Chapter 38

[494]'Ita ut in alienandis rusticis vel urbanis praediis constitutionum servitus auctoritas.'

[495]'Sajus' in the original, and so in the next place where it occurs.

[496]Formula de Competitoribus is the somewhat obscure title of this document, which might perhaps be compared to our Commons' Enclosure Acts.

[497]'Securus etiam ad posteros transmissurus, quod proprio fuerit labore compositum.'

[498]'Decernimus ut, si ita est, tot solidos tributario supradictae possessionis ... ita faciatis de vasariis publicis diligenter abradi ut hujus rei duplarum vestigium non debeat inveniri.' Cf. what is said by Evagrius (iii. 39) of the proceedings of Anastasius at the time of the abolition of the Chrysargyron.

[499]'Ne dilationem providam in genus extraneum non haberent.'

[500]'Quapropter provide vobis permisit antiquitas de illâ causa decernere, cui est utile Curiam custodire. A quibus enim munia petuerunt sustineri, si civitatum nervi passim videantur abscidi.'

[501]The text is evidently corrupt here: 'Genitor meus desiderio quoque concordiae factus est per arma filius, quia unis nobis pene videbatur aequaevus.' The suggested reading, 'quamvis vobis,' does not entirely remove the difficulty.

[502]That is, of course, not from Justin himself but from his predecessors.

[503]'Ut amicitiam nobis illis pactis, illis conditionibus concedatis, quas cum divae memoriae domino avo nostro inclytos decessores vestros constat habuisse.'

[504]'Quoniam quaevis claritas generis Amalis cedit.'

[505]'Justitiam nos et aequabilem clementiam, quae populos nutrit, juvante domino, custodire etGothis Romanisque apud nos jus esse commune, nec aliud inter vos esse divisum, nisi quod illi labores bellicos pro communi utilitate subeunt, vos autem civitatis Romanae habitatio quieta multiplicat.' I do not consider that the words in Italics, taken with the context, are irreconcilable with Dahn's view that the Goths were still, to a certain extent, under Gothic law.

[506]'Amalorum regalem prosapiem, Baltheum germen.' I know not how Athalaric had any blood of the Balths in his veins. The other reading, 'blatteum,' gives the same idea as the following clause, 'infantiam purpuratam.'

[507]'Inter tam prolixum ordinem Regum susceperunt semper augmenta.' Perhaps we should translate 'by such a long line of (Amal) kings obtained advancement for their nation;' but the meaning is not very clear.

[508]Baronius says (vii. 121): 'Cujusnam Ecclesiae Antistes fuerit Victorinus ignoratur.' From the tone of the letter one may conjecture that Victorinus was a Bishop in Gaul.

[509]Probably Tulum had gone on some embassy to Constantinople.

[510]'Hac igitur honoris remuneratione contentus, pro exteris partibus indefessa devotione laboravit: et praestare com suis parentibus principi dignabatur obsequium, qui tantorum regum fuerat stirpe procreatus.' This sentence is full of difficulties. What can he mean by the labour 'pro exteris partibus?' Who is the 'Princeps' whom Tulum deigns to serve: the Eastern Emperor or Theodoric? Above all, who is 'tantorum regum stirpe procreatus?' I think the turn of the sentence requires that it should be Tulum; but Dahn has evidently not so understood it, for in his Könige der Germanen (iii. 29, 30) he makes Tulum a conspicuous example of a man not of noble birth raised to high dignity, and says that the two long letters about him in the Variae contain no allusion to illustrious descent.

[511]'Exstat gentis Gothicae hujus probitatis exemplum: Gensemundus ille toto orbe cantabilis, solum armis filius factus, tanta se Amalis devotione conjunxit ut haeredibus eorum curiosum exhibuerit famulatum, quamvis ipse peteretur ad regnum.' Dahn (ii. 61 and iii. 309) and Köpke (p. 142) refer this mysterious affair of Gensemund's renunciation to the interval after the death of Thorismund (a.d.416). But this is mere conjecture. See Italy and her Invaders iii. 8-10.

[512]'Primum, quod inter nationes eximium est, Gothorum nobilissima stirpe gloriatur.'

[513]'Statim rudes annos ad sacri cubiculi secreta portavit.'

[514]We do not hear from the other authorities of Huns being engaged in this war. In 505 Mundo the Hun was in alliance with Theodoric against the Empire.

[515]'Tales mittunt nostra cunabula bellatores: sic paratae sunt manus, ubi exercetur animus.'

[516]'Et ministrando consilium regebat ipse Rectorem.'

