Cassiodorus: VARIARUM LIBRI XII

[1] Oportet nos, clementissime imperator, pacem quaerere, qui causas iracundiae cognoscimur non habere: quando ille moribus iam tenetur obnoxius, qui ad iusta deprehenditur imparatus. omni quippe regno desiderabilis debet esse tranquillitas, in qua et populi proficiunt et utilitas gentium custoditur. haec est enim bonarum artium decora mater, haec mortalium genus reparabili successione multiplicans facultates protendit, mores excolit: et tantarum rerum ignarus agnoscitur qui eam minime quaesisse sentitur.

[1] We ought, most clement Emperor, to seek peace, we who are known to have no causes of wrath: since he is already held subject by his conduct who is found unprepared for the just. For tranquillity ought to be desirable to every realm, in which both peoples make progress and the utility of the nations is guarded. For this is the decorous mother of good arts; this, multiplying the race of mortals by reparable succession, extends faculties, refines morals; and he is recognized as ignorant of such great things who is perceived to have sought it least.

[2] Et ideo, piissime principum, potentiae vestrae convenit et honori, ut concordiam vestram quaerere debeamus, cuius adhuc amore proficimus. vos enim estis regnorum omnium pulcherrimum decus, vos totius orbis salutare praesidium, quos ceteri dominantes iure suspiciunt, quia in vobis singulare aliquid inesse cognoscunt, nos maxime, qui divino auxilio in re publica vestra didicimus, quemadmodum Romanis aequabiliter imperare possimus.

[2] And therefore, most pious of princes, it befits your power and honor, that we ought to seek your concord, by whose love we still make progress. For you are the most beautiful adornment of all realms, you the salutary presidium of the whole world, whom the other rulers rightly look up to, because they recognize that something singular resides in you, we especially, who by divine aid in your republic have learned how we may be able to exercise imperium equably over the Romans.

[3] Regnum nostrum imitatio vestra est, forma boni propositi, unici exemplar imperii: qui quantum vos sequimur, tantum gentes alias anteimus. hortamini me frequenter, ut diligam senatum, leges principum gratanter amplectar, ut cuncta Italiae membra componam. quomodo potestis ab Augusta pace dividere, quem non optatis a vestris moribus discrepare?

[3] Our kingdom is an imitation of you, the form of a good purpose, the exemplar of the unique empire: inasmuch as we follow you, by so much do we go before other nations. You frequently exhort me, that I love the senate, that I gratefully embrace the laws of the princes, that I compose all the members of Italy. How can you divide from the Augustan peace one whom you do not wish to deviate from your customs?

additur etiam veneranda Romanae urbis affectio, a qua segregari nequeunt quae se nominis unitate iunxerunt.

There is added also the venerable affection of the Roman city, from which those who have joined themselves by the unity of the name cannot be separated.

[4] Proinde illum et illum legationis officio ad serenissimam pietatem vestram credidimus destinandos, ut sinceritas pacis, quae causis emergentibus cognoscitur fuisse vitiata, detersis contentionibus in sua deinceps firmitate restituta permaneat: quia pati vos non credimus inter utrasque res publicas, quarum semper unum corpus sub antiquis principibus fuisse declaratur, aliquid discordiae permanere.

[4] Accordingly, we have believed the one and the other to be destined by the office of legation to your most serene Piety, so that the sincerity of peace, which by emerging causes is recognized to have been vitiated, with contentions wiped away, restored thereafter in its own firmness, may remain: because we do not believe you would allow between the two commonwealths, of which it is always declared under the ancient princes that they were one body, anything of discord to remain.

[5] Quas non solum oportet inter se otiosa dilectione coniungi, verum etiam decet mutuis viribus adiuvari. Romani regni unum velle, una semper opinio sit. quicquid et nos possumus, vestris praeconiis applicetur.

[5] Which it behooves not only to be conjoined among themselves by peaceful dilection, but it is also fitting to be aided by mutual forces. Of the Roman kingdom let there be one willing, one opinion always. Whatever we too are able, let it be applied to your commendations.

[6] Quapropter salutationis honorificentiam praeferentes prona mente deposcimus, ne suspendatis mansuetudinis vestrae gloriosissimam caritatem, quam ego sperare debui, etiamsi aliis non videretur posse concedi. cetera vero per praesentium latores pietati vestrae verbo suggerenda commisimus, ut nec epistularis sermo redderetur extensior nec aliquid pro utilitatibus nostris praetermisisse videremur.

[6] Wherefore, holding forth the honorific greeting, with a ready mind we beseech, that you not suspend the most glorious charity of your gentleness, which I ought to have hoped for, even if to others it might not have seemed able to be granted. the rest indeed we have entrusted to the bearers of these presents to be suggested by word to your piety, so that neither the epistolary discourse be rendered more extended nor we seem to have omitted anything for our interests.

II. THEONI V. S. THEODERICUS REX.

2. THEODERIC THE KING TO THEON, A SPECTABLE MAN.

[1] Comitis Stephani insinuatione comperimus sacrae vestis operam, quam nos voluimus necessaria festinatione compleri, disrupto magis labore pendere: cui usum subtrahendo sollemnem abominandam potius inferre cognosceris tarditatem. credimus enim aliquem provenisse neglectum, ut aut crines illi lactei, carneo poculo bis terque satiati, pulcherrima minus ebrietate rubuerint aut lanae non hauserint adorandi muricis pretiosissimam qualitatem.

[1] By the insinuation of Count Stephen we have learned that the work of the sacred vestment, which we wished to be completed with necessary hastening, is rather hanging, the labor disrupted: by withdrawing its solemn use you are understood rather to be bringing in an abominable tardity. For we believe some neglect has occurred, such that either those lacteous tresses, twice or thrice satiated by the fleshly goblet, have blushed less with a most beautiful ebriety, or the fleeces have not drawn in the most precious quality of the adorable murex.

[2] Quapropter si perscrutator Hydrontini maris intusa conchylia sollemniter condidisset apto tempore, acervus ille Neptunius, generator florentis semper purpurae, ornator solii, aquarum copia resolutus imbrem aulicum flammeo liquore laxaverat. color nimio lepore vernans, obscuritas rubens, nigredo sanguinea regnantem discernit, dominum conspicuum facit et praestat humano generi, ne de aspectu principis possit errari.

[2] Wherefore, if the investigator of the Hydrontine sea had in due form laid by at the fitting time the bruised shellfish, that Neptunian heap, begetter of ever-flourishing purple, ornament of the throne, dissolved by an abundance of waters would have released a courtly shower with flame-hued liquid. A color blooming with excessive charm, a reddening obscurity, a sanguineous blackness, distinguishes the one reigning, makes the lord conspicuous, and provides for the human race, lest from the aspect of the prince there might be error.

[3] Mirum est substantiam illam morte confectam cruorem de se post spatia tam longi temporis exudare quod solet vivis corporibus vulnere sauciatis effluere. nam cum sex paene mensibus marinae deliciae a vitali fuerint vigore separatae, sagacibus naribus nesciunt esse gravissimae, scilicet ne sanguis ille nobilis aliquid spiraret horroris. haec cum infecta semel substantia perseverat, nescit ante subtrahi quam vestis possit absumi.

[3] It is a marvel that that substance, brought to an end by death, should exude blood from itself after stretches of so long a time, that which is wont to flow forth from living bodies wounded by a wound. For although for almost six months the sea-delicacies had been separated from vital vigor, to sagacious nostrils they are not found to be very oppressive, namely lest that noble blood should breathe anything of horror. This, since the once-dyed substance persists, does not know to be withdrawn before the garment can be consumed.

[4] Quod si conchyliorum qualitas non mutatur, si torcularis illius una vindemia est, culpa nimirum artificis erit, cui se copia nulla subtraxit. in illis autem rubicundis fontibus cum albentis comas serici doctus moderator intinxerit, habere debet corporis purissimam castitatem, quia talium rerum secreta refugere dicuntur immunda.

[4] But if the quality of the shellfish is not changed, if that press has a single vintage, the fault, doubtless, will be the artisan’s, from whom no supply has held itself back. in those rubicund founts when the skilled moderator has dipped the whitening tresses of silk, he ought to have the most pure chastity of body because the secrets of such things are said to shun the unclean.

[5] Haec si omnia constiterint, si in nulla parte praetermissa videtur esse sollemnitas, miramur tua te pericula minime cogitasse, dum sacrilegus sit reatus neglegentiae in tali veste peccare. quid enim agunt tot artifices, tot nautarum catervae, tot familiae rusticorum? tu quoque comitiva subvectus tantis iubes, tanta te istius nominis praesumptione defendis, ut, cum regale opus crederis agere, in multis videaris tibi civibus imperare.

[5] If all these things stand, if in no part the solemnity seems to have been omitted, we marvel that you have in no way considered your dangers, since sacrilegious is the charge of negligence in sinning in such a garment. For what, indeed, are so many artificers, so many companies of sailors, so many households of rustics, doing? You too, borne up by so great a retinue, give orders; you defend yourself by so great a presumption of that name, so that, while you are believed to be doing a regal work, you seem to be issuing commands to many fellow-citizens for yourself.

[6] Hoc ergo remissio tua neglegit, quod te et in provincia subvexerat et ad conspectum principis honorabilem venire faciebat. quod si te facultatis tuae adhuc cura non deserit, si salutis propriae tangit affectus, intra illum diem, imminente tibi harum portitore, cum blatta, quam nostro cubiculo dare annis singulis consuesti, venire festina: quia iam non compulsorem ad te mittimus, sed ultorem, si aliqua credideris ludificatione tardandum.

[6] This therefore your remissness neglects: that it had both borne you up in the province and made you come honorable into the presence of the prince. But if the care of your resources has not yet deserted you, if concern for your own safety touches you, within that day, with the bearer of these impending upon you, hasten to come with the blatta (purple-dyed cloth), which you are accustomed to give to our bedchamber each year: for now we are sending to you not a compeller, but an avenger, if you shall have thought he ought to be delayed by any trickery.

[7] Verum talis tantaque res quam facili legitur inventa compendio! cum fame canis avida in Tyrio litore proiecta conchylia impressis mandibulis contudisset, illa naturaliter umorem sanguineum defluentia ore eius mirabili colore tinxerunt. et ut est hominibus occasiones repentinas ad artes ducere, talia exempla meditantes fecerunt principibus decus nobile dare rem, quae substantiam noscitur habere mediocrem.

[7] Yet such and so great a thing is read to have been discovered by how easy a compendium! when, with hunger the dog greedy having crushed with its jaws pressed the shellfish cast up on the Tyrian shore, those, naturally letting a sanguine humor flow, tinctured its mouth with a marvelous color. And as it is with human beings to lead sudden occasions into arts, meditating on such examples they contrived to make the thing give to princes a noble adornment, which is known to have a mediocre substance.

Eoa Tyros est Hydron Italica, aulicum profecto vestiarium, non antiqua custodiens, sed iugiter novella transmittens. vide ergo, si quis te patiatur minus implere, quod nos tam necessarie cognoscis expetere.

Eastern Tyre is the Italian Hydron, a truly aulic vestiary, not guarding old things, but continually sending novelties. see therefore, whether anyone allows you to underfill what you know we so necessarily seek.

III. CASSIODORO V. I. ATQUE PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX.

3. THEODERIC THE KING TO CASSIODORUS, AN ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, AND PATRICIAN.

[1] Quamvis proprio fruatur honore quod est natura laudabile, nec desint probatae conscientiae fasces, cum generat animo dignitates—omnia siquidem bona suis sunt iuncta cum fructibus, nec credi potest virtus quae sequestratur a praemio—tamen iudicii nostri culmen excelsum est: quoniam qui a nobis provehitur, praecipuis plenus meritis aestimatur.

[1] Although he enjoys his proper honor, which is by nature laudable, nor are the fasces of a proved conscience lacking, since it engenders dignities in the mind—for indeed all good things are joined together with their fruits, nor can that be believed to be virtue which is sequestered from its reward—nevertheless the summit of our judgment is exalted: since he who is advanced by us is deemed full of outstanding merits.

[2] Nam si aequabilis credendus est quem iustus elegerit, si temperantia praeditus quem moderatus ascivit, omnium profecto capax potest esse meritorum, qui iudicem cunctarum meruit habere virtutum. quid enim maius quaeritur quam ibi invenisse laudum testimonia, ubi gratificatio non potest esse suspecta? regnantis quippe sententia iudicium de solis actibus sumit, nec blandiri dignatur animus domini potestate munitus.

[2] For if impartial he is to be believed whom a just man has chosen, if endowed with temperance whom the moderate has admitted, he can indeed be capable of all merits, who has deserved to have as judge of all virtues. what, indeed, greater is sought than to have found testimonies of praises there, where favoring cannot be suspected? for the sentence of the ruler takes judgment from acts alone, nor does a mind fortified by a lord’s power deign to flatter.

[3] Repetantur certe quae te nostris sensibus infuderunt, ut laboris tui fructum capias, cum nostris animis singula suaviter inhaesisse cognoscas. in ipso quippe imperii nostri devotus exordio, cum adhuc fluctuantibus rebus provinciarum corda vagarentur et neglegi rudem dominum novitas ipsa pateretur, Siculorum suspicacium mentes ab obstinatione praecipiti deviasti, culpam removens illis, nobis necessitatem subtrahens ultionis.

[3] Let those things surely be recalled which infused you into our senses, so that you may take the fruit of your labor, when you recognize that each particular has sweetly adhered in our minds. for indeed, at the very devoted exordium of our empire, when, with the affairs of the provinces still fluctuating, hearts were wandering and novelty itself permitted that a novice lord be neglected, you diverted the minds of the suspicious Sicilians from headlong obstinacy, removing guilt from them, subtracting from us the necessity of vengeance.

[4] Egit salubris persuasio, quod vehemens poterat emendare districtio. lucratus es damna provinciae, quae meruit sub devotione nescire: ubi sub praecinctu Martio civilia iura custodiens publica privataque commoda inavarus arbiter aestimabas et proprio censu neglecto sine invidia lucri morum divitias retulisti, excludens vel querelis aditum vel derogationibus locum: et unde vix solet reportari patientiae silentium, voces tibi militavere laudantium. novimus enim testante Tullio, Siculorum natura quam sit facilis ad querelas, ut solita consuetudine possint iudices etiam de suspicionibus accusare.

[4] A salubrious persuasion achieved what a vehement strictness could have amended. You gained back the province’s losses, which under your devotion deserved not to know: where, under the martial cincture, guarding the civil laws, as an un-avaricious arbiter you assessed public and private interests, and with your own census neglected, without envy of gain you brought back the riches of morals, excluding either an entrance for complaints or a place for derogations: and whence scarcely is the silence of patience wont to be reported, the voices of those praising served you. For we know, with Tully bearing witness, how easy to complaints the nature of the Sicilians is, so that by their accustomed custom they can accuse judges even on suspicions.

[5] Sed non eo praeconiorum fine contenti Bruttiorum et Lucaniae tibi dedimus mores regendos, ne bonum, quod peregrina provincia meruisset, genitalis soli fortune nesciret. at tu consuetudinem devotionis impendens eo nos obligasti munere, quo tibi nos putamus omnia reddidisse: inde amplificando debitum, unde credi poterat absolutum. egisti per cuncta iudicem totius erroris expertem, nec invidia quempiam deprimens nec gratia blandiente sublimans.

[5] But not content with that end of panegyrics we entrusted to you the customs of the Bruttii and of Lucania to be governed, lest the native soil’s fortune should not know the good which a foreign province had merited. at you, applying the habit of devotion, bound us by such a service, by which we think we have rendered everything to you: therein enlarging the debt, whence it could have been thought discharged. you acted through all things as a judge devoid of all error, depressing no one by envy nor exalting by flattering favor.

quod cum ubique sit arduum, tum fit in patria gloriosum: ubi necesse est aut gratiam parentela provocet aut odium longae contentiones exasperent.

which, since it is arduous everywhere, then becomes glorious in the fatherland: where it is necessary that either favor be provoked by kindred, or hatred be exasperated by long contentions be.

[6] Oblectat igitur nos actus praefecturae recolere, totius Italiae notissimum bonum, ubi cuncta provida ordinatione disponens ostendisti, quam leve sit stipendia sub iudicis integritate dependere. nullus gravanter obtulit quod sub aequitate persolvit, quia quicquid ex ordine tribuitur, dispendium non putatur.

[6] It delights us, therefore, to recollect the acts of your prefecture, the most well‑known good of all Italy, where, arranging all things with provident ordination, you showed how light it is to disburse stipends under a judge’s integrity. No one offered grudgingly what he paid in full under equity, because whatever is apportioned in due order is not considered a dispendium (loss).

[7] Fruere nunc bonis tuis et utilitatem propriam, quam respectu publico contempsisti, recipe duplicatam. haec est enim vitae gloriosa commoditas dominos esse testes, cives habere laudantes.

[7] Enjoy now your benefits, and your own utility, which you despised out of public respect, receive back doubled. this is indeed the glorious advantage of life: to have lords as witnesses, to have citizens praising.

[8] His igitur tot amplissimis laudibus incitati patriciatus tibi apicem iusta remuneratione conferimus, ut quod aliis est praemium, tibi sit retributio meritorum. macte, summe vir, felicitate laudabili, qui ad hanc vocem dominantis animos impulisti, ut bonorum tuorum potius fateamur esse quod cedimus. sint haec divina perpetua, ut, cum haec pro remuneratione tribuimus, meliora iterum tuis meritis exigamur.

[8] Therefore, stirred by these so very ample praises, we confer upon you the summit of the patriciate by just remuneration, that what is a premium for others may be to you a retribution of merits. well done, highest man, with praiseworthy felicity, you have impelled the mind of the sovereign at this utterance, so that we rather confess that what we concede is of your goods. may these divine favors be perpetual, that, when we bestow these things as remuneration, better things we are compelled again by your merits to grant.

IV. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX.

4. THEODERIC THE KING TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[1] Optamus quidem, patres conscripti, coronam vestram diversorum fascium flore depingi: optamus, ut Libertatis genius gratam videat turbam senatus. conventus siquidem talium est dignitas imperantum, et quicquid in vobis festiva gratulatione respicitur, nostris vere laudibus applicatur.

[1] We indeed desire, Conscript Fathers, that your crown be painted with the flower of diverse fasces: we desire that the Genius of Liberty may behold a pleasing throng of the senate. For the gathering of such is the dignity of those who command, and whatever in you is regarded with festive congratulation is truly applied to our praises.

[2] Illud tamen maxime desideranter appetimus, ut collegium vestrum ornent lumina dignitatum, quando decenter augmenta patriae reddunt, qui aulica potestate creverunt. hos viros nostra perscrutatur intentio: his morum thesauris gaudemus inventis, in quibus velut figuratis honorum vultibus clementia nostrae serenitatis exprimitur.

[2] Yet this above all we desirously seek: that your college be adorned by the luminaries of dignities, when they becomingly render augmentations to the fatherland, who have grown by courtly power. Our intention searches out these men: we rejoice at these treasures of character found, in whom, as in the figured faces of honors, the clemency of our serenity is expressed.

[3] Hinc est quod Cassiodoro illustri et magnifico viro praecipua in re publica claritate notissimo, patriciatus dedimus pro remuneratione suggestum: ut honore magni nominis declararentur merita servientis. qui non fragili felicitate provectus fortunae ludo ad apicem fascium repentinis successionibus evolavit, sed, ut crescere virtutes solent, ad praeconii fastigium conscendit gradibus dignitatum.

[3] Hence it is that to Cassiodorus, an illustrious and magnificent man, most well-known for preeminent distinction in the commonwealth, we have bestowed, as remuneration, the platform of the patriciate: so that by the honor of a great name the merits of the one serving might be declared. Who, not advanced by brittle felicity, did not, by the game of fortune, with sudden successions fly to the apex of the fasces, but, as virtues are wont to grow, climbed to the pinnacle of proclamation by the steps of dignities.

[4] Primus enim, ut scitis, amministrationis introitus comitivae privatarum mole fundatus est, ubi non tirociniorum infirmitate titubans novitatis vitio vel innocenter erravit, sed abstinentiae firmato vestigio imitando vixit exemplo. qui mox deinde sacrarum largitionum honore suscepto crevit conversationis laude, quantum profecerat dignitate.

