[The Defensor and Curator had evidently almost equivalent powers, but with some slight difference of dignity. They cannot both have existed in the same city. It would be interesting to know what decided the question whether a city should have a Defensor or a Curator.]
This formula differs very little from the preceding, except that the new officer is told 'wisely to govern the ranks of the Curia.' Stress is again laid on the regulation of prices: 'Cause moderate prices to be adhered to by those whom it concerns. Let not merchandise be in the sole power of the sellers, but let an agreeable equability be observed in all things. This is the most enriching kind of popularity, which is derived from maintaining moderation in prices[474]. You shall have the same salary (consuetudines) which your predecessors had in the same place.'
'If even bolts and bars cannot secure a house from robbery, much more do the precious things left in the streets and open spaces of Rome require protection. I refer to that most abundant population of statues, to that mighty herd of horses [in stone and metal] which adorn our City. It is true that if there were any reverence in human nature, it, and not the watchman, ought to be the sufficient guardian of the beauty of Rome[475]. But what shall we say of the marbles, precious both by material and workmanship, which many a hand longs, if it has opportunity, to pick out of their settings? Who when entrusted with such a charge can be negligent? who venal? We entrust to you therefore for this Indiction the dignity of the Comitiva Romana, with all its rights and just emoluments. Watch for all such evil-doers as we have described. Rightly does the public grief[476] punish those who mar the beauty of the ancients with amputation of limbs, inflicting on them that which they have made our monuments to suffer. Do you and your staff and the soldiers at your disposal watch especially by night; in the day the City guards itself. At night the theft looks tempting; but the rascal who tries it is easily caught if the guardian approaches him unperceived. Nor are the statues absolutely dumb; the ringing sound which they give forth under the blows of the thief seems to admonish their drowsy guardian. Let us see you then diligent in this business, that whereas we now bestow upon you a toilsome dignity, we may hereafter confer an honour without care.'
'High is your honour, to be the means of taking away all slowness from the execution of our orders. Who knows not what a quantity of ships you can muster at the least hint from us! Scarcely is the ink dry on the evectio [permission to use the public post] prepared by some palace dignitary, when already with the utmost speed it is by you being carried into effect. Do not exact too much service from merchants[477], nor yet from corrupt motives let them off too easily. Be very careful in your judicial capacity, and especially when trying the causes of the poor, to whom a small error in your judgment may be far more disastrous than to the rich.'
'It is desirable that the necessary repairs to this forest of walls and population of statues which make up Rome should be in the hands of a learned man who will make the new work harmonise with the old. Therefore for this Indiction we desire your Greatness to appoint A B Architect of the City of Rome. Let him read the books of the ancients; but he will find more in this City than in his books. Statues of men, showing the muscles swelling with effort, the nerves in tension, the whole man looking as if he had grown rather than been cast in metal. Statues of horses, full of fire, with the curved nostril, with rounded tightly-knit limbs, with ears laid back—you would think the creature longed for the race, though you know that the metal moves not. This art of statuary the Etruscans are said to have practised first in Italy; posterity has embraced it, and given to the City an artificial population almost equal to its natural one. The ancients speak of the wonders of the world [here enumerated and described], but this one of the City of Rome surpasses them all. It had need to be a learned man who is charged with the care of upholding all these works; else, in his despair, he will deem himself the man of stone, and the statues about him the truly living men.'
[Celsina, from the place in which it is mentioned in the 'Itinerary' of Antonine (516), was probably one of the Lipari Islands. Curritana must have been near it but is not further identified.]
'The presence of a ruler is necessary; and it is not desirable that men should live without discipline, according to their own wills. We therefore appoint you Judge of these two islands. For it is right that someone should go to the habitations of these men, who are shut out from converse with the rest of their kind, and settle their differences by fair reason.
'Oh ye inhabitants of these islands, ye now know whom our Piety has set over you, and we shall expect you to obey him.'
'It is a glorious labour to serve the City of Rome. It cannot be doubted that lime (coctilis calx), which is snow-white and lighter than sponge, is useful for the mightiest buildings. In proportion as it is itself disintegrated by the application of fire does it lend strength to walls; a dissolvable rock, a stony softness, a sandy pebble, which burns the best when it is most abundantly watered, without which neither stones are fixed nor the minute particles of sand hardened.