[517]'Arelate est civitas supra undas Rhodani constituta, quae in Orientis prospectum tabulatum pontem per nuncupati fluminis dorsa transmittit.'

[518]'Discrimina dum feliciter cedunt, suavissimae memoriae sensum relinquunt.' Compare Claudian (De Bella Getico 207-8):'An potius meminisse juvat semperque vicissimGaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores.'

[518]'Discrimina dum feliciter cedunt, suavissimae memoriae sensum relinquunt.' Compare Claudian (De Bella Getico 207-8):

'An potius meminisse juvat semperque vicissimGaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores.'

[519]'Favete nunc auspiciis candidati, et viris nostris libertatis atria reserate.'

[520]'Ut aliquid studiose exquisitum dicere videamur.'

[521]'Juvat repetere pomposam legationem.'

[522]'Gratiam quoque loci alterius invenisti. Dictationibus enim probaris adhibitus, cum sit offensionibus alter expulsus: et ita suspensum honorem tuum sustinebat ingenium, ut Palatio non sineres decesse Judicem, cujus ad tempus abrogatam cognovimus dignitatem.' I do not think we can say from this what the office temporarily filled by Arator was.

[523]'Sume dicationem, si bonus fuero, pro Republica et me: si malus, pro Republica in me.'

[524]'Quando et moderna quae loquimur.' (Notice againmoderna.)

[525]So the contemporary poet Maximian, speaking of his own past successes as an orator, and a good-looking one, says:'Nec minor his aderat sublimis gratia formaeQuae vel si decent cetera, muta placet.'Elegiae i. 17-18.

[525]So the contemporary poet Maximian, speaking of his own past successes as an orator, and a good-looking one, says:

'Nec minor his aderat sublimis gratia formaeQuae vel si decent cetera, muta placet.'Elegiae i. 17-18.

[526]'Qui sapienti deliberatione pertractans quamvis in aliena religione.'

[527]The words of Cassiodorus are, 'crinea sunt ista certamina.' No one seems able to suggest a meaning forcrinea. The editors propose to readcivica, which however is very flat, and not exactly in Cassiodorus' manner. I suspect some recondite classical allusion, which has been missed by the transcribers, has led to the corruption of the text.

[528]'Pater his fascibus praefuit sed et frater eadem resplenduit claritate.'

[529]'Nam cum ... auspicia nostra Liguribus felix portitor nuntiasti, et sapientiae tuae allocutione firmasti, in erroremquem de occasu conceperant, ortum nostri imperii in gaudia commutabant.' Does this obscure passage indicate some revolutionary movements in Liguria after the death of Theodoric, perhaps fomented by the Frankish neighbours of Italy?

[530]'Quando sub ingrato successore palatinum officium praeconia ejus tacere non potuit.'

[531]'Adjectis saeculi vitiis, ditatus claris honoribus.' The text is evidently corrupt. 'Abjectis' seems to be required; but some MSS. instead of 'vitiis' read 'Odovacris.' In any case Odovacar's government is evidently alluded to. Cf. the words used of the same man in the letter announcing the elevation of his other son, Cyprian (v. 41): 'Nam pater huic, sicut meministis, Opilio fuit, vir quidemabjectis temporibusad excubias tamen Palatinas electus.'

[532]'His temporibus habitus est eximius, cum princeps non esset erectus.'

[533]This is probably the Basilius who was concerned in the accusation of Boethius (Phil. Cons. I. iv.); possibly the Consul of 541, who fled to Constantinople when Totila took Rome in 546 (Procop. De Bello Gotthico iii. 20, and Anastasius Lib. Pontif. apud Murator. iii. 132); and perhaps the Basilius whom we find in trouble in Variarumiv. 22,23: scarcely the Basilius of Variarumii. 10,11.

[534]'Gentiles victu (?), Romanos sibi judiciis obligabat.'

[535]'Dudum te forensibus negociis insudantem,oculus imperialisaspexit'—an expression which goes very near to styling Theodoric Imperator.

[536]'Pater ita in Mediolanensi foro resplenduit, ut aeterno fructu e Tulliano cespite pullularet.'

[537]'Is palmarum Eugenetis linguae ubertate suffecit.' Possibly this is the Magister Officiorum of Var.i. 12, and the person to whom is addressed a letter of Ennodius (iv. 26). The form Eugenetis, instead of Eugenii, belongs to the debased Latinity of the age.

[538]In Nivellius' edition the title of this office is given asPraepositus.