[4] For first, as you know, the entrance of his administration was founded upon the mass of the Countship of the Private Estates, where he did not, stumbling with the weakness of apprenticeships, by the fault of novelty or innocently, err; but with the footprint of abstinence made firm, he lived as an example to be imitated. He soon thereafter, the honor of the Sacred Largesses having been assumed, grew in the praise of conduct as much as he had advanced in dignity.

[5] Quid provinciis redditam disciplinam, quid diverso generi hominum monimenta iustitiae infusa referamus? vixit tanta continentia, ut aequitatem et institueret monitis et doceret exemplis. facilis enim recti persuasor est innocens iudex, sub cuius praedicabili conversatione pudet mores probabiles non habere.

[5] What shall we recount of the discipline restored to the provinces, what of the monitions of justice poured into men of diverse kind? He lived with such continence that he both established equity by monitions and taught it by examples. For an innocent judge is an easy persuader of the right, under whose praiseworthy conduct one is ashamed not to have commendable morals.

quis enim vereatur scelus, cuius in suggestu gremii complicem videt? in cassum personam fictae severitatis inducit, cum avarus pecuniae ambitum dissuadet, cum legibus parendum censet iniustus. non habet distributionis genium, cui auctoritatem libera conscientia non ministrat, quoniam excessus tunc sunt in formidine, cum creduntur iudicibus displicere.

who indeed would fear a crime, when he sees on the dais, in his bosom, his accomplice? in vain he puts on the persona of feigned severity, when, greedy for money, he dissuades bribery, when the unjust man judges that the laws must be obeyed. he does not have the genius of distribution, to whom a free conscience does not minister authority, since excesses are then in fear, when they are believed to displease the judges.

[6] His itaque sub praecedenti roge gymnasiis exercitatus emeritis laudibus ad palatia nostra pervenit. meministis enim, et adhuc vobis recentium rerum memoria ministratur, qua moderatione praetoriano culmini locatus incederit et evectus in celsum inde magis despexerit vitia prosperorum.

[6] Thus therefore under the preceding king, trained in the gymnasia with merited praises, he arrived at our palaces. you remember indeed, and even now the memory of recent things is supplied to you, with what moderation, once located at the praetorian culmin, he proceeded, and, carried up into the lofty station from there, he the more looked down upon the vices of the prosperous.

[7] Nullo quippe, ut plerisque moris est, elatus favore fortunae in cothurnum se magnae potestatis erexit, sed aequitate cuncta moderatus gratiam nostram in se non reddidit odiosam. maiora sibi fecit optari, dum intra modestiae terminos magna cohibuit. hinc est enim probatae conscientiae gratissimus fructus, ut, quamvis summa potuerit adipisci, iudicetur tamen ab omnibus plus mereri.

[7] By no means, as is the custom with many, was he lifted up by the favor of fortune to raise himself upon the buskin of great power, but, having moderated all things with equity, he did not render our favor toward him odious. He made greater things be desired for himself, while he restrained great matters within the bounds of modesty. For from this indeed comes the most gratifying fruit of a proved conscience, that, although he could have attained the highest, yet he is judged by all to merit more.

iunxit bene cum universorum gaudiis nostra compendia, aerario munificus et iuste solventibus gratiosus.

he joined well our economies with the joys of all, munificent to the treasury and to those paying justly, gracious.

[8] Sensit tunc res publica ex illo coetu Romuleo innocentiae virum, qui licet se moderando gloriosum fecerit, hoc tamen maius contulit, quod bonae actionis exemplum sequentibus dereliquit. pudet enim eum peccare, qui laudatis videtur potuisse succedere. fuit itaque, ut scitis, militibus verendus, provincialibus mitis, dandi avidus, accipiendi fastidiosus, detestator criminis, amator aequitatis.

[8] Then the commonwealth sensed from that Romulean assembly a man of innocence, who, although he made himself glorious by self‑moderation, nevertheless conferred this greater thing: that he left to those following an example of good action. For it makes him ashamed to sin who seems to have been able to succeed to the lauded. He was therefore, as you know, to the soldiers one to be revered, to the provincials gentle, eager for giving, fastidious in receiving, a detester of crime, a lover of equity.

quod non fuit illi custodire difficile, qui se a rebus alienis decreverat abstinere. est enim invicti animi signum famae diligere commodum et lucra potius odisse causarum.

which was not difficult for him to keep, who had decreed to abstain from alien things. For it is a sign of an invincible spirit to cherish the advantage of fame and rather to hate the profits of causes.

[9] Verum haec in illo iure mirentur, qui patris atque avi mores nobilissimos nesciverunt. Cassiodoros siquidem praecedentes fama concelebrat. quod vocabulum etsi per alios videatur currere, proprium tamen eius constat esse familiae.

[9] But let those rightly marvel at these things in him, who have not known the most noble manners of his father and grandfather. For indeed fame celebrates the preceding Cassiodoros. which name, although it may seem to run through others, nevertheless is established to be proper to his family.

antique proles, laudata prosapies, cum togatis clari, inter viros fortes eximii, quando et valitudine membrorum et corporis proceritate floruerunt.

ancient stock, lauded lineage, illustrious among the toga-wearers, preeminent among brave men since they flourished both in the soundness of their members and in the procerity of body.

[10] Pater enim candidati sub Valentiniano principe gessit tribuni et notarii laudabiliter dignitatem: honor qui tunc dabatur egregiis; dum ad imperiale secretum tales constet eligi, in quibus reprehensionis vitium nequeat inveniri.

[10] For the father of the candidate, under the emperor Valentinian, laudably held the dignity of tribune and notary: an honor which at that time was given to the distinguished; since for the imperial secret such men are established to be chosen, in whom a blemish of reprehension cannot be found.

[11] Sed ut se pares animi solent semper eligere, patricio Aetio pro iuvanda re publica magna fuit caritate sociatus: quem tunc rerum dominus propter sapientiam sui et gloriosos in re publica labores in omni consilii parte sequebatur. ad Attilam igitur armorum potentem cum supra dicti filio Carpilione legationis est officio non irrite destinatus. vidit intrepidus quem timebat imperium; facies illas terribiles et minaces fretus veritate despexit nec dubitavit eius altercationibus obviare, qui furore nescio quo raptatus mundi dominatum videbatur expetere.

[11] But as equal spirits are wont always to choose each other, he was associated with great charity to the patrician Aetius for aiding the republic: whom then the lord of affairs, on account of his own sapience and his glorious labors in the republic, in every part of counsel followed. To Attila, therefore, potent in arms, together with the aforesaid son Carpilio, he was assigned to the office of an embassy not ineffectually. He fearlessly saw him whom the empire feared; trusting in truth he looked down upon those terrible and menacing faces, nor did he hesitate to oppose his altercations, he who, carried off by I-know-not-what frenzy, seemed to seek the domination of the world.

[12] Invenit regem superbum, sed reliquit placatum et calumniosas eius allegationes tanta veritate destruxit, ut voluisset gratiam quaerere, cui expediebat pacem cum regno ditissimo non habere. erigebat constantia sua partes timentes, nec inbelles sunt crediti, qui legatis talibus videbantur armari. pacem retulit desperatam.

[12] He found the king proud, but left him appeased, and he destroyed his calumnious allegations with such truth that he would have wished to seek favor, he to whom it was expedient not to have peace with a most wealthy kingdom. By his constancy he was uplifting the fearful party, nor were they believed unwarlike, who seemed to be armed with such legates. He brought back a peace that had been despaired of.

cuius legatio quid profecerit, datur intellegi, quae tantum est gratanter excepta, quantum et videbatur optata.

whose legation, what it accomplished, is given to be understood, in that it was received as gratefully as it also appeared desired.

[13] Mox honorem illustratus, mox redituum dona aequus arbiter offerebat. sed ille potius nativa moderatione ditissimus dignitatem suscipiens otiosam in remunerationis locum expetiit amoenissima Bruttiorum. negare illi non potuit optatam quietem, qui eum reddiderat ab inmani hoste securum: tristis ab obsequio suo reliquit, quem sibi necessarium fuisse cognovit.

[13] Soon, honored with the rank of Illustrious, soon the fair arbiter was offering gifts of revenues. but he, rather, most rich in native moderation, taking up an idle dignity, sought in place of remuneration the most delightful parts of the Bruttians. he could not deny to him the desired quiet, he who had rendered him secure from the monstrous enemy: sad at being bereft of his attendance he left him, whom he recognized had been necessary to himself.

[14] Avus enim Cassiodorus inlustratus honore praecinctus, qui eius generi non poterat abnegari, a VVandalorum incursione Bruttios Siciliamque armorum defensione liberavit, ut merito primatum in illis provinciis haberet, quas a tam saevo et repentino hoste defendit. debuit itaque virtutibus eius res publica, quod illas provincias tam vicinas Gensiricus non invasit, quem postea truculentum Roma sustinuit.

[14] For the grandfather Cassiodorus, illustrious, girded with the honor, which could not be denied to his lineage, freed Bruttium and Sicily from the incursion of the Vandals by the defense of arms, so that deservedly he had primacy in those provinces which he defended from so savage and sudden an enemy. The commonwealth therefore owed to his virtues that Gaiseric did not invade those provinces so near, whom Rome afterwards endured as truculent.

[15] Hi autem et in partibus Orientis parentum laude viguerunt. Heliodorus enim, qui in illa re publica nobis videntibus praefecturam bis novenis annis gessit eximie, eorum consanguinitati probabatur adiungi. genus in utroque orbe praeclarum, quod gemino senatui decenter aptatum tamquam duobus luminibus oculatum purissima claritate radiavit.

[15] These men also flourished in the parts of the Orient by the praise of their parents. Heliodorus, indeed, who in that commonwealth, with us beholding, held the prefecture for eighteen years excellently, to their consanguinity was approved to be joined. A lineage illustrious in both orbs, which to the twin senate suitably fitted, as if provided with two lights for eyes, with the purest brightness shone.

quo enim se quaevis nobilitas ultra distendit quam haec, quae in utroque orbe clara esse promeruit?

For to what, indeed, does any nobility stretch itself further than this, which has merited to be illustrious in both orbs?

[16] Vixit et ipse in provincia honore iudicis et securitate privati: cunctis illis nobilitate potior omnium ad se animos adtrahebat, ut qui libertatis iure non poterant subdi, viderentur magis continuis beneficiis suaviter obligari.

[16] He himself also lived in the province with the honor of a judge and the security of a private citizen: being superior to all those in nobility, he attracted to himself the minds of all, so that those who by the right of liberty could not be subjected seemed rather to be sweetly obliged by continual benefactions.

[17] Tanta quin etiam patrimonii sui ubertate gloriatus est, ut inter reliqua bona equinis gregibus principes vinceret et donando saepius invidiam non haberet. hinc est, quod candidatus noster Gothorum semper armat exercitus et, bono instituto melior, quod a parentibus accepit hereditaria largitate custodit.

[17] Nay, he even gloried in the abundance of his patrimony, to such a degree that, among his other goods, he surpassed princes with his equine herds, and by donating more frequently he incurred no envy. hence it is that our candidate always arms the army of the Goths and, bettered by a good institution, preserves by hereditary largesse what he received from his parents.

[18] Quae ideo per ordinem nostra dignatio percucurrit, ut unusquisque intellegat et parentum suorum apud nos laudes posse reparare qui vivere praeclaris elegerit institutis. et ideo, patres conscripti, quia vobis est commodus honor bonorum et iudicium nostrum vester comitatur assensus, prospero auspicio suscipiator eius provectus, qui sibi fecit gratiam patere cunctorum. est enim potius vicissitudo quam praemium, ut qui vos probabili actione coluerunt, reciproco favore gratulentur.

[18] For which reason our favorable regard has run through these things in order, so that each may understand that he can also restore the praises of his parents with us, who has chosen to live by illustrious institutes. and therefore, conscript fathers, because the honor of the good is agreeable to you and our judgment is accompanied by your assent, let his advancement be received with favorable auspice, he who has made the favor of all lie open to himself. for it is rather a vicissitude than a reward, that they who have honored you by commendable action may be congratulated with reciprocal favor.

V. FLORIANO V. S. THEODERICUS REX.

5. THEODERIC THE KING TO FLORIANUS, A DISTINGUISHED MAN.

[1] In inmensuns trahi non decet finita litigia. quae enim dabitur discordantibus pax, si nec legitimis sententiis adquiescant? unus enim inter procellas humanas portus instructes est, quem si homines fervida voluntate praetereunt, in undosis iurgiis semper errabunt.

[1] It is not fitting that finished litigations be dragged into the boundless. For what peace will be given to the discordant, if they do not acquiesce even to legitimate sentences? For there is one harbor well‑equipped amid human tempests, which, if men pass by with fervid will, they will always stray in billowy bickerings.

[2] Et ideo spectabilitati tuae praesentibus effamur oraculis, quatenus, si ita res se habet, ut a praesentibus supplicatur, et in comitis Annae iudicio Mazenis fundi controversia statutis legitimis est decisa nec aliqua probatur appellatione suspensa, quae sunt decreta serventur.

[2] And therefore to your Spectability by the present oracles we proclaim, to the extent that, if the matter stands as it is petitioned by the present petitioners, and in the judgment of Count Anna the controversy of the Mazenis estate by lawful statutes has been decided and is shown to be suspended by no appeal, let the things that have been decreed be observed.

[3] Quia sicut nolumus oppressis negare iudicium, ita irrationabilibus querelis non praebamus assensum. cogi enim debet, ut sit quietus, qui suo vitio renuit esse pacificus. nam et medendi peritus invitum frequenter salvat aegrotum, dum voluntas recta in gravibus passionibus non est, sed potius illud appetitur quod a salutis iudice gravare posse sentitur.

[3] Because just as we are unwilling to deny judgment to the oppressed, so to irrational complaints we do not grant assent. for he ought to be compelled, that he be quiet, who by his own fault refuses to be pacific. for even the medic skilled in healing frequently saves the unwilling sick man, since a right will is not present in grievous passions, but rather that is desired which is perceived by the judge of health to be able to aggravate.

VI. AGAPITO V. I. P. U. THEODERICUS REX.

6. THEODERIC THE KING TO AGAPITUS, A MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, PREFECT OF THE CITY.

[1] Decet principem cura quae ad rem publicam spectat augendam, et vere dignum est regem aedificiis palatia decorare. absit enim ut ornatui cedamus veterum, qui inpares non sumus beatitudine saeculorum.

[1] It befits a prince to have a care which looks to the commonwealth being augmented, and truly it is worthy for a king to adorn palaces with edifices. for far be it that we yield in ornament to the ancients, we who are not unequal in the felicity of the ages.

[2] Quapropter in Ravennati urbe basilicae Herculis amplum opus aggressi, cuius nomini antiquitas congrue tribuit, quicquid in aula praedicabili ammiratione fundavit, magnitudini tuae studiosissime delegamus, ut secundum brevem subter annexum de urbe nobis marmorarios peritissimos destinetis, qui eximie divisa coniungant, ut venis colludentibus illigata naturalem faciem laudabiliter mentiantur. de arte veniat quod vincat naturam: discolorea crusta marmorum gratissima picturarum varietate texantur, quia illud est semper in pretium, quod ad decorem fuerit exquisitum.

[2] Wherefore, in the city of Ravenna, having undertaken the ample work of the Basilica of Hercules, to whose name antiquity fittingly has attributed whatever it established in the hall with praiseworthy admiration, we most zealously delegate to your Magnitude, that according to the brief annexed below you may assign to us from the city the most expert marble-workers, who may excellently join things divided, so that, with the veins conspiring, the things bound together may laudably counterfeit a natural face. Let that come from art which may conquer nature: let the varicolored crusts of marbles be woven with the most pleasing variety of pictures, because that is always at a premium which has been exquisitely sought for adornment.

[4] His sumptus subvectionesque praestabis: ne quemquam nostrum gravet imperium, quod ad utilitatem volumus respicere singulorum.

[4] For these you will provide the expenses and conveyances: let our command burden no one, which we wish to have regard to the utility of each individual.

VII. FELICI V. C. THEODERICUS REX.

7. THEODERIC THE KING TO FELIX, A MOST DISTINGUISHED MAN.

[1] Venantii tutoris Plutiani aditione cognovimus in ea te, qua non decuerat, actione versatum, ut eum, quem sumptu proprio iuvare debuisses, dispendio proprietatis affligeres. affinitatem quippe tuam solacia debuerant impensa testari. quale ergo videtur sanguine coniunctis, quod criminosum probaretur extraneis?

[1] By the petition of Plutianus, guardian of Venantius, we have learned that you were engaged in an action in which it was not fitting, such that him whom you ought to have aided at your own expense, you afflicted with a loss of property. for your affinity by marriage ought to have attested solaces by expenditures. how, then, does it appear to those joined by blood, that what would be proved criminal among strangers?

[2] Atque ideo praesenti iussione censemus, ut, quicquid a Neoterio prodiga voluntate lascivo te non tam comparasse quam subripuisse cognoscis, incorporanda militi nostro sine aliqua dilatione restituas, ne nos huius modi factum cogas legibus vindicare, qui nunc videmur omnia mansuetudine temperasse. perire enim pupillo non patimur quod parentibus sub nostra laude dederamus. gravissimum est enim per calumniam subtrahi, quod collatum est munificentia principali.

[2] And therefore by the present order we decree that, whatever from Neoterius by a prodigal will you recognize that you have not so much acquired as filched in wantonness, you restore, to be incorporated into our military, without any delay, lest you compel us to prosecute by the laws a deed of this sort, we who now seem to have tempered all things with mildness. for we do not allow to perish for the ward what we had given to the parents under our praise. it is most grievous, indeed, that by calumny there be withdrawn what was conferred by princely munificence.

[3] Reliqua vero, quae pro iugalis tuae assereris portione contempto iustitiae tramito divisisse—si tamen appellanda divisio est, quam sub unius celebratam constat arbitrio ñ, ad nostrum comitatum festinus occurre, ut inter vos ea quae iustitiae conveniunt ordinemus. iniquum est enim, ut de una substantia, quibus competit aequa successio, alii abundanter affluant, alii paupertatis incommodis ingemiscant.

[3] As for the remaining matters, which you are asserted to have divided for your wife’s portion, with the path of justice contemned—if, however, it is to be called a division, which is known to have been celebrated under the arbitrament of a single person—hurry to our court, so that between you we may set in order those things which are fitting to justice. For it is iniquitous that, from one estate, for those to whom an equal succession is competent, some should abound abundantly, while others groan under the inconveniences of poverty.

VIII. AMABILI EXECUTORI THEODERICUS REX.

8. THEODERIC THE KING TO AMABILIS, THE EXECUTOR.

[1] Cordi nobis est cunctos in commune protegere, sed eos maxime quos sibi novimus defuisse. sic enim aequitatis libra servabitur, si auxilium largiamur imparibus et metum nostri pro parvulis insolentibus opponamus. fortuna minor principem quaerit, quia in vituperationem nostram corruunt quibus se publica vota subducunt.

[1] It is at our heart to protect all in common, but those especially whom we know to have been lacking for themselves. For thus the balance of equity will be preserved, if we bestow largess of aid upon the unequal and set the fear of us, for the little ones, against the insolent. The lesser fortune seeks a prince, because into our vituperation they collapse, those from whom the public vows withdraw themselves.

[2] Venantii itaque tutoris Plutiani lacrimabili suggestione comperimus Neoterium fratrem suum, affectum germanitatis oblitum, bona parvuli hostili furore lacerasse. quod nos pro rerum suarum acerbitate commovit, ut largitas nostra, quam velut titulum volumus stare pietatis, usurpata praesumptionibus videatur illicitis. et quia dubium non est in repetitione minoris maxime submoveri dispendia tarditatis, ideoque devotio tua, nostra iussione firmata, si nihil est quod rationabiliter a pulsato possit opponi, postulatas res praedicto tutori faciat sine dilatione restitui.

[2] Therefore by the tearful petition of Plutianus, guardian of Venantius, we have learned that Neoterius, his brother, forgetful of fraternal affection, has torn to pieces the goods of the minor child with hostile fury. which has moved us, on account of the bitterness of his deeds, so that our largess, which we wish to stand as a title of piety, may seem to be usurped by illicit presumptions. and because it is not doubtful that in the recovery on behalf of a minor the losses of delay are especially to be removed, therefore your devotion, confirmed by our injunction, if there is nothing which can reasonably be opposed by the party sued, should cause the requested things to be restored without delay to the aforesaid guardian.

