explicui.

[14] However, we did not allow others to endure that which we frequently encountered in the conferring of honors: unpolished and headlong speeches, which are demanded so on the sudden that they scarcely seem even able to be written. Therefore, in the sixth and seventh books I have included the formulas of all the dignities, so that I might both provide for myself, although late, and come to the aid of those following when time is narrow: thus the things I have said about past matters suit the future as well, since I have explained not about persons, but about the positions themselves which seemed apt.

[15] Librorum vero titulum, operis indicem, causarum praeconem, totius orationis brevissimam vocem, variarum nomine praenotavi, quia necesse nobis fuit stilum non unum sumere, qui personas varias suscepimus ammonere. aliter enim multa lectione satiatis, aliter mediocri gustatione suspensis, aliter a litterarum sapore ieiunis persuasionis causa loquendum est, ut interdum genus sit peritiae vitare quod doctis placeat.

[15] Indeed I have pre-noted the title of the books, the index of the work, the herald of the causes, the briefest voice of the whole oration, under the name “Variae,” because it was necessary for us to assume not one style, we who have undertaken to admonish various persons. for one must speak, for the sake of persuasion, otherwise to those sated by much reading, otherwise to those held in suspense by a moderate gustation, otherwise to those fasting from the savor of letters, so that sometimes it is a kind of expertise to avoid what would please the learned.

[16] Proinde maiorum pulchra definitio est sic apte dicere, ut audientibus possis concepta vota suadere. neque enim tria genera dicendi in cassum prudens definivit antiquitas: humile, quod communione ipsa serpere videatur: medium, quod nec magnitudine tumescit nec parvitate tenuatur, sed inter utrumque positum, propria venustate ditatum suis finibus continetur: tertium genus, quod ad summum apicem disputationis exquisitis sensibus elevatur: videlicet, ut varietas personarum congruum sortiretur eloquium et, licet ab uno pectore proflueret, diversis tamen alveis emanaret, quando nullus eloquentis obtinet nomen, nisi qui trina ista virtute succinctus causis emergentibus viriliter est paratus.

[16] Accordingly, a fair definition of the elders is to speak so aptly that you can persuade the hearers to the conceived aims. For prudent antiquity did not define in vain the three genera of speaking: the humble, which seems to creep by its very commonality: the middle, which neither swells with magnitude nor is attenuated by smallness, but, placed between both, enriched with its own venusty, is contained within its bounds: the third genus, which is raised to the highest apex of disputation by exquisite sentiments: namely, that the variety of persons might obtain congruous eloquence, and, although it flowed from one breast, yet would issue by diverse channels, since no one attains the name of eloquent unless, girt with this triple virtue, he is manfully prepared for emerging causes.

[17] Huc accedit, quod modo regibus, modo potestatibus aulicis, modo loqui videamur humillimis, quibus alia contigit sub festinatione profundere, alia vero licuit cogitata proferre, ut merito variarum dicatur, quod tanta diversitate conficitur. sed utinam, sicut ista regulis accepisse probamur antiquis, ita eadem promissae resignent merita dictionis.

[17] To this is added, that now to kings, now to aulic powers, now to the very lowly we seem to speak, to whom it befell to pour forth some things under haste, but it was permitted to bring forth cogitated things in others, so that it is deservedly called “of various,” since it is effected with such diversity. But would that, just as we are approved to have received these things by ancient rules, so the same may countersign the merits of the promised diction.

[18] Quapropter humile de nobis verecunde promittimus: mediocre non improbe pollicemur: summum vero, quod propter nobiltatem sui est in editiore constitutum, nos attigisse non credimus. verum tamen sileant praesumptiones illicitae, qui legendi sumus. incongruo namque nostras de nobis disputationes ingerimus, qui vestra potius iudicia sustinemus.

[18] Wherefore we modestly promise the humble; we not improperly pledge the mediocre; but the highest, which by reason of its own nobility is established in a more elevated place, we do not believe that we have attained. Yet, nevertheless, let unlawful presumptions be silent, we who are to be read. For incongruously indeed do we thrust in our disputations about ourselves, we who rather submit to your judgments.