[539]'Redeat ad nomen antiquum Praefectura illa Praetorii, toto orbe laudabilis.' Is it possible that there had been some attempt to change thetitleof the Praefect, which accounts for thePraeposituswhich in some MSS. we find in the heading of this letter?

[540]'Vidit te adhuc gentilis' (still under the dominion of the Gepidae) 'Danubius bellatorem: non te terruit Bulgarorum globus, qui etiam nostris erat praesumptione certaminis obstaturus. Peculiare tibi fuit et renitentes Barbaros aggredi, et conversos terrore sectari. Sic victoriam Gothorum non tam numero quam labore juvisti.'

[541]For a description of his services in this function, see Var.v. 40.

[542]This is evidently the meaning; but something seems to have dropped out of the text.

[543]'Hoc est laborum tuorum aptissimum munus: quam sic castâ sic moderatâ mente peregisti ut majora tibi deberi faceres, quamvis eam in magna praemia suscepisses.'

[544]'Relucent etiam gratia gentili, nec cessant armorum imbui fortibus institutis.Pueri stirpis Romanae nostra linguâ loquuntur; eximie indicantes exhibere se nobis futuram fidem, quorum jam videntur affectasse sermonem.... Variis linguis loquuntur egregie, maturis viris communione miscentur.'

[545]'Atque ideo illustrem magnitudinem tuam praecelso atque amplissimo viro Theodahado massas subter annexas, tot solidos pensitantes, ex patrimonio quondam magnificae foeminae matris ipsius, praecipimus reformari, ejus feliciter dominio plenissime vendicandas, cujus successionis integrum jus in ea qua praecipimus parte largimur.' According to Dahn (Könige der Germanen iv. 60-61), these lands had been given in her lifetime by Theodahad's mother to the King, and are now begged for by Theodahad. But why 'tot solidos pensitantes?' Why should Theodahad receive both land and money? There seems no authority for translating 'pensitantes' receiving. Probably the solidi thus paid to him are mesne rents received by the King and accounted for to Theodahad. On the whole affair cf. Procopius, De Bello Gotthico i. 4.

[546]'De cujus fide ac synceritate praesumimus, ut sequenti tempore reliqua supra memorati patrimonii cum omni adjecta quantitate mereatur.' This sentence is to me quite unintelligible.

[547]Cf. the formalities connected with Odovacar's deed of gift to Pierius (Marini, Pap. Diplom. 82, 83), quoted in Italy and her Invaders iii. 165.

[548]In the text, 'Sajus.'

[549]'Praesenti auctoritate moderato ordine definimus.' Dahn interprets 'moderato ordine,' 'not so absolutely as the Roman clergy desires.' Is not this to attribute rather too much force to the conventional language of Cassiodorus?

[550]'Definimus, ut si quispiam ad Romanum Clerum aliquem pertinentem, in quâlibet causâ probabili crediderit actione pulsandum, ad beatissimi Papae judicium prius conveniat audiendus. Ut aut ipse inter utrosque more suae sanctitatis agnoscat, aut causam deleget aequitatis studio terminandam: et si forte, quod credi nefas est, competens desiderium fuerit petitoris elusum, tuno ad saecularia fora jurgaturus occurrat, quando suas petitiones probaverit a supradictae sedis praesule fuisse contemptas.'

[551]'Profitemur itaque alterius quidem donum, sed nostrum esse judicium, et modernam principis mentem praevenisse tantum velocissimam largitatem.' Observe again the use of Cassiodorus' favourite wordmodernam.

[552]Tholuit, or Tholum, in some MSS., but no doubt the same as the Tulum of Letters9and10.

[553]'Ubi et si quid esset quolibet casu, qualibet inquisitione fortassis ambiguum, hujus auctoritatis nostrae judicio constat explosum.'

[554]'Florentino viro devoto Comitiaco.'

[555]'Quoticus ego Conigastum in inbecillis cujusque fortunas impetum facientem obvius excepi!'

[556]'Cum suo peculio.' If they were not slaves they could not havepeculiumin the technical sense. I therefore understand 'peculio' to be simply equivalent tocattle, a sense which is confirmed by 'Calabri peculiosi' inLetter 33.

[557]'Adjicientes ne rerum suarum repetitionibus imminerent [? imminuerent] liberis sibi conditionem ultimae servitutis imponi.' Cf. Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei v. 8, 9, for a description of similar occurrences in Gaul.

[558]'Honoratis Possessoribus.'

[559]'Antiqui operis formam.'

[560]'Quatenus antiquos cuniculos, sive subterraneos, sive qui junguntur marginibus platearum diligenter emendent.'