[3] Aut si quid est quod pro suis partibus intentio retentatoris obiciat, legali sponsione praecedente, ad nostrum deproperet venire comitatum: ut allegationibus cognitis pro consuetudine nostrae iudicemus aequitatis.

[3] Or if there is anything which the claim of the retainer may object for his own side, with a legal sponsion preceding, let him hasten to come to our comitatus: so that, the allegations being known, we may judge according to the custom of our equity.

VIIII. EUSTORGIO VIRO VENERABILI MEDIOLANENSI EPISCOPO THEODERICUS REX.

9. THEODERIC THE KING TO EUSTORGIUS, A VENERABLE MAN, BISHOP OF MILAN.

[1] Tuta est condicio subiectorum, ubi vivitur sub aequitate regnantium: nec dubio decet rumore trahi, a quo debent non mutanda constitui. fidem siquidem rerum a ratione colligimus, quae numquam desiderantibus absconditur, si suis vestigiis perquiratur.

[1] The condition of subjects is safe, where one lives under the equity of those reigning: nor is it fitting to be drawn by doubtful rumor, by which those things ought to be established that are not to be changed. The credence indeed of things we collect from reason, which is never hidden from those desiring, if it is sought along its own vestiges.

[2] Atque ideo, quod beatitudini vestrae gratissimum esse confidimus, praesenti tenore declaramus Augustanae civitatis episcopum proditionis patriae falsis criminationibus accusatum: qui a vobis honori pristino restitutus ius habeat episcopatus omne quod habuit. nihil enim in tali honore temeraria cogitatione praesumendum est, ubi, si proposito creditor, etiam tacitus ab excessibus excusatur. manifesta proinde crimina in talibus vix capiunt fidem: quicquid autem ex invidia dicitur, veritas non putatur.

[2] And therefore, because we are confident that it will be most pleasing to your Blessedness, by the present tenor we declare the bishop of the city of Augusta accused by false criminations of betrayal of the fatherland: who, restored by you to his pristine honor, should have the full right of the episcopate which he had. For nothing in such an honor is to be presumed by rash cogitation, where, if he is credited for his purpose, even silent he is excused from excesses. Manifest crimes, then, in such persons scarcely take on credence: whatever, moreover, is said out of envy is not reckoned as truth.

[3] Volumus enim inpugnatores eius legitima poena percellere: sed quoniam et ipsi clericatus nomine fungebantur, ad sanctitatis vestrae iudicium cuncta transmisimus ordinanda, cuius est et probitatem moribus talibus imponere et districtionem ecclesiasticam custodire.

[3] For we wish to strike down his impugnators with a legitimate penalty: but since they themselves also were functioning under the name of the clericate, to the judgment of your sanctity’s judgment we have transmitted all things to be ordered, whose task it is both to impose probity upon morals such and to guard ecclesiastical strictness.

X. BOETHIO V. I. ATQUE PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX.

10. THEODERIC THE KING TO BOETHIUS, A MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, AND PATRICIAN.

[1] Licet universis populis generalis sit impendenda iustitia, quae sic nominis sui obtinet dignitatem, si aequabili moderatione per potiores currat et humiles, confidentius tamen illam expetunt, qui a palatii militia non recedunt. otioso enim gratuite praestatur aliquid munificentia principali; consuetudo autem quodam debito redditur fideliter obsequenti.

[1] Although general justice is to be dispensed to all peoples, which thus maintains the dignity of its name if with equable moderation it runs through both the more powerful and the humble, yet those who do not withdraw from the service of the palace seek it more confidently. For to one at leisure something is furnished gratuitously by princely munificence; but custom is rendered as a kind of debt to the faithfully obsequious.

[2] Domestici partis equitum et peditum, qui nostrae aulae videntur iugiter excubare, quod ex magnis fieri doloribus solet, adunata nobis supplicatione conquesti sunt ab illo arcario praefectorum pro emolumentis sollemnibus nec integri ponderis solidos percipere et in numero gravia se dispendia sustinere. Quapropter prudentia vestra lectionibus erudita dogmaticis scelestam falsitatem a consortio veritatis eiciat, ne cui sit appetibile aliquid de illa integritate subducere.

[2] The domestics of the cavalry and infantry, who seem to keep constant watch at our court, as is wont to arise from great pains, with a supplication gathered together complained to us that from that paymaster of the prefects, for the solemn emoluments, they do not receive solidi of entire weight and that in the tally they undergo heavy losses. Wherefore let your prudence, instructed by dogmatic readings, cast out wicked falsity from the consortium of truth, lest it be appetible for anyone to subtract anything from that integrity.

[3] Haec enim quae appellatur arithmetica inter ambigua mundi certissima ratione consistit, quam cum caelestibus aequaliter novimus: evidens ordo, pulchra dispositio, cognitio simplex, immobilis scientia, quae et superna continet et terrena custodit. quid est enim quod aut mensuram non habeat aut pondus excedat? omnia complectitur, cuncta moderatur et universa hinc pulchritudinem capiunt, quia sub modo ipsius esse noscuntur.

[3] For indeed this which is called arithmetic stands with most certain reason amid the ambiguities of the world, which we know equally with the celestial things: evident order, fair disposition, simple cognition, immutable science, which both contains the supernal things and guards the terrestrial. what is there, indeed, that either does not have measure or exceeds weight? it embraces all things, moderates all, and the universe hence takes on beauty, because they are known to be under its measure.

[4] Iuvat inspicere, quemadmodum denarius numerus more caeli et in se revolvitur et numquam deficiens invenitur. crescit nova condicione per se redeundo addita sibi semper ipsa calculatio et, cum denarius non videatur excedi, ex modicis praevalet maiora complecti. hoc saepe repetitum inflexis manualibus digitis et erectis redditur semper extensum, et quanto ad principium suum supputatio reducitur, tanto amplius indubitanter augetur.

[4] It delights to inspect how the denary number, after the manner of the heaven, both revolves into itself and is found never failing. It grows with a new condition by returning to itself, the very calculation being always added to itself; and, although the denary does not seem to be exceeded, it prevails, out of small things, to embrace greater. This, often repeated with the manual digits bent and erect, is rendered always extended, and the more the computation is brought back to its principle, by so much the more it is indubitably increased.

quantitate numerabili harena maris, guttae pluviarum, stellae lucidae concluduntur. auctori quippe suo omnis creatura sub numero est et quicquid ad existentiam pervenit, a tali non potest condicione dimoveri.

by a countable quantity the sand of the sea, the drops of the rains, the shining stars are enclosed. for to its author every creature is under number, and whatever attains to existence cannot be removed from such a condition.

[5] Et quoniam delectat nos secretiora huius disciplinae cum scientibus loqui, pecuniae ipsae quamvis usu celeberrimo viles esse videantur, animadvertendum est quanta tamen a veteribus ratione collectae sunt. sex milia denariorum solidum esse voluerunt, scilicet ut radiantis metalli formata rotunditas aetatem mundi, quasi sol aureus, convenienter includeret. senarium vero, quem non inmerito perfectum antiquitas docta definit, unciae, qui mensurae primus gradus est, appellatione signavit, quam duodecies similitudine mensium computatam in librae plenitudinem ad anni curricula collegerunt.

[5] And since it delights us to speak of the more secret things of this discipline with those who are knowledgeable, the monies themselves, although by most celebrated use they may seem cheap, it must be noticed how greatly, nevertheless, they were collected by the ancients with reason. they willed a solidus to be six thousand denarii, namely, so that the formed roundness of the radiant metal might suitably include the age of the world, as if a golden sun. the senary (the number six), which learned antiquity not undeservedly defines as perfect, it marked with the appellation uncia (the first step of measure), which, computed twelve times in the likeness of the months, they gathered into the fullness of the libra to the courses of the year.

[6] O inventa prudentium! o provisa rnaiorum! exquisita res est, quae et usui humano necessaria distingueret et tot arcana naturae figuraliter contineret.

[6] O inventions of the prudent! o provisions of the elders! it is an exquisite thing, which both would distinguish the things necessary for human use and would figuratively contain so many secrets of nature.

merito ergo dicitur libra, quae tanta rerum est consideratione trutinata. talia igitur secreta violare, sic certissima velle confundere, nonne veritatis ipsius videtur crudelis ac foeda laceratio? exerceantur negotiationes in mercibus: emantur late, quae vendantur angustius: constet populis pondus ac mensura probabilis, quia cuncta turbantur, si integritas cum fraudibus misceatur.

Rightly therefore it is called the pound, which by so great a consideration of things has been weighed in the balance. Thus to violate such secrets, to wish in this way to confound the most certain things, does it not seem a cruel and foul laceration of truth itself? Let negotiations be exercised in merchandise: let things be bought widely, which are to be sold more narrowly: let there stand for the peoples an approved weight and measure, because all things are disturbed, if integrity is mingled with frauds.

[7] Mutilari certe non debet, quod laborantibus datur: sed a quo actus fidelis exigitur, compensatio imminuta praestetur. da certe solidum et aufer inde, si praevales: trade libram, at aliquid, si potes, imminue. contra ista nominibus ipsis constat esse provisum: aut integra tribuis aut non ipsa quae dicuntur exsolvis.

[7] That which is given to laborers surely ought not to be mutilated; rather, where a faithful act is required, let a diminished compensation be rendered. Do indeed give the solidus and take from it, if you prevail; hand over the pound (libra), yet, if you can, diminish something. Against such practices it is plain that provision has been made by the very names themselves: either you bestow them intact, or you are not paying out the very things that are said.

non potestis omnimodo, non potestis nomina integritatum dare et scelestas imminutiones efficere. providete itaque, ut et arbiter arcae habeat iustas consuetudines suas, et quod bene meritis impendimus, incorrupto munere consequantur.

you cannot by any means; you cannot give the names of integrities and effect wicked diminutions. provide, therefore, that both the arbiter of the chest have his just customary dues, and that those who have well deserved may obtain, by an incorrupt gift, what we expend for them.

XI. SERVATO DUCI RAETIARUM THEODERICUS REX.

11. THEODERIC THE KING TO SERVATUS, DUKE OF THE RAETIAS.

[1] Decet te honorem, quem geris nomine, moribus exhibere, ut per provinciam, cui praesides, nulla fieri violenta patiaris, sed totum cogatur ad iustum, unde nostrum floret imperium.

[1] It befits you to exhibit in conduct the honor which you bear in name, so that throughout the province, which you preside over, you allow no violent acts to be done, but that the whole be compelled to the just, whence our empire flourishes.

[2] Quapropter Moniarii supplicatione commoti praesentibus te affamur oraculis, ut, si re vera mancipia eius Breones irrationabiliter cognoveris abstulisse, qui militaribus officiis assueti civilitatem premere dicuntur armati et ob hoc iustitiae parere despiciunt, quoniam ad bella Martia semper intendunt, dum nescio quo pacto assidue dimicantibus difficile est morum custodire mensuram.

[2] Wherefore, moved by the supplication of Moniarius, we address you with these present oracles: that, if in truth you have ascertained that the Breones have unreasonably carried off his slaves—who, accustomed to military offices, being armed are said to oppress the civil order and on this account disdain to obey justice, since they are always intent on martial wars—while, I know not by what manner, for those continually fighting it is difficult to keep the measure of morals.

[3] Quapropter omni protervia remota, quae de praesumptione potest virtutis assumi, postulata facies sine intermissione restitui: ne per dilationis incommoda eorum videatur supplex odisse victoriam.

[3] Wherefore, with all insolence removed—which can be assumed from a presumption of virtue— you will cause the requested things to be restituted without intermission: lest, through the incommodities of dilation, their suppliant seem to hate victory.

XII. EUGENITI V. I. MAGISTRO OFFICIORUM THEODERICUS REX.

12. THEODERIC THE KING TO EUGENITUS, A MOST DISTINGUISHED MAN, MASTER OF THE OFFICES.

[1] Pompa meritorum est regale iudicium, quia nescimus ista nisi dignis impendere. et quamquam potestati nostrae deo favente subiaceat omne quod volumus, voluntatem tamen nostram de ratione metimur, ut illud magis aestimemur elegisse, quod cunctos dignum est approbare.

[1] The pomp of merits is the royal judgment, because we do not know how to expend these things except upon the worthy. And although, with God favoring, all that we wish lies subject to our power, nevertheless we measure our will by reason, so that we may rather be esteemed to have chosen that which is worthy to be approved by all.

[2] Hinc est quod te litterati dogmatis studia laudabiliter exsequentem pridem ad quaesturae culmen elegimus, ut honesti laboris tui fieret praemium dignitas litterarum. quid enim advocationis officio, si pure impendatur, ornatius, quod peregrinum negotium ad suas molestias trahit, ut laboribus subveniat alienis? in hoc campo exercitatus cursu meritorum ad palmam nostri iudicii pervenisti.

[2] Hence it is that you, laudably prosecuting the studies of learned dogma, we long ago chose to the summit of the quaestorship, so that the dignity of letters might become the reward of your honorable labor. For what, in the office of advocacy, if it be purely expended, is more ornate, which draws an alien business to its own troubles, so that it may come to the aid of others’ labors? In this field, trained by a course of merits, you have come to the palm of our judgment.

[3] Nec tamen benignitas nostra una remuneratione contenta honorem geminat, augmenta procurat et eo studio dona reparat, quasi debeat omne quod praestat. sume igitur magisteriae infulas dignitatis, usurus omnibus privilegiis quae tuos habuisse constiterit decessores. atque ideo tanto iudicio laetare suscepto, qui pro labore honoris tui honorem alterum accipere meruisti.

[3] Nor, however, is our benignity content with a single remuneration: it twins the honor, procures augmentations, and with such zeal restores gifts, as though it owed everything that it bestows. Therefore take up the fillets of magisterial dignity, to use all the privileges which it has been established that your predecessors possessed. And therefore rejoice at so great a judgment assumed, you who have deserved to receive another honor in return for the labor of your office.

quid enim de priore senserimus praemio, secundae dignitatis declaramus augmento. nati sunt fasces ex fascibus et naturam retinentes fetus arborei pullulaverunt iterum decenter abscisi.

for what we have judged about the prior prize, we declare by an augmentation of the second dignity. fasces have been born from fasces, and retaining their nature the arboreal offspring have sprouted again becomingly pruned.

[4] Verum te haec remuneratio satietate non expleat nec det laboribus tuis ferias nostri laus inventa iudicii. desiderabilior quin immo sit honestas, cum pervenit ad praemium, et tunc fiat gratius labores anxios fuisse perpessum, cum te fructum eorum intellegis invenisse. honores ergo quos sumis ex chartis, redde de meritis.

[4] But let not this remuneration fill you to satiety, nor let the praise of our discovered judgment give holidays to your labors. Let honesty be more desirable—nay, indeed— when it arrives at the reward, and then let it become more pleasing to have endured anxious labors, when you understand that you have found their fruit. Therefore the honors which you take from the charters, render from merits.

nosti bene, quo nobis studio placeatur, qui ab ipsius consilii penetralibus venis. meministi, quotiens apud nos laudati sint innocentes, quotiens bonis actibus reddidimus vicem. ore tuo iudicia nostra loquebamur: exemplis talibus incitare.

You know well by what zeal one is made pleasing to us, you who are from the penetral veins of the council itself. You remember how often the innocents have been praised in our presence, how often we have rendered return for good acts. By your mouth our judgments were spoken: to incite by such examples.

esto innocentiae templum, temperantiae sacrum, ara iustitiae. absit a iudiciariis mentibus aliquid profanum. pio principi sub quodam sacerdotio serviatur.

be a temple of innocence, a sanctuary of temperance, an altar of justice. let anything profane be absent from judicial minds. let a pious prince be served under a certain priesthood.

XIII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX.

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

[1] Dignitas, patres conscripti, dum ad incognitum venit, donum est, cum ad expertum, compensatio meritorum. quorum alter debitor iudicii, alter obnoxius est favori. hos enim aestimatione subvehimus, alios gratia promovemus et ad omnes indulgentiae vias nostra se relaxat humanitas.

[1] Dignity, Conscript Fathers, when it comes to the unknown, is a gift; when to the experienced, a compensation of merits. Of these, the one is a debtor to judgment, the other is subject to favor. For some we uplift by estimation, others we promote by grace; and our humanity relaxes itself to all the ways of indulgence.

sed amoris vestri intuitu commonemur, quotiens in coetum vestrum ducitur, qui de gloriosis virtutibus aestimatur. quicquid enim humani generis floris est, habere curiam decet: quae sicut arx decus urbium, ita illa ornamentum est ordinum ceterorum.

but we are reminded, by the regard of your love, as often as he is led into your assembly, who is esteemed for glorious virtues. for whatever flower of the human race there is, it befits the Curia to have: which, just as a citadel is the glory of cities, so that is the ornament of the other orders.

[2] Atque ideo Eugenitem illustrem virum litterati dogmatis opinione fulgentem magisterii honore subveximus, ut gereret nomine quam possidebat meritis dignitatem. quis enim tot eius officiosos labores ignoret, quos non vilitate mentis exercuit, sed patrocinii honore servavit? dedimus itaque personam tantis honoribus parem, ut alterutro decore fulgentes mutua se gratia qualitatis ornarent.

[2] And therefore we have elevated Eugenites, an illustrious man, shining with the repute of literate dogma, by the honor of the magisterium, so that he might bear in title the dignity which he possessed in merits. who indeed would be ignorant of so many of his dutiful (officious) labors, which he did not exercise with meanness of mind, but preserved by the honor of patronage? we have therefore given a persona equal to such honors, so that, shining with either adornment, they might adorn one another by a mutual grace of quality.

hic est, qui pridem nostro lateri iuridicus quaestor adhaesit, quem livoris nebula nulla fuscavit, nec malivolentiae studio nocendi artes fellitis sensibus exquisivit: sincero pectoris arcano puritati nostrae paruit et ad pietatem iussionum innocentiam suam praebuit. animus enim dolosus non arbitrium sequitur imperantis, sed suas potius explicat voluntates.

This is he, who formerly as a juridical quaestor adhered to our side, whom no cloud of envy darkened, nor did he, by the zeal of malevolence with bilious senses, seek out the arts of harming: in the sincere secret of his breast he obeyed our purity and proffered his own innocence to the piety of the commands. For a guileful spirit does not follow the arbitrament of the one commanding, but rather unfolds its own volitions.

[3] Habetis certe evidens nostrum in hac parte iudicium, ut post illius apicis culmen ad alteram conscenderet dignitatem. nec passi sumus otiosum, quem merita non sinebant esse privatum: sereni solis consuetudinibus aestimandus, qui licet susceptum diem peragat, alterum tamen eadem gratia claritatis illuminat. hunc ergo, patres conscripti, tot meritis absolute relucentem favor vester excipiat.

[3] You certainly have our evident judgment in this part, that after the summit of that apex he should ascend to another dignity. Nor did we allow him to be idle, whom his merits did not permit to be private: to be estimated by the consuetudes of the serene sun, who, although he carries through the undertaken day, nevertheless illuminates another with the same grace of clarity. Therefore, conscript fathers, let your favor receive this man, absolutely re-lucent with so many merits.

debetis enim bene gerentibus, ut eos laudis vestrae comitetur assensus. nam si equorum cursus hominum clamoribus incitatur et insonantium manibus agitur, ut a mutis animalibus velocitas appetatur, quantum inde homines stimulari posse credimus, quos ad laudis aviditatem natos singulariter invenimus!

for you owe, indeed, to those managing well, that the assent of your praise accompany them. for if the course of horses is incited by the shouts of men and is driven by resounding hands, so that velocity is sought by mute animals, how much do we believe that human beings can be spurred thereby, whom we find singularly born to the avidity of praise!

XIIII. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX.

14. THEODERIC THE KING TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.

[1] Libentes omnimodis praebemus assensum, quotiens vox est iusta poscentium, quia nec decet esse difficile beneficium, quod non patitur largitate detrimentum.

[1] Willingly in every way we proffer assent, whenever the voice of those demanding is just, because it is not fitting that a benefaction be difficult, which does not suffer detriment by largess.

[2] Et ideo praecelsa magnificentia tua, quod a Cataliensibus inferebatur genere tertiarum, faciat annis singulis in tributaria summa persolvi, nec post super hac parte patiantur supplices aliquam quaestionem. quid enim interest, quo nomine possessor inferat, dummodo sine imminutione quod debetur exsolvat? ita et illis suspectum tertiarum nomen auferimus et a nostra mansuetudine importunitates competentium summovemus.