[561]'Coloni sunt qui agros jugiter colunt.'

[562]Cf. what is said (i. 4) as to the large present of horses made by the father of Cassiodorus to Theodoric for the use of the Gothic army.

[563]'Vivunt illic rustici epulis urbanorum, mediocres autem abundantia praepotentium.' 'Mediocres' and 'tenues' are technical words with Cassiodorus for the poor.

[564]Cassiodorus must have felt the weakness of his logic here. He patriotically praises the rural beauty of Bruttii, yet the conclusion which by main force he arrives at is, 'Leave the country and live in towns.'

[565]'Cui enim minus grata nobilium videatur occursio. Cui non affectuosum sit cum paribus miscere sermonem, forum petere, honestas artes invisere, causas proprias legibus expedire, interdum Palamediacis calculis occupari, ad balneas ire cum sociis, prandia mutuis apparatibus exhibere? Caret profecto omnibus his, qui vitam suam vult semper habere cum famulis.'

[566]'Datis fidejussoribus jam Possessores quam Curiales, sub aestimatione virium, poenâ interpositâ, promittant anni parte majore se in civitatibus manere, quas habitare delegerint.'

[567]'In Scyllatino territoris.' Transcribers, thinking of the Arethusa at Syracuse, have tried to alter this intoSiciliano; but there can be little doubt that the above reading is right. As to the situation of the Fountain of Arethusa, see Introduction,p. 72.

[568]'Spectabilitas vestra praedicto tempore, unâ cum Possessoribus atque Conductoribus diversarum massarum ad quietem convenientium ... reos inveniat,' &c.

[569]'Inter ipsa initia comprehensus fustuariae subdatur ultioni.'

[570]'Pompatus mala nota.'

[571]'Calabri peculiosi.'

[572]'Praesto sunt pueri ac puellae, diverso sexu atque aetate conspicuo, quos non facit captivitas esse sub pretio sed libertas: hos merito parentes vendunt, quoniam de ipsa famulatione proficiunt. Dubium quippe non est servos posse meliorari qui de labore agrorum ad urbana servitia transferuntur.' With almost any writer but Cassiodorus this would prove that in the Sixth Century free Italians were selling their children into actual slavery. But I doubt whether he really means more than that the children of the country people were for hire as domestic servants in the cities. If so, the scene is not unlike our own 'statute fairs' or 'hirings' in the north of England. It appears from § 94 of the Edictum Theodorici that parents could sell their children, but that the latter did not lose theirstatus ingenuus. Must they then claim it on coming of age? 'Parentes qui cogente necessitate filios suos alimentorum gratia vendiderint ingenuitati eorum non praejudicant.Homo enim liber pretio nullo aestimatur.' Cf. also § 95: 'Operas enim tantum parentes filiorum quos in potestate habuerint, locare possunt.'

[573]Marcilianum is now Sala, in the valley of the Calore (Tanager). Padula is thought by some to mark the site of Cosilinum. The Island of Leucosia, now Licosa, a few miles from Paestum, evidently does not represent the Leucothea of this letter.

[574]With reference to this event Victor Tunnunensis writes: 'Cujus (Trasamundi) uxor Amalafrida fugiens ad barbaros congressione facta Capsae juxta Heremum capitur, et in custodia privata moritur.' Procopius (De B. Vandalico i. 9) says:Και σφισι (τοις Βανδιλοις) ξυνηνεχθη Θευδεριχω τε και Γοτθοις εν Ιταλια εκ τε συμμαχων και φιλων πολεμιοι γενεσθαι την τε γαρ Αμαλαφριδαν εν φυλακη εσχον και τους Γοτθους διεφθειραν 'απαντας επενεγκοντες αυτοις νεωτεριζειν ες τε Βανδιλους και 'Ιλδεριχον. Both Victor and Procopius seem to place the conflict before the death of Theodoric; Victor saysa.d.523. Probably therefore the fighting, the capture of Amalafrida, and the death of her countrymen, took place in that year, the year of her husband's death and Hilderic's accession. Three or four years later (526 or 527), when her brother Theodoric was dead, the imprisoned princess was murdered—a grievous insult to the young Sovereign of the Goths, her great-nephew.

[575]'Praedia Curialium, unde maximae mediocribus parantur insidiae, nullus illicita emptione pervadat. Quia contractus dici non potest nisi qui de legibus venit.'

[576]'Non enim incassum vobis Curiam concessit Antiquitas, non inaniter appellavit Minorem Senatum, nervos quoque vocitans ac viscera civitatum.'