[2] And therefore your most high magnificence, that which was being imposed by the Catalienses under the kind of the thirds, should cause to be paid year by year into the tributary sum, and let not thereafter the suppliants suffer any question concerning this part. what, indeed, does it matter by what name the possessor pays in, provided that without diminution he pays out what is owed? thus both from them we remove the suspect name of the thirds, and, in our mansuetude, we remove the importunities of the claimants.

XV. FESTO V. I. ATQUE PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX.

15. THEODERIC THE KING TO FESTUS, A MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MAN AND PATRICIAN.

[1] Gratum nobis est, quotiens de magnitudinis tuae meritis aestimatio talis procedit, ut et infirmorum auxilium et absentium credaris esse tuitio. nam ideo senatus prior esse meruisti, ut sequentibus pro iustitiae contemplatione praestares. unde fit, ut bona vobis crescat opinio gloriosae actionis exemplo.

[1] It is pleasing to us, whenever an estimation of your greatness’s merits proceeds in such a way that you are believed to be both an aid of the infirm and a protection of the absent. For for that reason you have deserved to be first of the Senate, that, out of contemplation of justice, you might stand forth for those who follow. Whence it comes about that a good opinion grows for you by the example of glorious action.

nulli enim propria res a discedente committitur, nisi de cuius bene conscientia iudicatur.

for to no one is his own property committed by one who is departing, unless judgment is made concerning the good conscience of the person.

[2] Idcirco praesenti iussione decernimus, ut domus patricii Agnelli ad Africam discedentis, qui regnum petens alterius nostris est utilitatibus serviturus, salvis legibus tua tuitione valletur, ne violentos cuiusquam impetus subtracta domini defensione patiatur. perviae sunt enim semper iniuriis facultates absentium et quodam mode videtur occasio in delictum trahere, quae non potest animum pervadentis de resultatione terrere.

[2] Therefore by the present injunction we decree that the house of the patrician Agnellus, departing to Africa, who, seeking another’s kingdom, is going to serve our utilities, be kept safe under your tutelage, the laws remaining intact, lest it suffer the violent assaults of anyone, with the master’s defense withdrawn. For the resources of the absent are ever pervious to injuries, and in a certain mode occasion seems to draw into delinquency, which cannot terrify the spirit of the pervader by the backlash of retribution.

[3] Ideoque celsitudo vestra, quam votum est habere vicinam, erigat humiles, eripiat opprimendos et, quod potestatibus rarum est, proficiat cunctis, quad universis celsior inveniris.

[3] And so may your Highness, whom it is our desire to have near, raise up the humble, snatch away those about to be oppressed, and, which is rare for powers, profit all, because you are found loftier than all.

XVI. IULIANO COMITI PATRIMONII THEODERICUS REX.

16. THEODERIC THE KING TO JULIANUS, COUNT OF THE PATRIMONY.

[1] Illud amplius nostris utilitatibus applicamus, quod misericordi humanitate concedimus. regnantis enim facultas tunc fit ditior, cum remittit, et adquirit nobiles thesauros famae neglecta vilitate pecuniae. hinc est quod consuetudinis nostrae humanitate commoniti opem fessis, manum porrigimus oneratis, ut pietatis nostrae remedio surgant qui fortunae suae acerbitate corruerant.

[1] We further apply to our own advantages that which we grant with merciful humanity. for the ruler’s capacity then becomes richer, when he remits, and he acquires noble treasures of fame, the cheapness of money being neglected. hence it is that, admonished by the humanity of our custom, we extend help to the weary, we stretch out a hand to the burdened, so that by the remedy of our piety those who had fallen through the bitterness of their fortune may rise.

[2] Dudum siquidem conductores Apuli deplorata nobis aditione conquesti sunt frumenta sibi inimicorum subreptionibus concremata, postulantes, ne cogantur ad integram praestationem, quibus commerciorum sunt commoda deminuta. quod nos pro ingenita humanitate considerandum esse iudicamus, ut, quorum non possumus accusare desidiam, relevandam aestimemus esse fortunam. inde enim constitutas pensiones inferri volumus, unde constat subiectos commoda consecutos.

[2] Indeed, some time ago the Apulian contractors, having made a lamented approach to us, complained that their grain had been burned up by the stealthy depredations of enemies, requesting that they not be compelled to full prestation, they whose advantages of commerce have been diminished. Which we judge, by our inborn humanity, ought to be taken into consideration, so that, of those whose sloth we cannot accuse, we deem their fortune ought to be relieved. For we wish the fixed installments to be paid in from that source whence it is established that the subjects have obtained advantages.

[3] Et ideo hanc causam sublimitatem tuam iubemus diligenter inquirere, ut, quantum eos minus vendidisse constiterit, de reliquis primae indictionis habita moderatione detrahatis: ita tamen ut nulla fraus nostris beneficiis inseratur, ne aliqua neglegentia reddaris obnoxius, qui semper nobis provida intentione placuisti, quia sicut nos tangunt supplicum damna, ita nobis eorum fructuosa debent esse compendia.

[3] And therefore we order your Sublimity to inquire diligently into this cause, so that, to the extent it is established that they have sold less, you should deduct, with moderation observed, from the remainder of the first indiction: yet in such a way that no fraud be inserted into our benefits, lest by some negligence you be rendered liable, you who have always pleased us by provident intention, since just as the losses of the suppliants touch us, so their fruitful savings ought to be gains to us.

XVII. UNIVERSIS GOTHIS ET ROMANIS DERTONA CONSISTENTIBUS THEODERICUS REX.

17. THEODERIC THE KING TO ALL THE GOTHS AND ROMANS RESIDING AT DERTONA.

[1] Publicae utilitatis ratione commoniti, quae nos cura semper libenter oneravit, castrum iuxta vos positum praecipimus communiri, quia res proeliorum bene disponitur, quotiens in pace tractatur. munitio quippe tunc efficitur praevalida, si diutina fuerit excogitatione roborata. omnia subita probantur incauta et male constructio loci tunc quaeritur, quando iam pericula formidantur.

[1] Admonished by the reason of public utility, a care which has always willingly burdened us, we order the fort set next to you to be fortified, because the matter of battles is well disposed, whenever it is treated in peace. munitio indeed then becomes very strong, if it has been strengthened by long-continued cogitation. all sudden things are proved incautious, and the ill construction of the place is then sought out, when dangers are already feared.

[2] Adde quod animus ipse in audaciam non potest esse pronus, qui diversa cura fuerit sollicitus. hanc merito expeditionem nominavere maiores, quia mens devota proeliis non debet aliis cogitationibus occupari. quapropter amplectenda res est, quae generalitatis consideratione praecipitur, nec moram fas est incurrere iussionem, quae devotos maxime noscitur adiuvare.

[2] Add that the mind itself cannot be prone to audacity, if it has been made solicitous by diverse care. Our elders rightly named this an expedition, because a mind devoted to battles ought not to be occupied by other cogitations. Wherefore the thing is to be embraced which is enjoined by consideration of the generality, nor is it lawful to incur delay regarding the command, which is known especially to help the devoted.

[3] Et ideo praesenti auctoritate decernimus, ut domos vobis in praedicto castello alacriter construatis, reddentes animo nostro vicissitudinem rerum, ut, sicut nos vestris utilitatibus profutura censemus, ita tempora nostra ornare vos pulcherrimis fabricis sentianius. tunc enim accidit, ut et sumptus competentes vestris iam penatibus congregare velitis et habitatio vobis non sit ingrata, quam propria potest commendare constructio.

[3] And therefore by the present authority we decree, that you construct houses for yourselves in the aforesaid castle with alacrity, rendering to our mind a reciprocity of things, that, just as we judge things to be going to profit your utilities, so we may sense you to adorn our times with the fairest edifices. For then it happens that you also wish to gather competent expenditures for your Penates already, and that the habitation be not ungrateful to you, which its own construction can commend.

[4] Quale est, rogo, in laribus propriis esse, cum durissimas mansiones hostis cogitur sustinere? ille imbribus pateat, vos tecta defendant: illum inedia consumat, vos copia provisa reficiat. sic vobis tutissime constitutis hostis vester ante eventum certaminis fata patiebitur perditoris.

[4] What is it like, I ask, to be in one’s own home, when the enemy is compelled to endure the hardest lodgings? let him be exposed to the rains, you be defended by roofs: let famine consume him, you be refreshed by a provided plenty. thus, with you most safely established, your enemy will suffer the fates of perdition before the event of the contest.

constat enim tempore necessitatis illum probari fortissimum virum, qui se per multa non distrahit. nam quis eum habuisse prudentiam putet, si tunc coeperit fabricis operam dare aut penum condere, cum oporteat bella tractare?

for it is agreed that in a time of necessity that man is proved most valiant who does not distract himself with many things. for who would think him to have possessed prudence, if then he begins to devote effort to constructions or to establish a pantry, when wars ought to be handled?

XVIII. DOMITIANO ET VVILIAE THEODERICUS REX.

18. THEODERIC THE KING TO DOMITIANUS AND WILIA.

[1] Oportet vos colere et observare iustitiam, qui aequitatem populi dicere suscepistis, quando non licet delinquere, qui alios creditur sub aequitatis regula continere, ne fiat exemplum pravum qui electus ad laudabile cognoscitur institutum. et ideo ad interrogationem vestram curavimus praebere responsum, ne per dubitationem possitis errare, nisi, quod absit, velitis excedere.

[1] It is fitting that you cultivate and observe justice, you who have undertaken to declare the people's equity, since it is not permitted to transgress for one who is believed to keep others under the rule of equity, lest a depraved example be made by one who is known to have been chosen for a laudable institution. And therefore to your interrogation we have taken care to provide a response, lest through doubt you may be able to err, unless—far be it— you should wish to exceed.

[2] Si Romani praedium, ex quo deo propitio Sonti fluenta transmisimus, ubi primum Italiae nos suscepit imperium, sine delegatoris cuiusquam pittacio praesumptor barbarus occupavit, eum priori domino summota dilatione restituat. quod si ante designatum tempus rem videtur ingressus, quoniam praescriptio probatur obviare tricennii, petitionem iubemus quiescere pulsatoris.

[2] If an estate of a Roman—from which, with God propitious, we crossed the streams of the Sontius, where the imperium of Italy first received us—has been occupied by a presumptuous barbarian without the writ of any delegating official, let him, delay removed, restore it to the prior owner. But if he appears to have entered upon the matter before the designated time, since a thirty-year prescription is proven to stand in the way, we order the plaintiff’s petition to rest.

[3] Illa enim reduci in medium volumus, quae, nostris temporibus praesumpta, damnamus, quia locus calumniandi non relinquitur, cum longi temporis obscuritas praeteritur.

[3] For we wish those things to be brought back into the open, which, presumed in our times, we condemn, because a place for calumny is not left, when the obscurity of long time is passed over.

[4] De percussore tantummodo, non etiam peremptore fratris, quamquam omnium communi lege damnatur solumque sit parricidium quod totius tragoediam reatus exsuperet, tamen humanitas nostra, quae sibi etiam in sceleratis locum pietatis inquirit, praesenti auctoritate definit, ut huius modi portenta provinciae finibus abigantur. nam quibus fuit exosa societas parentum, civium non merentur habere consortium, ne puri corporis iucunda serenitas nebulosis maculis polluatur.

[4] Concerning the striker only, not also the slayer of his brother, although by the common law of all he is condemned, and parricide alone is that which surpasses the tragedy of the whole charge, nevertheless our humanity, which for itself even in criminals seeks a place for piety, by the present authority determines that portents of this sort be driven away beyond the borders of the province. For those to whom the society of parents has been hateful do not deserve to have the consortium of citizens, lest the pleasant serenity of the pure body be polluted by nebulous stains.

XVIIII. SATURNINO ET VMBISVO VV. SS. THEODERICUS REX.

19. THEODERIC THE KING TO SATURNINUS AND UMBISVUS, EMINENT MEN.

[1] Fisci volumus legale custodire compendium, quia nostra clementia rebus propriis videtur esse contenta, et sicut nullum gravare cupimus, ita nobis debita perdere non debemus. indigentiam iuste fugimus, quae suadet excessus, dum perniciosa res est in imperante tenuitas. modus ubique laudandus est.

[1] We wish to safeguard the lawful gain of the fisc, since our clemency seems to be content with its own resources; and just as we desire to burden no one, so we ought not to lose what is owed to us. We rightly flee indigence, which urges excesses, since tenuity is a pernicious thing in one who rules. Measure is everywhere to be praised.

nam cur aut vituperabilis neglegentia in propriis defluat aut aliena cupiditas turpis abradat?

for why should either vituperable negligence in one’s own things flow away, or should another’s base cupidity abrade?

[2] Et ideo praesenti vobis iussione praecipimus, ut Adrianae civitatis curialium insinuatione suscepta, quicumque Gothorum fiscum detrectat implere, eum ad aequitatem redhibitionis artetis, ne tenuis de proprio cogatur exsolvere, quod constat idoneos indebite detinere: hac scilicet ratione servata, ut si quis contumaciae vitio maluerit nostra iussa tardare, cum multa reddat quod debuit etiam non compulsus offerre, quatenus protervo spiritu indecenter erecta inpunita iustis saeculis non relinquatur audacia.

[2] And therefore by the present injunction we command you, that, the insinuation of the curials of the city of Adria having been received, whoever of the Goths’ fisc refuses to fulfill it, you are to constrain him to the equity of restitution, lest a poor man be forced to pay out of his own what it is evident that able men are detaining unduly: with this rule, namely, being observed, that if anyone by the vice of contumacy should prefer to delay our commands, let him render with a fine what he ought even not being compelled to offer, so that audacity, indecently puffed up by a forward spirit, be not left unpunished to just ages.

XX. ALBINO ET AVIENO VV. II. ATQUE PATRICIIS THEODERICUS REX.

20. THEODERIC THE KING TO ALBINUS AND AVIENUS, ILLUSTRIOUS MEN AND PATRICIANS.

[1] Licet inter gloriosas rei publicae curas et regalium sollicitudinum salutiferos fluctus pars minima videatur principem de spectaculis loqui, tamen pro amore rei publicae Romanae non pigebit has quoque cogitationes intrare, quia undecumque praestare possumus, dignum nostris sensibus aestimamus, praesertim cum beatitudo sit temporum laetitia populorum. illud enim propitiante deo labores nostros asserit, quod se otiosam generalitas esse cognoscit.

[1] Although, among the glorious cares of the commonwealth and the health-bringing billows of royal solicitudes, it may seem a very small part for a prince to speak about spectacles, nevertheless, for love of the Roman commonwealth, it will not be irksome to enter upon these thoughts as well, because wherever we can render service, we deem it worthy of our sensibilities, especially since the beatitude of the times is the gladness of peoples. for this, with God propitious, asserts our labors: that the generality recognizes itself to be at ease.

[2] Partis itaque prasini insinuata petitione comperimus—quoniam hoc introductum est, ut populi de colore vocitentur—seditiones turbulentas a quibusdam scelestissimis incitari et causam laetitiae publicae ad furoris certamina prorupisse. quod utique gaudii decoram non potest habere qualitatem, si pacem non meruerit possidere communem. et ideo dignum est clementiam nostram has quoque partes aspicere, ut ubique possit morum probitas elucere.

[2] Therefore, upon the petition of the Green party having been presented, we have learned—since this has been introduced, that peoples are called by color—turbulent seditions are being incited by certain most nefarious men, and the occasion of public rejoicing has burst forth to the contests of frenzy. This assuredly cannot have a decorous quality of joy, if it has not deserved to possess the common peace. And therefore it is worthy that our clemency look also upon these parties, so that everywhere the probity of morals may shine forth.

non enim inania verborum popularium cogitamus, sed perniciosae semen seditionis excludimus.

for we do not devise inane popular verbiage, but we exclude the seed of pernicious sedition.

[3] Quapropter illustris magnitudo vestra praesenti iussione commonita patrocinium partis prasini, quod gloriosae recordationis pater vester impendit, dignanter assumat. putari enim non debet iniuria populos regere ac gubernare Romanos. nam si honorum omnium causa pensetur, pro illorum utilitate delecti sunt, qui honores gloriosissimos accipere meruerunt.

[3] Wherefore let your illustrious magnitude, admonished by the present injunction, graciously assume the patronage of the Green party, which your father of glorious memory expended; for it ought not to be thought an injury to rule and govern the Roman peoples. For if the cause of all honors be weighed, those who have been chosen—who have merited to receive the most glorious honors—have been selected for their utility.

[4] Convocatis ergo spectatoribus, de Helladio et Thorodon qui laetitiae publicae aptior fuerit aestimatus, populi confusione sublata constituatur a vobis prasini pantomimus, quatenus sumptum, quem pro spectaculo civitatis impendimus, electis contulisse videamur.

[4] Therefore, with the spectators convened, of Helladius and Thorodon, whichever shall have been judged more apt for the public festivity, with the populace’s confusion removed, let a pantomime of the Prasinus (Green) be appointed by you, so that the expense which we have expended for the city’s spectacle we may seem to have bestowed upon the elect.

[5] Hanc partem musicae disciplinae mutam nominavere maiores, scilicet quae ore clauso manibus loquitur et quibusdam gesticulationibus facit intellegi, quod vix narrante lingua aut scripturae textu possit agnosci.

[5] This part of the musical discipline the ancestors named mute, namely, which, with the mouth closed, speaks with the hands and by certain gesticulations makes it be understood, which can scarcely be recognized by a narrating tongue or by the text of writing.

XXI. MAXIMIANO V. I. ET ANDREAE V. S. THEODERICUS REX.

21. THEODERIC THE KING TO MAXIMIANUS, A MAN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK, AND ANDREAS, A MAN OF RESPECTABLE RANK.

[1] Provocandi sumus affectuosis civium studiis ad augmenta civitatis, quia nemo potest diligere quod habitatores intellegit non amare. unicuique patria sua carior est, dum supra omnia salvum fore quaeritur, ubi ab ipsis cunabulis commoratur. quapropter votis paribus invitemur ad dona, quatenus quod sponte tribuimus, duplicata gratia conferamus.

[1] We must be provoked by the affectionate zeal of the citizens toward the augment of the city, because no one can love what he understands the inhabitants not to love. to each one his own fatherland is dearer, since, above all, one seeks that to be safe, where he has dwelt from his very cradle. wherefore with equal vows let us be invited to gifts, insofar as what we bestow of our own accord, we confer with doubled grace.

et ideo nulli grave sit Romanis fabricis deputatae pecuniae reddere rationem, cum pura conscientia desideret se probari, quando fructum laboris sui capit, dum ad nos prospera de se pervenire cognoscit.

and therefore let it be grievous to no one to render an account of the money deputed to the Roman workshops, since a pure conscience desires to be proved, when it takes the fruit of its labor, while it knows that prosperous things about itself are reaching us.

[2] Quocirca praesenti decernimus iussione Romanae civitatis fabricas vos debere discutere, si labor operis concordat expensis: vel, si apud aliquem constet residere pecuniam, quae non sit fabricis expensa, deputatae rei reddat erogandam. quibus rationibus evidenter expressis ad nos instructionem fidelissimam destinate, ut iudicio nostro respondere videamini qui estis ad indaginem veritatis electi. nullum enim de largitate nostra fraudari velle credimus, quando in tali negotio et de propriis facultatibus eum impendere posse iudicamus.

[2] Wherefore by the present injunction we decree that you ought to examine the factories of the Roman city, whether the labor of the work accords with the expenses: or, if it be established that money resides with someone which has not been expended upon the factories, let him return it for the assigned matter to be disbursed. With these accounts evidently expressed, send to us the most faithful instruction, so that you may seem to answer to our judgment, you who have been chosen for the investigation of truth. For we believe that no one wishes to be defrauded of our largesse, since in such a business we judge that he is able even to expend from his own resources.

[3] Aves ipsae per aera vagantes proprios nidos amant: erratiles ferae ad cubilia dumosa festinant: voluptuosi pisces campos liquidos transeuntes cavernas suas studiosa indagatione perquirunt cunctaque animalia ubi se norunt refugere, longissima cupiunt aetate constare. quid iam de Roma debemus dicere, quam fas est ipsis liberis plus amare?