[577]Cf.viii. 23.

[578]Have we any clue to the geographical position of this farm? The only Rusticiana known to the Itineraries is in Spain.

[579]'Origo quidem nobilis, sed de flamma suscipit vim coloris, ut magis credas inde nasci, cujus similitudine videtur ornari. Sed cum auro tribuat splendidum ruborem, argento confert albissimam lucem. Ut mirum sit, unam substantiam tradere, quod rebus dissimilibus possit aptari.' Have we here a hint of 'the transmutation of metals?' Cassiodorus seems to think that it is only the furnace that makes the difference between the colours of gold and of silver.

[580]'Neque enim ob aliud Curiales leges sacratissimae ligaverunt, nisi ut cum illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae praeconia reperirent.'

[581]'Formidare delegata incipient, per quae antea timebantur.' To translate by an analogy, 'And will tremble at the rate-summonses, their signatures to which used to make other men tremble.'

[582]'Episcopis et Honoratis.' Perhaps it is from motives of delicacy that Cassiodorus has not added the name of the Province.

[583]'In necessitate siquidem penuriae pretii nulla contentio est: dum patitur quis induci ne possit aliquâ tarditate percelli.'

[584]'Sive in gradu [panis gradilis?] sive in aliis locis.'

[585]A paraphrase, confessedly anachronistic, of 'Ne quis ergo venditionem sibi impositam conqueratur, sciat libertatem in crimine non requiri.'

[586]'Curiam reparans, pauperibus ablata restituens.'

[587]'Licet primaevus venias ad honorem.'

[588]Cf.iii. 26andiv. 9. In the former letter he is called Osun.

[589]We are not told in what capacity Severinus came. Probably it was on account of Osuin's age that Severinus was associated with him.

[590]'Per quartam Indictionem quod a nobis augmenti nomine quaerebatur illustrem virum Comitem Patrimonii nostri nunc jussimus removere.' As the fourth Indiction began Sept. 525, in the lifetime of Theodoric, it is clear that that date belongs to the imposition, not to the removal of the 'augmentum.'

[591]'Avus noster de suis beneficiis magna praesumens (quia longa quies et culturam agris praestitit et populos ampliavit) intra Siciliam provinciam sub consueta prudentiae suae moderatione censum statuit subflagitari ut vobis cresceret devotio, quibus se facultas extenderat.'

[592]This most be the meaning of 'quicquid a discursoribus novi census per quintam Indictionem probatur affixum, ad vestram eos fecimus deferre notitiam.'

[593]Tax-collectors. The word is unknown to the Notitia, but Censuales occurs once in it (Not. Occ. iv.).

[594]'Quos etiam seris praeceptionibus credidit esse admonendos, utrelicto tandem provincialium gravaminead ejus deberetis justitiam festinare.'

[595]'Nimis enim absurdum est, spondere munitiones et dare civibus excecrabiles vastitates.'

[596]'Conventiones.' I think the complaint here is of the expenses of 'executing process.' It is not as Judge but as the functionary who carries the Judge's orders into effect that Gildias is here blamed.

[597]'Nostra' (the reading of Nivellius) seems evidently a better reading than 'vestra' (which Migne has adopted).

[598]'Commodum debet essecum modo.' A derivation or a pun.

[599]'Duntaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te misceri edicta voluerunt.'

[600]'Quisquis belluinis moribus excitatus munimen tentaverit irrumpere jussionum.'

[601]'Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita.'

[602]This seems a possible interpretation of a dark sentence: 'Navigiis vecta commercia te suggerunt occupare, et ambitu cupiditatis exosae solum antiqua pretia definire, quod non creditur a suspicione longinquum etiam si non sit actione vicinum.'

[603]Is this a kind of compurgation which is here proposed?

[604]'Quosdam nefariâ machinatione necessitatem temporis aucupatos, ita facultates pauperum extortis promissionibus ingravasse, ut quod dictu nefas est, etiam sacra vasa emptioni publicae viderentur exposita.'

[605]'Et quia omnia decet sub ratione moderari, nec possunt dici justa quae nimia sunt, cum de Apostolici consecratione Pontificis intentio fortasse pervenerit, et ad Palatium nostrum producta fuerit altercatio populorum, suggerentes (?) nobis intra tria millia solidorum, cum collectione cartarum censemus accipere.'

[606]'Nec ulla—quae apud nos est gratissima—nominis sui dignitas subveniret.' I thinksuimust refer to the recently-mentionedPapa Johannes.

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