[3] The birds themselves wandering through the air love their own nests: errant wild beasts hasten to bushy lairs: the pleasure-loving fishes crossing the liquid plains, with studious investigation seek out their own caverns and all animals, where they know to take refuge, desire to endure for the longest age. What now ought we to say of Rome, which it is right to love more than one’s very children?

XXII. MARCELLO V. S. ADVOCATO FISCI THEODERICUS REX.

22. THEODERIC THE KING TO MARCELLUS, A SPECTABLE MAN, ADVOCATE OF THE FISC.

[1] Solida laus est regiae largitatis, quotiens conveniunt indulta iudiciis, nec sibi audet casus ascribere, quod bonae dispositionis librat examen, quia ubi aptantur officia meritis, nil debetur incertis. non enim de rudibus sententiam ferimus, sed de probatissimis iudicamus.

[1] It is solid praise of royal largess, whenever the indults agree with the judgments, nor does chance dare to ascribe to itself what the balance of good ordering weighs, because where offices are fitted to merits, nothing is owed to the uncertain. For we do not deliver a sentence about the raw, but we judge concerning the most approved.

[2] Polisti siquidem forensi cote multifarie praedicatus ingenium: nutristi facundiam exercitatione causarum: expertus es, quam suaves fides afferat fructus, ut ipsa etiam conciliet corda regnantum. haec in te speculator virtutum noster sensus inspexit: his apud nos suffragiis placere meruisti, ut dignus existeres ad publicas causas, qui gessisti hactenus sub integritate privatas.

[2] You have indeed polished on the forensic whetstone a talent much-proclaimed in many ways: you have nourished eloquence by the exercise of cases: you have experienced what sweet fruits good faith brings, so that it even conciliates the hearts of those reigning. These things our sense, a watcher of virtues, has inspected in you: by these suffrages with us you have merited to be pleasing, so that you might prove worthy for public causes, you who have thus far conducted private ones with integrity.

[3] Sume igitur fisci nostri tuenda negotia, in utendis officii tui privilegiis decessorum exempla secuturus. ita ergo per medium iustitiae tramitem moderatus incede, ut nec calumnia innocentes graves nec iustis petitionibus retentatores exoneres. illa enim lucra vera iudicamus, quae integritate suffragante percipimus.

[3] Take up, then, the affairs of our fisc to be safeguarded, intending to follow the examples of your predecessors in availing yourself of the privileges of your office. Thus proceed, with moderation, along the middle pathway of justice, so that neither do you burden the innocent with calumny nor, when there are just petitions, do you exonerate withholders. For we judge those gains to be true which we receive with integrity supporting.

non ergo quotiens superes, sed quemadmodum vincas, inquirimus.

Therefore we do not inquire how often you surpass, but in what manner you conquer.

[4] Aequitatem nobis placiturus intende: non quaeras de potestate nostra, sed potius de iure victorias, quando laudabilius a parte fisci perditur, cum iustitia non habetur. nam si dominus vincat, oppressionis invidia est: aequitas vero creditur, si supplicem superare contingat. non ergo parvo periculo causas dicimus, quando tunc fama nostra proficit, cum se commoditas iniusta subducit.

[4] If you would please us, aim at equity: do not seek victories from our power, but rather from right, since it is more laudable that the fisc’s side lose, when justice is not present. for if the lord should prevail, there is the ill-will of oppression: but equity is believed, if it happens that the suppliant prevails. therefore we say that causes are argued not with little danger, since then our reputation advances, when unjust expediency withdraws itself.

quapropter sit interdum mala causa fisci, ut bonus princeps esse videatur. maiori quippe compendio perdimus, quam si nobis indebite victoria suffragetur.

Wherefore let the cause of the fisc sometimes be bad, so that the prince may seem good. For indeed we lose with a greater saving than if victory should undeservedly support us.

XXIII. CAELIANO ET AGAPITO VV. II. PATRICIIS THEODERICUS REX.

23. THEODERIC THE KING TO CAELIANUS AND AGAPITUS, MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MEN, PATRICIANS.

[1] Decet regalis apicis curam generalitatis custodire concordiam, quoniam ad laudem regnantis trahitur, si ab omnibus pax ametur. quid est enim, quod nos melius praedicet, quam quietus populus, concors senatus totaque res publica morum nostrorum honestate vestita?

[1] It befits the care of the royal apex to guard the concord of the generality, since it is drawn to the praise of the one reigning, if peace is loved by all. For what is there that proclaims us better than a quiet people, a concordant senate, and the whole commonwealth clothed with the honesty of our morals?

[2] Hinc est quod praesenti iussione decernimus, ut magnifici et patricii viri Festus atque Symmachus contra illustrem et patricium Paulinum in iudicio vestro, quas se habere dicunt, exerant actiones. quibus pro legum ratione susceptis et, si iuris ordo patitur, definitis tunc patricius Paulinus, quicquid adversum supra memoratos magnificos viros se habere causatur, pari sorte depromat. nec tardari volumus in eius quoque parte sententiam, dum velimus omnia inter eos esse decisa nihilque aliud relinqui, nisi quod debetur affectui.

[2] Hence it is that by the present injunction we decree that the magnificent and patrician men Festus and Symmachus, against the illustrious and patrician Paulinus, in your tribunal, set forth the actions which they say they have. These, once received according to the reason of the laws and, if the order of law permits, determined, then let the patrician Paulinus, whatever he alleges that he has against the above-mentioned magnificent men, in equal lot bring forth. Nor do we wish the sentence to be delayed on his part either, since we wish everything to be decided between them, and that nothing else be left, except what is owed to affection.

[3] Videte ergo tanti iudicii arbitros vos electos: videte expectationem nostram aequabilem flagitare iustitiam: relaturi gratiae uberrimum fructum si praesens disceptatio quos dignos credidit, non impares probet. esse debet enim de talibus viris cura praecipua, qui dare possunt minoribus evidenter exempla. nam qui inter summos viros litem neglegit abolendam, hoc imitari reliquos sine dubitatione permittit.

[3] See therefore that you have been elected arbiters of so great a judgment: see our expectation to be demanding equitable justice: you will render the most abundant fruit of favor if the present disceptation proves those whom it has believed worthy to be not unequal. For there ought to be particular care about such men, who can plainly give examples to their inferiors. For he who among the highest men neglects to abolish a lawsuit, without doubt permits the rest to imitate this.

XXIIII. UNIVERSIS GOTHIS THEODERICUS REX.

24. THEODERIC THE KING TO ALL THE GOTHS.

[1] Innotescenda sunt magis Gothis quam suadenda certamina, quia bellicosae stirpi est gaudium comprobari: laborem quippe non refugit, qui virtutis gloriam concupiscit. et ideo, iuvante deo, quo auctore omnia prosperantur, pro communi utilitate exercitum ad Gallias constituimus destinare, ut simul et vos provectus occasionem habere possitis et nos quae praestitimus, meritis contulisse videamur. latet enim sub otio laudabilis fortitudo et dum se probandi non habet spatium, occulta est lux tota meritorum.

[1] Contests are to be made known to the Goths rather than urged, since to a warlike stock it is a joy to be approved: indeed he does not shun labor who covets the glory of virtue. and therefore, with God aiding, by whose authorship all things prosper, for the common utility we have determined to dispatch an army to the Gauls, so that at once both you may be able to have an occasion for advancement and we may seem to have conferred, upon merits, what we have provided. for praiseworthy fortitude lies hidden under leisure, and while it does not have space for proving itself, the whole light of merits is concealed.

[2] Atque ideo per Nandum saionem nostrum ammonendum curavimus, ut ad expeditionem in dei nomine more solito armis equis rebusque omnibus necessariis sufficienter instructi octavo die kalendarum Iuliarum proxime veniente modis omnibus deo favente moveatis, quatenus et parentum vestrorum in vobis ostendatis inesse virtutem et nostram peragatis feliciter iussionem.

[2] And therefore through Nandus, our saion, we have taken care to have you admonished, that for the expedition, in God’s name, in the customary manner, with arms, horses, and all things necessary, sufficiently equipped, on the 8th day before the Kalends of July next approaching, with God favoring, you set out in every way, so that both you may show that the virtue of your parents is present in you, and may happily carry out our command.

[3] Producite iuvenes vestros in Martiam disciplinam: sub vobis videant, quod posteris referre contendant. nam quod in iuventute non discitur, in matura aetate nescitur. accipitres ipsi, quorum victus semper ex praeda est, fetus suos novitate marcentes nidis proturbant, ne molle otium consuescant: alis verberant immorantes, cogunt pullos teneros ad volatum, ut tales debeant existere, de quibus possit pietas materna praesumere.

[3] Lead forth your youths into Martial discipline: under you let them see that which they may strive to report to posterity. For what is not learned in youth is unknown in mature age. The hawks themselves, whose livelihood is always from prey, drive their young, withering from newness, out of the nests, lest they grow accustomed to soft ease: with their wings they beat the lingering ones, they compel the tender chicks to flight, so that they may come to be such as those of whom motherly pietas can presume.

vos autem, quos et natura erigit at amor opinionis exacuit, studete tales filios relinquere, quales vos patres vestros constat habuisse.

But you, whom both nature uplifts and the love of opinion has sharpened, strive to leave behind such sons as it is established your fathers had—namely, you.

XXV. SABINIANO V. S. THEODERICUS REX.

25. THEODERIC THE KING TO SABINIANUS, A RESPECTABLE MAN.

[1] Nil prodest initia rei solidare, si valebit praesumptio ordinata destruere: illa sunt enim robusta, illa diuturna quae prudentia incipit et cura custodit. atque ideo maior in conservandis rebus quam in inveniendis adhibenda cautela est, quia de initiis praedicatio debetur invento, de custoditis adquiritur laudata perfectio.

[1] It profits nothing to consolidate the beginnings of a matter, if an ordered presumption will prevail to destroy: for those things are robust, those long-lasting which prudence begins and care guards. And therefore greater caution must be applied in conserving things than in discovering them, because concerning beginnings proclamation is owed to what has been discovered, from what has been guarded a lauded perfection is acquired.

[2] Dudum siquidem propter Romanae moenia civitatis, ubi studium nobis semper impendere infatigabilis ambitus erit, portum Licini deputatis reditibus reparari iussio nostra constituit, ut milia tegularum annua illatione praestaret: simul etiam portubus iunctis, qui ad illa loca antiquitus pertinebant, qui nunc diversorum usurpatione suggeruntur invasi.

[2] Indeed, long ago on account of the walls of the Roman city, where it will always be the aim of our indefatigable ambition to expend zeal, our command decreed that the Port of Licinus, with assigned revenues, be repaired, so that by annual importation it might supply thousands of tiles: at the same time also, with the ports joined, which from antiquity pertained to those places, which now by the usurpation of various persons are reported to have been invaded.

[3] Cuncta ergo ad statutam praestationem facies sine dilatione revocari: quia licet nostra iussa pro sua reverentia in nullo violanda sunt, ea tamen custodiri volumus maxime, quae urbis faciem videntur ornare. quis enim dubitet fabricarum miracula hac provisione servata et pendenti saxo tornatas camaras tegularum tegmine custoditas? ut antiqui principes nobis merito debeant laudes suas, quorum fabricis dedimus longissimam iuventutem, ut pristina novitate transluceant, quae iam fuerant veternosa senectute fuscata.

[3] Therefore you will cause all things to be recalled to the statuted prestation without delay: because although our orders, out of their own reverence, are in no way to be violated, yet we especially wish those things to be safeguarded which seem to adorn the face of the city. For who would doubt that the miracles of the buildings are preserved by this provision and the vaults, turned from pendent stone, are kept by a tegument of tiles? so that the ancient princes may deservedly owe to us their praises, to whose structures we have given the longest youth, so that they shine through with their pristine newness, which already had been darkened by torpid senescence.

XXVI. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX.

26. THEODERIC THE KING TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.

[1] Nefas est apud eos fidem beneficii prioris imminui, quibus alia convenit nostra saepius largitate praestari. sed sicut quae semel annuimus rescindi in perpetuum non merentur, sic qui largitatem nostram moderatis precibus impetrarunt, nostrorum terminos praestitorum inmodica non debent praesumptione transcendere.

[1] It is not right that, among those for whom it is fitting that other things be more often provided by our largess, the good faith of a prior benefaction be diminished. But just as those things which we once have granted do not deserve to be rescinded in perpetuity, so those who have obtained our largess by moderate petitions ought not, by immoderate presumption, to overstep the bounds of our grants.

[2] Unde quia religiosi studii reverentia commonemur, ut quae dudum ecclesiae viri venerabilis Unscilae antistitis praestitimus, valere in perpetuum censeamus, nunc quoque illustrem magnificentiam tuam duximus admonendam, quatenus superindicticiorum onera titulorum praefata ecclesia in ea summa non sentiat, qua usque a magnifici viri patricii Cassiodori, pura nobis fide et integritate comperti, temporibus est soluta.

[2] Whence, since we are admonished by the reverence of religious zeal, that what we formerly bestowed upon the church of the venerable man Unscila, the bishop, we deem to be valid in perpetuity, now also we have considered your Illustrious Magnificence to be admonished, to the end that the aforesaid church may not feel the burdens of the superindictions of the headings in that sum to the extent from which it has been released since the times of the magnificent man, the patrician Cassiodorus, found by us in pure faith and integrity.

[3] Ea vero quae a tempore beneficii ad ecclesiam nostram ab aliquibus est translata professio, commune cum universis possessoribus onus solutionis agnoscat et illius subiaceat functioni, cuius nacta est iura dominii. alioquin grata nobis augmenta eius esse non possunt, qui fisci damno proficit. sufficiat possessori compendium pensionis: tributa sunt purpurae, non lacernae, lucrum cum invidia periculum est: quanto melius omnia moderata gerere, quae nullus audeat accusare!

[3] But as for the professio which from the time of the benefice has been transferred to our church by certain persons, let it acknowledge a common burden of payment together with all possessors, and be subject to the function of that one whose rights of dominion it has obtained. Otherwise its augmentations cannot be welcome to us, when someone profits to the damage of the fisc. Let the saving of the pension suffice for the possessor: tributes are for the Purple, not for cloaks; profit coupled with envy is a danger: how much better to conduct all things in a moderated way, which no one would dare to accuse!

XXVII. SPECIOSO THEODERICUS REX.

27. THEODERIC THE KING TO SPECIOSUS.

[1] Si exterarum gentium mores sub lege moderamur, si iuri Romano servit quicquid sociatur Italiae, quanto magis decet ipsam civilitatis sedem legum reverentiam plus habere, ut per moderationis exemplum luceat gratia dignitatum? ubi enim quaeratur modestus animus, si foedent violenta patricios?

[1] If we moderate the mores of foreign nations under law, if whatever is associated with Italy serves the Roman ius, how much more does it befit the very seat of civilization to have more reverence for the laws, so that by an example of moderation the grace of dignities may shine? For where is a modest spirit to be sought, if acts of violence defile the patricians?

[2] Populi nobis itaque partis prasini petitione suggeritur, dum ad nostrum disponerent venire comitatum remedia consueta poscentes, se truculentas insidias a patricio Theodoro et Inportuno viro illustri consule pertulisse, ita ut unus eorum defleatur extinctus.

[2] Therefore it is suggested to us by the petition of the people of the Green (Prasina) faction, that while they were arranging to come to our comitatus (retinue), asking for the accustomed remedies, they endured savage ambushes from Theodorus the Patrician and from Inportunus, an Illustrious Man, Consul, such that one of them is bewailed as slain.

[3] Quod nos, si ita est, pro facti sui acerbitate commovit, ut innoxiam plebem furor persequeretur armatus, quam fovere civicus debuisset affectus. sed quia condicio minorum regnantis aequabiliter implorat auxilium, supra memoratos illustres viros ammoneri praesenti iussione censemus, ut ad Caeliani atque Agapiti illustrium virorum adaeque iudicium instructas destinare non differant te instante personas, quatenus legibus examinata cognitio eorum sententia terminetur.

[3] Which, if it is so, has moved us, in proportion to the bitterness of the deed itself, such that armed frenzy pursued the innocent plebs, whom a civic affection ought to have fostered. But because the condition of the lesser equally implores the aid of the one reigning, we judge that the above-mentioned illustrious men are to be admonished by this present injunction, that they should not delay, with you urging, to dispatch the prepared persons to the equally impartial judgment of the illustrious men Caelianus and Agapitus, in order that, the inquiry having been examined by the laws, it may be terminated by their sentence.

[4] Sed ne forsitan magnificos viros loquacitas popularis offenderit, praesumptionis huius habenda discretio est. teneatur ad culpam quisquis transeunti reverentissimo senatori iniuriam protervus inflixit, si male optavit, cum bene loqui debuit.

[4] But lest perhaps popular loquacity offend the magnificent men, discretion must be had regarding this presumption. let him be held to fault whoever, insolent, inflicted an injury upon the most reverend senator as he was passing by, if he wished ill, when he ought to have spoken well.

[5] Mores autem graves in spectaculis quis requirat? ad circum nesciunt convenire Catones. quicquid illic a gaudenti populo dicitur, iniuria non putatur.

[5] But who would seek grave morals in the spectacles? To the circus the Catos do not know how to convene. Whatever is said there by a rejoicing populace is not considered an injury.

locus est qui defendit excessum. quorum garrulitas si patienter accipitur, ipsos quoque principes ornare monstratur. respondeant nobis certe qui talibus studiis occupantur: si tranquillos optant adversarios suos, certe volunt eos esse victores, quando ad iniurias tunc prosiliunt, cum se superatos turpiter erubescunt.

There is a place which defends excess. If their garrulity is received patiently, it is shown to adorn even the princes themselves. Let those who are occupied with such pursuits answer us at least: if they desire their adversaries to be tranquil, surely they want them to be victors, since they then spring forth to insults when they blush shamefully at having been overcome.

unde ergo irasci volunt, quod sine dubiu se optasse cognoscunt?

Why, then, do they wish to be angry at that which they recognize themselves to have, without doubt, opted for?

XXVIII. UNIVERSIS GOTHIS ET ROMANIS THEODERICUS REX.

28. THEODERIC THE KING TO ALL THE GOTHS AND THE ROMANS.

[1] Digna est constructio civitatis, in qua se commendet cura regalis, quia laus est temporum reparatio urbium vetustarum: in quibus et ornatus pacis adquiritur et bellorum necessitas praecavetur.

[1] Worthy is the construction of a city, in which the royal care commends itself, for the restoration of ancient cities is a praise of the times: in which both the ornament of peace is acquired and the necessity of wars is forestalled.

[2] Ideoque praesenti iussione profutura sancimus, ut, si quis cuiuslibet generis saxa in agris suis iacentia muris habuerit profutura, libens animo sine aliqua dilatione concedat, quod tunc magis verius possidebit, cum hoc utilitati suae civitatis indulserit.

[2] Therefore by the present injunction profitable for the future we sanction, that, if anyone has stones of any kind lying in his fields that will be useful for the walls, let him grant them willingly in mind without any delay, which he will then more truly possess, when he has indulged this to the utility of his city.

[3] Quid est enim gratius quam videre crescere publicum decus, ubi omnium utilitas in generalitate concluditur? et licet praestentur vilia, ad auctores suos magna sunt commoditate reditura: datur enim plerumque, quod maiori utilitate recipitur. et frequenter homo lucra sua complectitur, cum necessario pro temporis qualitate largitur.

[3] For what is more gratifying than to see the public ornament grow, where the utility of all is enclosed within the generality? and although cheap things are furnished, they are going to return to their authors with great advantage: for most often that is given which is received with greater utility. and frequently a man embraces his own profits, when he necessarily gives liberally according to the quality of the time.

XXVIIII. UNIVERSIS LUCRISTANIS SUPER SONTIUM CONSTITUTIS THEODERICUS REX.

29. THEODERIC THE KING TO ALL THE LUCRISTANI ESTABLISHED OVER THE SONTIUS.

[1] Non dubium est ad utilitatem rei publicae cursus custodiam pertinere, per quem nostris ordinationibus celerrimus praestatur effectus. et ideo velut necessariae rei maior adhibenda cautela est, ut qui ad continuos excursus constituti sunt, turpi macie non tabescant, ne ieiuna tenuitas laboribus praeventa succumbat et incipiat iter effici morosum, quod ad celeritatem constat inventum.

[1] It is not doubtful that the guardianship of the Cursus pertains to the utility of the republic, through which for our ordinances the most rapid effect is furnished. And therefore, as for a necessary matter, greater caution must be applied, so that those who are appointed for continuous excursions do not waste away with shameful gauntness, lest a fasting thinness, forestalled by labors, succumb, and the journey begin to become dilatory, which is agreed to have been invented for celerity.

[2] Quapropter devotio vestra praesenti iussione commonita terrarum spatia, quae veredis antea licuerunt, mutationibus suis a possessore vindicata restituat, ut nec illi parvo spatio infligantur damna et istis recuperata sufficiant.

[2] Wherefore let your devotion, admonished by the present injunction, restore the stretches of land which were formerly permitted to the posting-horses, vindicated from the possessor for their own relay-stations (mutationes), so that neither are damages inflicted on those by so small a space, and that what has been recovered may suffice for these.

XXX. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX.

30. THEODERIC THE KING TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[1] Animum nostrum, patres conscripti, rei publicae curis calentem et diversarum gentium consilia perscrutantem pulsavit saepius querela populorum, orta quidem ex causis levibus, sed graves eructavit excessus. deplorat enim pro spectaculorum voluptate ad discriminis se ultima pervenisse, ut legum ratione calcata desperate persequeretur innoxios servilis furor armatus, et quod illis humanitas nostra laetitiae causa praestitit, in tristitiam audacia plectenda convertit. quod nos elementiae nostrae solita provisione comprimimus, ne paulatim sinendo graviorem vindicare cogamur offensam.

[1] Our spirit, Conscript Fathers, heated with the cares of the commonwealth and scrutinizing the counsels of diverse nations, has been struck more than once by the complaint of the peoples, arisen indeed from light causes, but it has disgorged grave excesses. For it laments that, for the pleasure of spectacles, it has come to the last extremities of peril, so that, with the reason of the laws trampled underfoot, an armed servile fury would in desperation pursue the innocent, and that which our humanity furnished to them for the sake of joy, a boldness to be punished has turned into sadness. Which we, by the accustomed provision of our clemency, repress, lest by allowing it little by little we be forced to avenge a graver offense.

benigni quippe principis est non tam delicta velle punire quam tollere, ne aut acriter vindicando aestimetur nimius aut leniter agendo putetur improvidus.

For indeed it belongs to a benign prince not so much to wish to punish delicts as to remove them, lest either by avenging sharply he be judged excessive or by acting gently he be thought improvident.

[2] Atque ideo praesenti definitione sancimus, ut, si cuiuspiam senatoris famulus in ingenui caede fuerit fortasse versatus, eum tradat legibus impetitum, ut facti qualitate discussa proferatur iure valitura sententia. si vero tanti facinoris reum mala fide dominus iudiciis praesentare distulerit, noverit se decem librarum auri dispendio vulnerandum et nostrae ingratitudinis, quod multo gravius est, pericula subiturum.

[2] And therefore by this present definition we sanction that, if the household servant of any senator shall perhaps have been involved in the homicide of a freeborn man, he is to be delivered to the laws for prosecution, so that, the quality of the deed having been examined, a sentence may be brought forth that will be valid in law. But if the master, in bad faith, shall have deferred to present to the courts the defendant of so great a crime, let him know that he will be struck with a penalty of ten pounds of gold, and—what is much more serious—will undergo the dangers of our ingratitude.

[3] Sed ut honestatum omnium par libra componeret et civilitatis gratia reductis moribus conveniret, ad populum quoque praecepta nostra direximus, quae vobis reserari libenter amplectimur, ut alterutra iussione pensata resarciatur civibus scissa concordia. proinde nullos ab spectaculorum gaudio removemus, sed seditionis semina radicitus amputamus.

[3] But so that an equal balance might compose the honors of all and, for the sake of civility, might fit with manners brought back, we have also directed our precepts to the people, which we gladly embrace to be opened up for you, so that, with either injunction weighed, the torn concord may be repaired for the citizens. Accordingly we remove no one from the joy of spectacles, but we cut off the seeds of sedition root-and-branch.

[4] Intersit igitur inter splendorem vestrum moresque mediocres: refugite tales familiares, qui sint iniuriarum ministri, qui amori vestro nitantur ascribere quod delinquunt et dum levitates suas exerere cupiunt, vestram reverentiam implicare contendunt. vos enim, quos semper gravitas decet, nolite truculenter insequi inania verba populorum. si quod est forte, quod poenam mereatur, admissum, in praefecti urbis notitiam deferatur, ut culpa legibus, non per praesumptam coerceatur iniuriam.

[4] Let there be, therefore, a distinction between your splendor and mediocre mores: flee such familiars, who are ministers of injuries, who strive to ascribe to your favor what they delinquently do, and, while they desire to exercise their levities, endeavor to entangle your reverence. For you, whom gravity always befits, do not truculently pursue the empty words of the populace. If there is perchance some offense committed which may deserve punishment, let it be brought to the notice of the Urban Prefect, so that the fault may be coerced by the laws, not be restrained through a presumed injury.

quid enim discrepat a peccante, qui se per excessum nititur vindicare? impaenitenda est ultio de cive, quae legibus venit: et excellenter videtur de pulsato triumphasse, qui victor pronuntiatur a iudice.

For what indeed does he who strives to vindicate himself by excess differ from the sinner? The vengeance upon a citizen that comes by the laws is not to be repented of; and he seems to have triumphed excellently over his assailant, who is pronounced victor by the judge.

[5] Inter ipsos quoque adversarios, ut scitis, non erant prius armata certamina, sed pugnis se quamlibet fervida lacessebat intentio, unde et pugna nomen accepit. postea Belus ferreum gladium primus produxit, a quo et bellum placuit nominari. consilium atrox, crudele praesidium, ferina concertatio.

[5] Among the adversaries themselves, as you know, there were not formerly armed contests, but the contention, however fervid, provoked itself with fists, whence also the fight received its name. afterwards Belus first produced the iron sword, from whom it also pleased that war be named. atrocious counsel, cruel safeguard, bestial contest.

nam et si datum est prius illi inermem facile vincere, tamen crimini applicandum est, quod inde posteritas potuit interire. non permittatis ergo a famulis vestris in civibus fieri quod adhuc debet et in hostibus accusari.

for even if it was granted earlier to him to conquer the unarmed easily, nevertheless it must be imputed as a crime, that from it posterity could have perished. do not permit, therefore, to be done by your servants upon citizens what still ought to be accused even in enemies.

XXXI. POPULO ROMANO THEODERICUS REX.

31. THEODERIC THE KING TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

[1] Spectacula voluptatum laetitiam volumus esse populorum, nec erigere debet motus irarum, quod ad remissionem animi constat inventum. ideo enim tot expensarum onus subimus, ut conventus vester non sit seditionis strepitus, sed pacis ornatus. mores peregrinos abicite: Romana sit vox plebis, quam delectet audiri.

[1] We wish the spectacles of delights to be the joy of the peoples, nor ought the motions of wrath to be stirred up, since it stands established that they were invented for the relaxation of the mind. For this reason indeed we undergo so great a burden of expenses, so that your gathering may be not the clamor of sedition, but the adornment of peace. Cast off foreign mores: let the voice of the plebs be Roman, which it is a delight to hear.

convicia nec gaudium pariunt nec de laetitia procreantur. hoc fuit certe, quod culpabatis in exteros: nolite modo vitia turbulenta contrahere, quae videtis alios abiecisse.

insults neither beget joy nor are procreated from gladness. this was certainly what you were blaming in foreigners: do not now contract turbulent vices, which you see others have cast away.

[2] Atque ideo edictali programmate definimus, ut, si atroces iniurias in quempiam senatorum vox iniusta praesumpserit, noverit se a praefecto urbis legibus audiendum, ut pro facti qualitate discussa excipiat promulgatam iure sententiam.

[2] And therefore by an edictal program we define, that, if an unjust voice shall have presumed atrocious injuries against any one of the senators, let him know that he is to be heard by the Prefect of the City under the laws, so that, the quality of the act having been discussed, he may receive the sentence promulgated by law.

[3] Verum ut omne semen discordiae funditus amputetur, praefinitis locis pantomimos artes suas exercere praecipimus: quod vos poterit instruere ad praefectum urbis data praeceptio. tantum est, ut animis compositis peragatis laetitiam civitatis. nihil est enim, quod studiosius servare vos cupimus quam vestrorum veterum disciplinam, ut, quod ab antiquis laudabile semper habuistis, sub nobis potius augeatis.

[3] But so that every seed of discord may be utterly extirpated, we prescribe that pantomimes exercise their arts in pre-defined places: about which a precept given to the Prefect of the City can instruct you. only this remains, that with minds composed you carry through the rejoicing of the city. for there is nothing that we desire you to preserve more studiously than the discipline of your elders, so that, what you have always held praiseworthy from the ancients, under us you may rather augment.

[4] Soletis enim aera ipsa mellifluis implere clamoribus et uno sono dicere, quod ipsas quoque beluas delectet audire: profertis voces organo dulciores et ita sub quadam harmonia citharae concavum theatrum per vos resonat, ut tonos possit quilibet credere quam clamores. numquid inter ista rixae decent aut inflammata contentio? abicite furores laeti, iram gaudentes excludite.

[4] For you are wont to fill the very airs with mellifluous clamors, and to speak with one sound, such that it delights even the beasts themselves to hear: you bring forth voices sweeter than the organ, and thus under a certain harmony the concave theater of the cithara resounds through you, so that anyone could believe them tones rather than clamors. Surely brawls or inflamed contention are not fitting amid these things? Cast away furies joyfully, exclude ire while rejoicing.

tales enim animi aliorum temperari possunt, cum vestri favores suaviter audiuntur.

for in this way the minds of others can be tempered, when your acclamations are sweetly heard.

XXXII. AGAPITO V. I. P. V. THEODERICUS REX.

32. THEODERIC THE KING TO AGAPITUS, AN ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, PATRICIAN.

[1] Eximiae urbis praesulem pacis convenit esse custodem. nam a quo melius moderatio debet sperari, quam cui potuit Roma committi? illa enim mater omnium dignitatum viros sibi gaudet praesidere virtutum.

[1] It befits the prelate of the distinguished city to be the custodian of peace. For from whom ought moderation better to be hoped, than from him to whom Rome could be committed? For she, the mother of all dignities, rejoices to have men of virtues preside over her.

et ideo honori tuo debes animos exaequare, ut quod nostris adeptus es beneficiis, tuis meritis invenisse credaris. circumspicere te decet, ne qua in spectaculis seditionum causa nascatur, quia tuum praeconium est populus quietus. sit insultandi consuetudo moderata, ut nec libertati pereat honesta licentia nec desit moribus disciplina.

and therefore you ought to bring your spirit into balance with your honor, so that what you have obtained by our benefactions you may be believed to have found by your own merits. it befits you to look around, lest any cause of seditions arise in the spectacles, for your best proclamation is a quiet people. let the custom of jeering be moderated, so that neither honorable license to liberty perish, nor discipline be lacking to morals.

[2] Quocirca sicut nostris oraculis et amplissimum ordinem docuimus et plebem decrevimus ammoneri, hoc tuam quoque magnitudinem observare censemus, ut, si a quoquam irrogata fuerit iniuria senatori, confestim loquax temeritas legum severitate plectatur. si vero senator civilitatis immemor quemquam ingenuum nefaria fecerit caede vexari, protinus relatione transmissa perennitatis nostrae multam perculsus excipiat.

[2] Wherefore, just as by our oracles we have instructed the most ample Order and have decreed that the Plebs be admonished, we judge that your Magnitude should observe this also: that, if an injury shall have been inflicted upon a Senator by anyone, forthwith loquacious temerity be chastised by the severity of the laws. But if a Senator, unmindful of civility, shall have caused any freeborn person to be vexed by nefarious beating, immediately, a report having been transmitted to Our Perennity, let him, smitten, incur a mulct.

[3] Meminerint enim cuncti sic spectaculorum studia partesque dividere, ut in patria debeant esse concordes, nec ad hoc sibi voluptatum exhiberi certamina, ut exinde hostilis ira fervescat. verum, ne posthac ulla possit iterum furiosa contentio provenire, Helladius de medio, voluptatem populi praestaturus, introeat, habiturus aequalitatem menstrui cum ceteris partium pantomimis.

[3] Let all remember thus to divide their enthusiasms for the spectacles and their parties, that they ought to be concordant in the fatherland, nor are contests of pleasures exhibited to them for this—that from thence hostile wrath should boil up. But, in truth, lest hereafter any furious contention can again arise, let Helladius come forward from the midst, about to provide the people’s pleasure, to have equality of the monthly stipend with the other pantomimes of the factions.

[4] Illud etiam, quod crebras inter eos seditiones exagitat, praesenti iussione definimus, ut amatores Helladii, quem de medio saltare praecepimus sine utriusque partis studio, spectandi eis, ubi delegerint, libera sit facultas. si vero eorum lubrica voluntas in unius coloris migraverit favorem, studia sua populus tam in circo quam theatro habeat pro parte quam diligit, ut is qui praesumpserit, vetitam ipse iudicetur quaesisse discordiam.

[4] That also, which agitates frequent seditions among them, we define by the present injunction, that the lovers of Helladius, whom we have ordered to dance in the midst, without the zeal of either party, may have for themselves a free faculty of watching him wherever they shall have chosen. But if their slippery will shall have migrated into the favor of one color, let the people have their enthusiasms both in the circus and in the theater for the side which they love, so that he who shall have presumed is himself judged to have sought forbidden discord.

XXXIII. AGAPITO V. I. P. U. THEODERICUS REX.

33. THEODERIC THE KING TO AGAPITUS, A MOST DISTINGUISHED MAN, PREFECT OF THE CITY.

[1] Nescit serenitatis nostrae prolatum semel titubare iudicium: nec quod provida dispositione constituit, cuiusquam occasionis surreptione mutavit. dudum siquidem ad Albinum atque Avienum patricios viros praecepta nos dedisse retinemus, ut pantomimum prasini partis eligerent, qui praestantius spectaculis conveniret: quod nobis factum sua relatione reserarunt.

[1] Our serenity’s judgment, once brought forth, does not know how to stumble: nor has it, by the surreption of any occasion, changed what it established by provident disposition. For indeed, some time ago we recall that we gave directives to Albinus and Avienus, patrician men, that they should choose a pantomime of the Green party, who would more excellently suit the spectacles: which they disclosed to us as done by their relation.

[2] Et ideo nunc praesenti auctoritate decernimus, ut, quem a supra memoratis magnificis viris electum esse constiterit, ei solitum menstruum partis prasini sine imminutione tribuatis, ut, quod nostra provisio confusionis tollendae causa constituit, non fiat seditionis occasio, sed quietis.

[2] And therefore now by the present authority we decree, that, him whom it shall have been established to have been chosen by the above-mentioned magnificent men, to him you grant the customary monthly payment of the Green faction without diminution, so that what our provision, for the sake of removing confusion, has established may not become an occasion of sedition, but of quiet.

XXXIIII. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX.

34. THEODERIC THE KING TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.

[1] Copia frumentorum provinciae debet primum prodesse cui nascitur, quia iustius est, ut incolis propria fecunditas serviat quam peregrinis commerciis studiosae cupiditatis exhauriat. alienis siquidem partibus illud debet impendi quod superest et tunc de exteris cogitandum, dum se ratio propriae necessitatis expleverit.

[1] The abundance of the province’s grain ought first to profit the one to whom it is born, because it is more just that the inhabitants be served by their own fecundity than that foreign commerce of studious cupidity drain it. for indeed upon alien parts that which is left over should be expended, and then there should be thought about externals, when the reckoning of one’s own necessity has been satisfied.

[2] Atque ideo illustris magnificentia tua per loca singula qui curam videntur habere litorum, faciat commoneri, ut non ante quispiam peregrinas naves frumentis oneret ad aliena litora transituras, quam expensae publicae ad optatam possint copiam pervenire.

[2] And therefore let your Illustrious Magnificence, through each several place those who seem to have the care of the shores, cause to be warned, that no one load foreign ships with grain to cross to alien shores before the public expenses can attain to the desired supply.

XXXV. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX.

35. THEODERIC THE KING TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.

[1] Cum siccitas praesentis anni, quae localiter certis solet desaevire temporibus, terrenis visceribus nimio calore duratis abortivos messium fetus non tam edidit quam inperfecta ubertate proiecit, maiori nunc studio quaerenda sunt quae etiam in abundantia expeti consuerunt.

[1] Since the drought of the present year, which locally is accustomed to rage at certain times, with the terrene viscera hardened by excessive heat, has not so much brought forth abortive fruits of the harvest as cast them forth with imperfect abundance, those things which are wont to be sought even in plenty must now be sought with greater zeal.

[2] Et ideo frumenta publica, quae de Calabro atque Apulo litoribus per cancellarium vestrum aestatis tempore consuerant destinari, nec autumno venisse modis omnibus permovemur, cum solis reflexus australia signa discurrens, naturae ordine modificatus, tumultuosas procellas aeris permixtione resuscitat: quod ab ipsis quoque mensibus datur intellegi, quando ex numero imbrium futurorum competenter nomina susceperunt. quae ergo talis mora, ut in tantis tranquillitatibus velocia necdum fuerint destinata navigia, cum stellarum non mergentium lucidus situs tendi carbasa festinanter invitet et aeris sereni fides properantium nequeat vota terrere?

[2] And therefore the public grain, which from the Calabrian and Apulian shores through your chancellor was accustomed in summertime to be consigned, we are in every way perturbed that it has not come in autumn, since the sun’s return, running through the austral signs, moderated by the order of nature, revives tumultuous tempests by a commixture of the air: which is given to be understood even from the months themselves, when from the number of the future rains they have suitably received their names. What then is such a delay, that in such great tranquillities the swift vessels have not yet been dispatched, when the lucid position of the stars not submerging invites the canvases to be stretched hastily and the faith of serene air cannot frighten the vows of those making haste?

[3] Aut forte incumbente austro remigiisque iuvantibus meatus navium echinais morsus inter undas liquidas alligavit: aut Indici maris conchae simili potentia labiis suis navium dorsa fixerunt: quarum quietus tactus plus dicitur retinere quam exagitata possunt elementa compellere. stat pigra ratis tumentibus alata velis et cursum non habet, cui ventus arridet: sine anchoris figitur, sine rudentibus alligatur et tam parva animalia plus resistunt quam tot auxilia prosperitatis impellunt. ita cum subiecta unda praecipitet cursum, supra maris tergum navigium stare constat infixum miroque modo natantia inconcusse retinentur, dum innumeris motibus unda rapiatur.

[3] Or perhaps, with the Auster bearing down and the oar-crews giving aid, the courses of ships have been bound by the bites of remoras among the liquid waves: or the shells of the Indian sea, with a similar potency, by their lips have fixed the backs of ships: whose tranquil touch is said to hold more than the agitated elements can compel. The sluggish raft stands, winged with swelling sails, and has no course, though the wind smiles upon it: it is fixed without anchors, it is bound without ropes, and such small animals resist more than so many aids of prosperity impel. Thus, while the underlying wave hurls the course forward, above the back of the sea the ship is understood to stand fixed, and in a wondrous way floating things are held unmoved, while the wave is snatched away in innumerable motions.

[4] Sed ut dicamus aliam piscis naturam, forte nautae praedictarum navium tactu torpedinis segnissime torpuerunt: a qua tantum infigentum dexterae praegravantur, ut per hastam, qua fuerit vulnerata, ita manum percutientis inficiat, quatenus vivae substantiae pars sine sensu aliquo immobilis obstupescat. credo talia incurrerunt, qui se movere non possunt. sed echinais illis impedimentosa venalitas est, concharum morsus insatiata cupiditas, torpedo fraudulenta simulatio.

[4] But, that we may speak of another nature of a fish, perhaps the sailors of the aforesaid ships were most sluggishly benumbed by the touch of the torpedo: by which the right hands of those driving it in are so weighed down, that through the spear with which it has been wounded, thus it infects the hand of the striker, to the extent that a part of the living substance, without any sense, grows motionless and stunned. I believe they encountered such things, who cannot move themselves. But for them, in the echini there is a hindering venality, the bites of shells an insatiate cupidity, the torpedo a fraudulent simulation.

ipsi enim studio pravo faciunt moras, ut occasiones incurrere videantur adversas. quod magnitudo tua, cui specialiter convenit cogitare de talibus, celerrima faciat emendatione recorrigi, ne inopia non tam ab sterilitate temporis quam a neglegentia matre nata esse videatur.

for they themselves, by a perverse zeal, create delays, so that adverse occasions may seem to occur. Which your Magnitude, to whom it specially befits to think about such things, should have corrected by a most swift emendation, lest scarcity seem to have been born not so much from the sterility of the season as from Negligence as mother.

XXXVI. FERRIOLO V. S. THEODERICUS REX.

36. THEODERIC THE KING TO FERRIOLUS, A DISTINGUISHED MAN.

[1] Utilitas personarum bonorum debet successione renovari, ne defectu servientium patiatur aliquod res suspensa dispendium. et ideo locum te iubemus quondam Benedicti in Pedonensi civitate ex nostra auctoritate suscipere, ut omnia vigilanti ordinatione procurans nostrae gratiae merearis augmenta. debes enim advertere, quia vicissitudinem reddere studeamus vivis, qui mortuorum fidem non possumus oblivisci.

[1] The utility of good persons ought to be renewed by succession, lest by the defect of those serving a suspended matter suffer any loss. And therefore we command you to assume, by our authority, the place of the late Benedict in the Pedonensian city, so that, managing all things with vigilant ordination, you may merit augmentations of our favor. For you ought to take note that we strive to render reciprocity to the living, who cannot forget the fidelity of the dead.

[2] Illud etiam pietatis nostrae consuetudine commonemur, ut, quoniam devotorum nobis memoria probata non deficit, antefati Benedicti quondam filios, qui sincera nobis cognoscitur devotione paruisse, civili facias tuitione vallari, quatenus defensionis praesentis commodo sublevati securitatem sibi gaudeant paterna servitia contulisse. prosit ergo generi, quod potuit unius devotione praestari, quia maiora nos decet tribuere, quam videmur a servientibus accepisse. hic aequalitas aequitas non est, sed pars nostra iustissime pensat, cum reddendo plus fuerit onerata.

[2] We are likewise, by the custom of our piety, admonished that, since the proved memory of our devoted ones does not fail us, you should cause the sons of the aforesaid, the late Benedict, who are known to have obeyed us with sincere devotion, to be girded with civil protection, so that, uplifted by the convenience of present defense, they may rejoice that the paternal services have brought security to themselves. Let it, therefore, profit the lineage, what could be furnished by the devotion of one, since it befits us to bestow greater things than we seem to have received from those who serve. Here equality is not equity, but our side weighs most justly, when, in rendering, it has been burdened with more.

XXXVII. CRISPIANO THEODERICUS REX.

37. THEODERIC THE KING TO CRISPIANUS.

[1] Quamvis homicidii facinus primus detestetur auditus et cruentam manum oculi refugiant iudicantum, quia proclivior ad misericordiam via bonis semper mentibus patet, tamen iustitiae consideratione librandum est, qua cuique fiat iniuria necessarium scelus: qui nova infelicitate fortunae tunc erit detestatio cunctorum, si se servet innoxium. quis enim ferat hominem ad leges trahere, qui matrimonii nisus est iura violare?

[1] Although hearing is the first to detest the crime of homicide and the eyes of judges shrink from the bloody hand, because a way more inclined to mercy is always open to good minds, nevertheless by the consideration of justice it must be weighed, whereby to each one an injury makes a crime necessary: he, by a new ill‑hap of fortune, will then be the detestation of all, if he keeps himself innocent. For who would endure to drag to the laws a man who has endeavored to violate the rights of matrimony?

[2] Feris insitum est copulam suam extrema concertatione defendere, dum omnibus est animantibus inimicum, quod naturali lege damnatur. videmus tauros feminas suas cornuali concertatione defendere, arietes pro suis ovibus capitaliter insaevire, equos adiunctas sibi feminas colaphis ac morsibus vindicare. ita pro copulatis is sibi animas ponunt qui verecundia non moventur.

[2] It is inborn in beasts to defend their coupling with extreme concertation, while what is condemned by natural law is an enemy to all animate beings. we see bulls defend their females with horned contest, rams to rage to the death for their ewes, horses to vindicate the females joined to them with cuffs and bites. thus for their mates those who are not moved by modesty lay down their lives.

[3] Homo autem quemadmodum patiatur adulterium inultum relinquere, quod ad aeternum suum dedecus cognoscitur omisisse? et ideo si oblatae petitionis minime veritate fraudaris et genialis tori maculam deprehensi adulteri sanguine diluisti nec sub praetexta cruentae mentis causam pudoris intendis, ab exilio, quod tibi constat inflictum, te praecipimus alienum, quoniam pro amore pudicitiae porrigere ferrum maritis non est leges calcare, sed condere.

[3] But how could a man endure to leave adultery unavenged, which is known to have been omitted to his eternal disgrace? And therefore, if you are in no way defrauding the truth of the proffered petition and have washed away the stain of the nuptial couch with the blood of the apprehended adulterer, nor under the pretext of a bloodthirsty mind are you pressing a plea of modesty, from the exile which is acknowledged to have been inflicted on you we command you to be exempt, since for love of pudicity for husbands to extend the steel is not to trample the laws, but to found them.

[4] Ita tamen, ut, si legitimus extiterit accusator, de facti tui qualitate te noveris audiendum, ut, si innoxios peremisti, crimen publica districtione resecetur, si male initos complexus adulterorum morte divisisti, aestimetur potius vindicta quam culpa.

[4] Thus, however, that, if a legitimate accuser has emerged, you should know yourself to be heard concerning the quality of your deed, so that, if you have slain innocents, the crime may be resected by public strictness, if you have sundered ill-initiated embraces by the death of adulterers, let it be assessed rather as vengeance than as fault.

[5] Si quis tibi autem calumniantium damna generavit et Agnello fideiussori tuo, ut asseris, a vicario vel eius officio extortam constiterit fuisse pecuniam, nostra iussione conventus secundum leges ablata restituat. nolumus enim in cuiusquam praedam cadere, quos nostra visa est sententia liberare. pari modo contra incivilium impetus Candacis tibi tuitionem sub aequabili defensione praestamus, ut nec legibus te subtrahat nec iterum contra iura publica laborare permittat.

[5] But if anyone of the calumniators has generated damages for you, and if, as you assert, it shall have been established that money was extorted from Agnellus, your surety, by the vicarius or his office, let him, when summoned by our order, restore, according to the laws, the things taken away. For we do not wish those whom our sentence has seemed fit to set free to fall into anyone’s prey. In like manner, against the uncivil assaults of Candacis, we afford you protection under an even-handed defense, so that it may neither withdraw you from the laws nor permit you again to labor against the public rights.

XXXVIII. BOIONI V. S. THEODERICUS REX.

38. THEODERIC THE KING TO BOIO, A SPECTABLE MAN.

[1] Non est beneficium quod praestatur invitis: nec cuiquam utile videtur, quod adversa voluntate conceditur. unde spectabilitas tua VViliarit adulescentis nepotis tui cognoscat nos querelis gravibus expetitos, quod res patris eius non meliorandi causa, sed deteriorandi voto detineas. quapropter quicquid ex iure memorato te retentare cognoscis, sine aliqua dilatione restitue, ut res parentum propria voluntate disponat, quia et nobis congrua videtur esse persona, qui assumpta domini libertate proficiat.

[1] A benefit is not what is furnished to the unwilling: nor does that seem useful to anyone, which is granted against an adverse will. Wherefore let your Spectability learn that we have been appealed to with grave complaints on behalf of VViliarit, your adolescent grandson, that you detain his father’s property not for the cause of bettering, but with the intent of making it worse. Wherefore whatever you recognize yourself to be withholding under the aforesaid right, restore without any delay, so that he may dispose of his parents’ goods by his own will, for he also seems to us to be a suitable person, who, with the liberty of a master assumed, may make progress.

[2] Pullos suos audaces aquilae tamdiu procurato cibo nutriunt, donec paulatim a molli pluma recedentes adulta aetate pennescant: quibus ut constiterit firmus volatus, novellos ungues in praedam teneram consuescunt: nec indigent alieno labore vivere, quos captio potest propria satiare. sic iuvenes nostri, qui ad exercitum probantur idonei, indignum est ut ad vitam suam disponendam dicantur infirmi et putentur domum suam non regere, qui creduntur bella posse tractare. Gothis aetatem legitimam virtus facit et qui valet hostem confodere, ab omni se iam debet vitio vindicare.

[2] The bold eagles nourish their own chicks with procured food for so long, until gradually, retreating from soft down, they grow feathers at adult age: when a steady flight has been established for them, they accustom their new little talons to tender prey: nor do they need to live by another’s labor, those whom their own capture can satiate. Thus our youths, who are approved as fit for the army, it is unworthy that they should be called weak for arranging their own life and be thought not to rule their own house, who are believed to be able to handle wars. Among the Goths, valor makes the legitimate age, and he who is strong to pierce the enemy ought now to vindicate himself from every vice.

XXXVIIII. FESTO V. I. PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX.

39. THEODERIC THE KING TO FESTUS, AN ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, PATRICIAN.

[1] Rationabiles petitiones supplicum libenter amplectimur, qui etiam non rogati iusta cogitamus. quid est enim dignius quod die noctuque assidua deliberatione volvamus, nisi ut rem publicam nostram sicut arma protegunt, aequitas quoque inviolata custodiat? spectabilis itaque Philagrius in Syracusana civitate consistens, palatii nostri longa observatione dilatus, reverti se ad lares proprios supplicavit, qui studiorum causa fratris filios ad Romanam exhibuit civitatem.

[1] We gladly embrace the reasonable petitions of suppliants, we who even, though not asked, think upon what is just. For what is more worthy for us to revolve with assiduous deliberation day and night, than that, just as arms protect our commonwealth, so also inviolate equity may guard it? Therefore the Spectabilis Philagrius, residing in the Syracusan city, having been delayed by a long attendance upon our palace, petitioned to return to his own household hearths, he who for the sake of studies brought his brother’s sons to the Roman city.

[2] Quos illustris magnificentia tua ex nostra continens iussione in supra dicta urbe constituat: nec illis liceat ante discedere, nisi hoc secunda iterum decernamus iussione. ita enim et illis ingenii provectus adquiritur et nostrae utilitatis ratio custoditur: quibus mora potest esse proficus, dum interdum expedit patriam neglegere, ut sapientiam quis possit adquirere. Ulixes Ithacus in laribus propriis forte latuisset, cuius sapientiam hinc maxime Homeri nobile carmen asseruit, quod multas civitates et populos circumivit, dum illi prudentiores sunt semper habiti, qui multorum hominum conversationibus probantur eruditi.

[2] Whom your illustrious magnificence, keeping to our injunction, should station in the aforesaid city: nor let it be permitted to them to depart before, unless we should determine this again by a second injunction. For thus both an advancement of talent is acquired for them and the consideration of our utility is safeguarded: for whom delay can be profitable, since sometimes it is expedient to neglect one’s fatherland, that one may be able to acquire wisdom. Odysseus the Ithacan would perhaps have lain hidden in his own home, whose wisdom the noble song of Homer has most especially asserted from this, that he went around many cities and peoples, since those are always held more prudent who are proved erudite by the conversations of many men.

nature siquidem humana sicut duris laboribus instruitur, ita per otia torpentia fatuatur.

for indeed human nature, just as it is instructed by hard labors, so through torpid leisure it becomes fatuous.

XL. OSUIN V. I. COMITI THEODERICUS REX.

40. THEODERIC THE KING TO OSUIN, A MOST DISTINGUISHED MAN, COUNT.

[1] Ordinatio nostra per moram non debet impediri, ne, quod salubriter constat esse dispositum, per tarditatis vitium incurrat obstaculum. et ideo ante distribuenda sunt arma quam possit flagitare necessitas, ut, cum tempus exegerit, paratiores ad imperata sufficient. ars enim bellandi, si non praeluditur, cum fuerit necessaria, non habetur.

[1] Our ordinance ought not to be impeded by delay, lest that which is acknowledged to have been salutarily disposed incur an obstacle through the fault of tardity. And therefore arms must be distributed before necessity can demand them, so that, when the time requires, they will more readily suffice for the things commanded. For the art of war, if it is not preluded, when it has become necessary, is not had.

proinde illustris sublimitas tua Salonitanis militibus, ut cuique se expediendi facultas obtulerit, pro nostra iussione arma necessaria procurabit, quia fida rei publicae salus est defensor armatus. discat miles in otio, quod perficere possit in bello. animos subito ad arma non erigunt nisi qui se ad ipsa idoneos praemissa exercitatione confidunt.

Accordingly, your Illustrious Sublimity will procure for the Salonitan soldiers, as the opportunity of equipping each one presents itself, the necessary arms in accordance with our injunction, since an armed defender is the trusty safeguard of the Republic. Let the soldier learn in leisure what he can accomplish in war. They do not suddenly raise their spirits to arms, save those who, with prior exercise, trust themselves to be fit for the very things.

gestiunt vituli certamina, quae impleant aetate robusta: catuli in novellis venationibus ludunt. focos ipsos comprehendere virgultis teneris inchoamus: ceterum si robora primis scintillis adhibeas, igniculum opprimis, quem fovere contendis. sic animi hominum, nisi prius leniter fuerint imbuti, ad hoc, quod tendis, idonei nequeunt reperiri.

calves are eager for contests, which may fill them out with robust age: whelps play in youthful huntings. we begin to make the very hearth-fires catch with tender twigs: but if you apply hard timbers to the first sparks, you smother the little fire, which you strive to foster. thus the minds of men, unless they have first been gently imbued, cannot be found fit for this, which you aim at.

primordia cuncta pavida sunt et aliter timiditas non tollitur, nisi cum rebus necessariis novitas abrogatur.

All beginnings are fearful, and timidity is not taken away, unless novelty is abrogated by necessary things.

XLI. AGAPITO V. I. P. U. THEODERICUS REX.

41. THEODERIC THE KING TO AGAPITUS, AN ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, PREFECT OF THE CITY.

[1] Praecipua vestri ordinis cura cautiora nos facit proferre iudicia et admittendos reverendo coetui examinare cogit sollicitius honor senatus, quem non solum numero volumus augeri civium, sed ornari maxime luce meritorum. recipiat alius ordo forte mediocres: senatus respuit eximie non probatos. quapropter unde melius nobilitati collegam quaerimus quam de vena nobilium, qui se promittat abhorrere moribus, quam refugit sanguine, vilitatem?

[1] The special care of your order makes us proffer more cautious judgments and the honor of the senate, more solicitous, compels us to examine those to be admitted to the reverend assembly, which we wish not only to be augmented in the number of citizens, but to be adorned most of all with the light of merits. let another order perhaps receive the mediocre: the senate rejects the notably unapproved. wherefore whence better do we seek a colleague for the nobility than from the vein of nobles, who promises to abhor vileness in morals, as he shuns it in blood?

atque ideo illustris magnificentia tua Fausto adulto, filio. illustris Fausti, decernat attribui, quae circa referendos curiae priscus ordo dictavit. hoc enim praecipientes nihil imminuimus sacro ordini de solita auctoritate iudicii, quando gloria maior est dignitatis spectare sententiam procerum post regale iudicium.

and therefore let your Illustrious Magnificence decree that to Faustus, of age, the son. of the Illustrious Faustus, there be attributed those things which the ancient order dictated concerning those to be referred to the Curia. For by enjoining this we diminish nothing from the sacred order’s accustomed authority of judgment, since the greater glory of dignity is to regard the sentence of the nobles after the royal judgment.

ornatus enim ipsorum est, si, quae solent illi deligere, nos iubemus et si, quod ab illis cottidie petitur, nos magnopere postulemur.

for it is their ornament, if we order the things which they are accustomed to select, and if we ourselves are greatly petitioned for that which is daily petitioned from them.

XLII. ARTEMIDORO V. I. P. U. THEODERICUS REX.

42. THEODERIC THE KING TO ARTEMIDORUS, A MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, PREFECT OF THE CITY.

[1] Remunaratio meritorum iustum dominantis prodit imperium, apud quem perire nescit, quod quempiam laborasse contigerit. nam si inopinata tribuimus, quemadmodum negare possumus quae debemus? in tutum apud nos reponit omnis devotio quod meretur et duplicem fructum metit, qui nobis se in aliquo paruisse cognoscit.

[1] The remuneration of merits brings to light the just dominion of the ruler, with whom that which it has befallen someone to have toiled does not know how to perish. For if we bestow unlooked-for things, how can we deny those which we owe? Every devotion lays up in safety with us what it merits, and he who recognizes that he has in some respect obeyed us reaps a double fruit.

[2] Olim quidem a nobis quod esset dignitate pretiosius habere meruisti, ut regio lateri dignus adhaereres. differri te pertulit noster affectus: apud amantem provectus tui causam tardius impetrasti, ut post sacrae amicitiae genium ad honores ornatior pervenires. cuncta siquidem, unde famam captat humanitas, in te congeniata sederunt, patria, genus, instituta praeclara.

[2] Once indeed you merited from us to have what was more precious in dignity, that you might, as one worthy, adhere to the royal side. Our affection bore that you be deferred: with one who loves, you obtained the cause of your advancement more slowly, so that, after the genius of sacred friendship, you might arrive more adorned to honors. For all the things whence humanity captures fame have sat in you as if born together—country, lineage, illustrious institutes.

quorum si unum nobilitatem complet, in te collecta plus facient, qui non minus genitalis soli fortuna resplendes quam gloria stemmatis et virtutis ornaris.

of which, if one alone completes nobility, gathered in you will accomplish more, you who shine forth no less by the fortune of your natal soil than you are adorned by the glory of the stemma and of virtue.

[3] Hinc est quod nunc te per indictionem feliciter tertiam ad praefecturae urbanae culmen erigimus, tribuentes tibi in ea civitate fasces, ubi perpetui sunt honores. quod nos, qui munera nostra verecundius aestimamus, certe fatebimur, multum te meruisse de nostro iudicio, ut illi coetui praesidere possis, quem reverendum humano generi esse cognoscis.

[3] Hence it is that we now, under the happily Third Indiction, raise you to the summit of the Urban Prefecture, granting to you the fasces in that city where honors are perpetual. As for us, who assess our gifts more modestly, we will surely confess that you have earned much in our judgment, so that you may preside over that congregation which you recognize to be venerable to the human race.

[4] Numquid hoc est palatia regere et domos proprias ordinare? plerumque honor ex commendatis adquiritur nec tale est cellam vinariam tuendam suscipere, quale pretiosa diademata custodire. illa, quae potiora credimus, ad conservandum melioribus damus et in quibus sustinere damna non patimur, fidelioribus profecto mentibus applicamus.

[4] Is this what it is to rule palaces and to order one’s own houses? Often honor is acquired from things commended, nor is it the same to undertake a wine‑cellar to be guarded as to guard precious diadems. Those things which we believe to be weightier, for conserving we give to better men, and those in which we do not allow losses to be sustained, we assuredly apply to more faithful minds.

Roma si habet parem, aestima nos et aliis similia credidisse: si vero singulare bonum est, iudicem te praecipuae rei facimus, quam augere semper optamus.

If Rome has a peer, consider us also to have believed similar things of others: if indeed it is a singular good, we make you the judge of a preeminent matter, which we always desire to augment.

XLIII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX.

43. THEODERIC THE KING TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[1] Scitis, patres conscripti, vestrum esse genium culmina dignitatum: scitis vobis proficere, quod nobis contigerit in fascium honore praestare. quicquid enim ab unoquoque suscipitur, senatus est, qui meretur. quid enim de vobis aestimemus, agnoscitis, quando viris longo labore compertis hoc certe in praemium damus, ut vestri corporis mereantur esse participes.

[1] You know, Conscript Fathers, that the genius of the summits of dignities is yours: you know that what has befallen us to excel in the honor of the fasces profits you. For whatever is undertaken by each individual, it is the senate that merits it. For you recognize what we judge concerning you, since to men proved by long toil we give this surely as a reward, that they may merit to be participants of your body.

[2] Hic est enim vir, qui genitalis soli relicta dulcedine nobis maluit inhaerere, et licet esset clarus in patria, nostram tamen elegit subire fortunam. superans gratiae magnitudine vim naturae, qui principe Zenone non tam benivolo quam affine gaudebat. et quid illa re publica gratia non potuit obtinere parentis, quae sic facillime favet extraneis?

[2] For this is the man who, the sweetness of his native soil left behind, preferred to adhere to us, and although he was illustrious in his fatherland, nevertheless chose to undergo our fortune. surpassing by the magnitude of his grace the force of nature, he who rejoiced in the emperor Zeno not so much as a benevolent man as an affine (in-law). and what could the favor of that republic not obtain from a kinsman, which so very easily shows favor to outsiders?

sed haec omnia nimius despexit affectus, ut nos ipsi, pro quibus haec fecisse cognoscitur, merito stupere videamur in unius gratia tot desiderabilia fuisse contempta.

but an excessive affection despised all these things, so that we ourselves, on whose behalf he is known to have done these things, seem deservedly to be astonished that for the sake of one so many desirable things were contemned.

[3] Qui super hanc eximiam fidem solacia nobis suae confabulationis adiecit, ut asperas non numquam rei publicae curas, quas emergentium rerum necessitate suscipimus, sermonis suavitate deliniret. blandus alloquio, supplicantium fidelis patronus, accusare nesciens, commendare praesumens. qui tanta se animi puritate clarificavit, ut cum apud nos mereretur aulicas dignitates, spectaculorum ordinationem laetissimam sibi militiam vindicaret, quatenus sub specie voluptatis libere videretur velle servire, a laboribus quidem temperans, sed in nulla se nobis parte dissocians.

[3] Who, over and above this eximious faith, added for us the solaces of his confabulation, so that he might soothe, with the suavity of discourse, the sometimes harsh cares of the republic, which we undertake by the necessity of emergent affairs, with the sweetness of speech. bland in address, a faithful patron of suppliants, not knowing how to accuse, presuming to commend. who so glorified himself by purity of mind, that, while he was earning with us aulic dignities, he claimed the most joyous ordination of spectacles as his militia, to the end that under the guise of pleasure he might seem freely to wish to serve, temperate indeed from labors, but in no part dissociating himself from us.

[4] Regalem quin etiam mensam conviva geniatus ornavit, ibi se nobis studens iungere, ubi nos certum est posse gaudere. sed quid ultra de eius moribus est dicendum, cui ad perfectam probationem sufficit, quod amorem nostrum iugiter habere promeruit? non est maius meritum quam gratiam invenisse regnantum: nam quibus fas est de cunctis optimos quaerere, videntur semper meritos elegisse.

[4] Nay even the royal table he adorned as a genial, convivial guest, striving there to join himself to us, where it is certain that we are able to rejoice. But what further is to be said about his character, for whom it suffices for perfect approbation that he has earned to have our love continually? There is no greater merit than to have found the favor of the reigning: for those to whom it is right to seek from all the best seem always to have chosen the deserving.

[5] Atque ideo labores eius remuneratione pensantes Artemidoro illustri viro urbanae praefecturae fasces indulsimus. huic ergo, patres conscripti, tot ac talibus meritis praelucenti favete linguis, favete collegiis. erit quoque vestrae benivolentiae laus, ut, cum dignis caritatem impenditis, ad exemplum ceteros incitetis.

[5] And therefore, weighing his labors with remuneration, we have granted to Artemidorus, an illustrious man, the fasces of the urban prefecture. To him therefore, Conscript Fathers, shining with so many and such merits, favor with your tongues, favor with the colleges. There will also be the praise of your benevolence, that, when you expend charity upon the worthy, you incite the others to the example.

XLIIII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX.

44. THEODERIC THE KING TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[1] Caritatem vestri praecipuam nos habere ex ipsa cura potestis agnoscere, pro quibus ita videmur esse solliciti, ut nihil ammonitionis patiamur omitti. cautela siquidem prodit affectum et quae studiosius diligimus, maiori gratia custodimus.

[1] You can recognize that we have a special charity for you from the care itself, for whom we seem to be so solicitous that we allow nothing of admonition to be omitted. caution indeed brings forth the affection, and the things which we love more studiously, we guard with greater favor we guard.

[2] Hinc est quod viro illustri Artemidoro, diu nostris obsequiis erudito, praefecturae urbanae dedimus fasces regendos, ut, quia quorundam illicitis seditionibus civilitas turbabatur, haberent et innoxii purissimum testem et errantes iustissimum paterentur ultorem. quod nos, qui delectamur insontibus, in cunctorum notitiam duximus perferendum, ne quis inopinata districtione solite praesumat excedere.

[2] Hence it is that to the illustrious man Artemidorus, long instructed by our services, we have entrusted the fasces of the Urban Prefecture to be directed, so that, because the civic order was being disturbed by the illicit seditions of certain persons, both the innocents might have a most pure witness and the erring might suffer the most just avenger. which we, who take delight in the innocent, have judged to be carried into the knowledge of all, lest anyone, through unlooked-for strictness, presume to overstep as is their wont.

[3] Quocirca talia nos praefato viro delegasse noveritis, ut, si quispiam incivilis extiterit, districtionem ilico nostrae iussionis incurrat. et quamquam praefecturae urbanae hanc potestatem dederint leges, nos tamen specialiter delegavimus, ut confidentius fieret, quod duplex permisisset auctoritas.

[3] Wherefore know that we have delegated such matters to the aforesaid man, that, if anyone should prove uncivil, he may incur immediately the strictness of our command. And although the laws have given this power to the Urban Prefecture, we nevertheless have specially delegated it, so that more confidently might be done what a double authority had permitted.

[4] Audebit ergo seditiosos et a disciplina publica deviantes nostra auctoritate percellere. quiescat concertantium fervor animorum. bona pacis, quae deo propitio nostro labore meruistis, cur seditionibus foedantur illicitis?

[4] Therefore he will dare to strike down the seditious and those deviating from public discipline by our authority. let the fervor of the disputants’ minds be quieted. the goods of peace, which, with God propitious, by our labor you have merited, why are they defiled by illicit seditions?

numquam maiori damno periclitati sunt mores, quam cum gravitas Romana culpatur. reparet itaque honesta civitas moderationem suam. pudor est degenerasse prioribus, eo praesertim tempore, cum talem principem cognoscitis vos habere, qui praemia bene meritis, ultionem tribuat inquietis.

never have morals been endangered with greater damage than when Roman gravitas is blamed. therefore let the honorable city repair its moderation. it is a shame to have degenerated from predecessors, especially at that time, when you recognize that you have such a prince, who grants rewards to the well-deserving, retribution to the unquiet.

XLV. BOETHIO V. I. PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX.

45. THEODERIC THE KING TO BOETHIUS, AN ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, PATRICIAN.

[1] Spernenda non sunt quae a vicinis regibus praesumptionis gratia postulantur, dum plerumque res parvae plus praevalent praestare quam magnae possunt optinere divitiae. frequenter enim quod arma explere nequeunt, oblectamenta suavitatis imponunt. sit ergo pro re publica et cum ludere videmur.

[1] The things that are requested by neighboring kings for the sake of presumption are not to be spurned, since very often small matters prevail to bestow more than great riches are able to obtain. For frequently what arms are unable to accomplish, the delights of suavity impose. Let it, therefore, be for the commonwealth even when we seem to play.

nam ideo voluptuosa quaerimus, ut per ipsa seria compleamus.

for this reason we seek the voluptuous things, in order that through these very things we may complete the serious matters.

[2] Burgundionum itaque dominus a nobis magnopere postulavit, ut horologium, quod aquis sub modulo fluentibus temperatur et quod solis immensi comprehensa illuminatione distinguitur, cum magistris rerum ei transmittere deberemus: quatenus impetratis delectationibus perfruendo, quod nobis cottidianum, illis videatur esse miraculum. merito siquidem respicere cupiunt, quod legatorum suorum relationibus obstupescunt.

[2] Accordingly the lord of the Burgundians earnestly requested from us that we should transmit to him a horologe which is regulated by waters flowing under a measured modulus, and one which is distinguished by the comprehended illumination of the immense sun, together with masters of the crafts: so that, by enjoying the delectations thus obtained, what is everyday for us may seem to them a miracle. Rightly indeed they desire to look upon that at whose reports of their envoys they are astonished.

[3] Hoc te multa eruditione saginatum ita nosse didicimus, ut artes, quas exercent vulgariter nescientes, in ipso disciplinarum fonte potaveris. sic enim Atheniensium scholas longe positus introisti, sic palliatorum choris miscuisti togam, ut Graecorum dogmata doctrinam feceris esse Romanam. didicisti enim, qua profunditate cum suis partibus speculativa cogitetur, qua ratione activa cum sua divisione discatur: deducens ad Romuleos senatores quicquid Cecropidae mundo fecerant singulare.

[3] We have learned that you, crammed with much erudition, know this to such a degree, that the arts which the unknowing commonly practice you have drunk in at the very fountain of disciplines. For thus, though far distant, you have entered the schools of the Athenians; thus you have mingled the toga with the choruses of the pallium-clad, so that you have made the dogmas of the Greeks to be Roman doctrine. For you have learned with what profundity the Speculative, with its parts, is contemplated, by what rationale the Active, with its division, is learned: leading down to the Romulean senators whatever the Cecropidae had made singular for the world.

[4] Translationibus enim tuis Pythagoras musicus, Ptolemaeus astronomus leguntur Itali: Nicomachus arithmeticus, geometricus Euclides audiuntur Ausonii: Plato theologus, Aristoteles logicus Quirinali voce disceptant: mechanicum etiam Archimedem Latialem Siculis reddidisti. et quascumque disciplinas vel artes facunda Graecia per singulos viros edidit, te uno auctore patrio sermone Roma suscepit. quos tanta verborum luculentia reddidisti claros, tanta linguae proprietate conspicuos, ut potuissent et illi opus tuum praeferre, si utrumque didicissent.

[4] For by your translations Pythagoras the musician, Ptolemy the astronomer are read by Italians: Nicomachus the arithmetician, Euclid the geometrician are heard by Ausonians: Plato the theologian, Aristotle the logician debate with a Quirinal voice: you have even rendered Archimedes the mechanician Latial to the Sicilians. And whatever disciplines or arts eloquent Greece brought forth through individual men, Rome has received in the fatherland tongue with you alone as author. Those whom you have rendered renowned by so great a luculence of words, so conspicuous by so great a propriety of the tongue, that they too could have preferred your work, if they had learned both.

[5] Tu artem praedictam ex disciplinis nobilibus notam per quadrifarias mathesis ianuas introisti. tu illam in naturae penetralibus considentem, auctorum libris invitantibus, cordis lumine cognovisti, cui ardua nosse usus, miracula monstrare propositum est. molitur ostendere, quod obstupescant homines evenisse miroque modo naturis conversis facti detrahit fidem, cum ostentet et oculis visionem.

[5] You entered the aforesaid art known among the noble disciplines through the quadrifarious doors of mathesis. you recognized it, seated in the inner penetralia of nature, the books of the authors inviting, by the light of the heart, whose practice is to know arduous things, whose purpose is to display miracles. it labors to show what men are astonished has come to pass, and by a wondrous manner with natures turned about, it detracts credence from the deed, while it even displays a vision to the eyes.

facit aquas ex imo surgentes praecipites cadere, ignem ponderibus currere, organa extraneis vocibus insonare, et peregrinis flatibus calamos complet, ut minuta possint arte cantare.

it makes waters rising from the depths fall headlong, makes fire run by weights, makes organs resound with extraneous voices, and fills the reeds with peregrine breaths, so that by a minute art they are able to sing.

[6] Videmus per eam defensiones iam nutantium civitatum subito tali firmitate consurgere, ut machinamentorum auxiliis superior reddatur, qui desperatus viribus invenitur. madentes fabricae in aqua marina siccantur: dura cum fuerint, ingeniosa dispositione solvuntur. metalla mugiunt, Diomedes in aere gravius bucinat, aeneus anguis insibilat, aves simulatae fritinniunt et quae vocem propriam nesciunt habere, dulcedinem probantur emittere cantilenae.

[6] We see through it the defenses of already tottering cities suddenly rise with such firmness, that, by the assistance of engines, he who is found despairing in strength is rendered superior. dripping works in sea water are dried: when they have become hard, they are loosened by an ingenious disposition. metals bellow, Diomedes in bronze blares the trumpet more heavily, a brazen serpent hisses, simulated birds twitter, and those that do not know how to have a voice of their own are proved to emit the sweetness of a little song.

[7] Parva de illa referimus, cui caelum imitari fas est. haec fecit secundum solem in Archimedis sphaera decurrere: haec alterum zodiacum circulum humano consilio fabricavit: haec lunam defectu suo reparabilem artis illuminatione monstravit parvamque machinam gravidam mundo, caelum gestabile, compendium rerum, speculum naturae ad speciem aetheris indeprehensibili mobilitate volutavit. sic astra, quorum licet cursum sciamus, fallentibus tamen oculis prodire non cernimus: stans quidam in illis transitus est et quae velociter currere vera ratione cognoscis, se movere non respicis.

[7] We relate small things about that by which it is permitted to imitate heaven. this made, in Archimedes’ sphere, a course run according to the sun: this fashioned another zodiacal circle by human counsel: this showed the moon, repairable in its own defect, by the illumination of art, and rolled a small machine pregnant with the world, a carryable heaven, a compendium of things, a mirror of nature, with an inapprehensible mobility to the appearance of the ether. thus the stars, whose course, although we know it, nevertheless we do not discern to come forth to deceiving eyes: there is in them a certain standing transit, and those which you know by true reason to run swiftly, you do not regard as moving.

[8] Quale est hoc homini etiam facere, quod vel intellexisse potest esse mirabile? quare cum vos ornet talium rerum praedicanda notitia, horologia nobis publicis expensis sine vestro dispendio destinate. primum sit, ubi stilus diei index per umbram exiguam horas consuevit ostendere.

[8] What kind of thing is it even for a man to do this, which even to have understood can be marvelous? Therefore, since the knowledge of such things to be proclaimed adorns you, assign to us timepieces at public expense without your expenditure. First, let there be one where the stylus, the index of the day, is accustomed to show the hours by a slight shadow.

radius itaque immobilis et parvus, peragens quod tam miranda solis magnitudo discurrit, et fugam solis aequiperat, quod motum semper ignorat.

the radius therefore, motionless and small, accomplishing that which the so-wondrous magnitude of the sun runs through, and it matches the flight of the sun, although it always is ignorant of motion.

[9] Inviderent talibus, si astra sentirent, et meatum suum fortasse deflecterent, ne tali ludibrio subiacerent. ubi est illud horarum de lumine venientium singulare miraculum, si has et umbra demonstrat? ubi praedicabilis indefecta rotatio, si hoc et metalla peragunt, quae situ perpetuo continentur?

[9] They would envy such things, if the stars perceived, and would perhaps deflect their course, lest they be subject to such mockery. where is that singular miracle of the hours coming from the light, if even a shadow shows these? where is the praiseworthy unfailing rotation, if even metals accomplish this, which are contained in a perpetual position?

o artis inaestimabilis virtus, quae dum se dicit ludere, naturae praevalet secreta vulgare!

o virtue of inestimable art, which, while it says it is playing, prevails to divulge the secrets of nature!

[10] Secundum sit, ubi praeter solis radios hora dinoscitur, noctes in partes dividens: quod ut nihil deberet astris, rationem caeli ad aquarum potius fluenta convertit, quarum motibus ostendit, quod caelo volvitur et audaci praesumptione concepta ars elementia confert, quod originis condicio denegavit. universae disciplinae, cunctus prudentium labor naturae potentiam, ut tantum possint, nosse perquirunt: mechanisma solum est, quod illam ex contrariis appetit imitari et, si fas est dicere, in quibusdam etiam nititur velle superare. haec enim fecisse dinoscitur Daedalum volare: haec ferreum Cupidinem in Dianae templo sine aliqua illigatione pendere: haec hodie facit muta cantare, insensata vivere, immobilia moveri.

[10] Let there be a second, where apart from the sun’s rays the hour is discerned, dividing the nights into parts: so that it should owe nothing to the stars, it turns the rationale of the sky rather to the streams of waters, by whose motions it shows what is revolved in the sky, and by an audacious presumption conceived, art brings together the elements, which the condition of origin denied. All disciplines, the entire labor of the prudent, seek to learn to know nature’s potency, that they may be able so far: the mechanism alone is that which strives to imitate it out of contraries and, if it be lawful to say, even in some things endeavors to surpass it. This indeed is known to have made Daedalus fly: this to make an iron Cupid hang in the temple of Diana without any fastening: this today makes mute things sing, senseless things live, immovable things move.

[11] Mechanicus, si fas est dicere, paene socius est naturae, occulta reserans, manifesta convertens, miraculis ludens, ita pulchre simulans, ut quod compositum non ambigitur, veritas aestimetur. haec quia te studiosius legisse cognovimus, praedicta nobis horologia quantocius transmittere maturabis, ut te notum in illa mundi parte facias, ubi aliter pervenire non poteras.

[11] The mechanic, if it be lawful to say, is almost a partner of nature, unlocking hidden things, transforming the manifest, playing with miracles, so beautifully simulating that what is constructed, though not in doubt, is esteemed as truth. Since we have learned that you have read these matters most studiously, you will hasten to transmit to us the aforesaid horologia as quickly as possible, so that you may make yourself known in that part of the world, where otherwise you could not have arrived.

[12] Agnoscant per te exterae gentes tales nos habere nobiles, quales leguntur auctores. quotiens non sunt credituri quae viderint? quotiens hanc veritatem lusoria somnia putabunt?

[12] Let foreign nations through you recognize that we have nobles such as the authors are read to have been. How often will they not be willing to credit what they have seen? How often will they consider this truth sportive dreams?

et quando fuerint ab stupore conversi, non audebunt se aequales nobis dicere, apud quos sciunt sapientes talia cogitasse.

and when they have been turned from stupor, they will not dare to call themselves equals to us, among whom they know that sages have cogitated such things.

XLVI. GUNDIBADO REGI BURGUNDIONUM THEODERICUS REX.

46. THEODERIC THE KING TO GUNDIBAD, KING OF THE BURGUNDIANS.

[1] Amplectenda sunt munera quae probantur omnimodis expetita: quando non est abiectum, quod potest explere desiderium. nam per quaslibet pretiosas res ad illud tantum tenditur, ut cupientis animus expleatur. quapropter salutantes gratia consueta per harum portitores illum et illum oblectamenta prudentiae vestrae, horologia cum suis dispositoribus credidimus destinanda: unum, in quo humana sollertia videtur colligi, quod totius caeli noscitur spatia pervagari: aliud, ubi solis meatus sine sole cognoscitur et aquis guttantibus horarum spatia terminantur.

[1] The gifts are to be embraced which are approved as in every way sought: since that is not to be cast aside which can fulfill desire. For through whatever precious things one aims only at this, that the mind of the one who longs may be fulfilled. Wherefore, greeting with the customary grace, through the bearers of these we have thought that this and that amusements of your prudence—timepieces with their regulators—are to be sent: one, in which human cleverness seems to be gathered, which is known to roam the spaces of the whole heaven: another, where the course of the sun is known without the sun, and by dripping waters the spans of the hours are determined.

[2] Habetote in vestra patria, quod aliquando vidistis in civitate Romana. dignum est, ut bonis nostris vestra gratia perfruatur, quae nobis etiam affinitate coniungitur. discat sub vobis Burgundia res subtilissimas inspicere et antiquorum inventa laudare: per vos propositum gentile deponit et dum prudentiam regis sui respicit, iure facta sapientium concupiscit.

[2] Have in your own fatherland, what you once saw in the Roman city. It is worthy, that your favor may fully enjoy our goods, which is joined to us also by affinity. Let Burgundy under you learn to inspect most subtle things and to praise the inventions of the ancients: through you it lays aside the gentile purpose and, while it regards the prudence of its king, it rightly longs for the deeds of the wise.

distinguat spatia diei actibus suis, horarum aptissime momenta constituat.

let him distinguish the spans of the day by his own activities, let him most fittingly constitute the moments of the hours.

[3] Ordo vitae confusus agitur, si talis discretio sub veritate nescitur. beluarum quippe ritus est ex ventris esurie horas sentire et non habere certum, quod constat humanis usibus contributum.

[3] The order of life is conducted in confusion, if such discretion under truth is unknown. For it is the rite of beasts to sense the hours from the belly’s esurience, and not to have as certain that which is known to be contributed to human uses.