'Therefore we set you, well known for your industry, over the burning and distribution of lime, that there may be plenty of it both for public and private works, and that thereby people may be put in good heart for building. Do this well, and you shall be promoted to greater things.'
'Good arms are of the utmost importance to a community. By means of them man, the frailest of creatures, is made stronger than monstrous beasts. Phoroneus is said to have first invented them, and brought them to Juno to consecrate them by her divinity.
'For this Indiction we set you over the soldiers and workmen in our armouries. Do not presume in our absence to pass bad workmanship. We shall find out by diligent search all that you do, and in such a matter as this consider no mistake venial.'
Announces to the Praefects the appointment conferred in the preceding letter, and repeats that to supply inferior arms to soldiers is an act of treason. The workmen are to receive their just consuetudines [wages].
(1) If collected by the Judge himself;
(2) If collected by his Officium.
These Bina and Terna, as stated in the note to iii. 8, are a mystery. All that can be positively stated about them is that they were a kind of land-tax, collected from the cultivators (possessores), and that they had to be brought into the Treasury by the first of March in each year. Under the first formula the Judex himself, under the second two Scriniarii superintend the collection, reporting to the Count of Sacred Largesses. As in the previous letter (iii. 8), the Judex is reminded that if there is any deficiency he will have to make it good himself. Cf. Manso, 'Geschichte des Ostgothischen Reiches' 388; and Sartorius, 'Regierung der Ostgothen' 207 and 347.
'Your day of promotion is come. Proceed to such and such a Province, in order that you may assist the Judex and his staff in collecting the Bina and Terna, before the first of March, and may forward them without delay to the Count of Sacred Largesses. Let there be no extortion from the cultivator, no dishonest surrender of our rights.'
'Great prudence is necessary in your office, since discords easily arise between two nationalities. Therefore you must use skill to soothe those [the Greek merchants and sailors from the Levant] whose characters are unstable as the winds, and who, unless you bring their minds into a state of calm, will, with their natural quickness of temper, fly out into the extremity of insolence.'
[The Princeps, as observed on p. 96, seems to have practically disappeared from the Officium of the Praefectus Praetorio. Here, however, we find a Provincial Princeps whose rank and functions are not a little perplexing. It seems probable that, while still nominally only the chief of a staff of subordinates, he may, owing to the character of the superior under whom he served, have practically assumed more important functions. That superior in this case was a Comes, whose military character is indicated by the first letter of this book. The Princeps was therefore virtually the Civil Assessor of this officer.
The Comes under Theodoric would generally be a Goth; the Princeps must be a Roman and a Jurisconsult. The business of the former was war and administration; that of the latter, judgment, though his decisions were apparently pronounced by the mouth of the Comes, his superior in rank.]
'Whosoever serves while bearing the title of Princeps has high pre-eminence among his colleagues. To the Consul of the Provinces power is given, but to you the Judge himself is entrusted. Without you there is no access to the Secretarium, nor is the ceremony of salutation[478] [by subordinate officers] performed. You hold the vine-rod[479] which menaces the wicked; you have the right, withheld from the Governor himself, of punishing the insolence of an orator pleading in his Court. The records of the whole suit have to be signed by you, and for this your consent is sought after the will of the Judge has been explained.'
'It is our glory to see you [a Goth, one of our own nation] accompanied by a Roman official staff. Acting through such Ministers, your power seems to be hallowed by the sanction of Antiquity.
'For to this point, by God's help, have we brought our Goths, that they should be both well-trained in arms and attuned to justice. It is this which the other races cannot accomplish; this that makes you unique among the nations, namely, that you, who are accustomed to war, are seen to live obedient to the laws side by side with the Romans. Therefore from out of our Officium, we have decided to send A and B to you, that according to ancient custom, while forwarding the execution of your commands they may bring those commands into conformity with the mind of past ages[481].'
For the sentences, more than usually devoid of meaning, in which Cassiodorus dilates on Free-will, Justice, and the mind of man, it may be well to substitute Manso's description of this dignity (p. 379):
'By the title of a Count of the Second Order the Judges in little towns appear chiefly to have been rewarded and encouraged. Those named for it, however, can hardly have received any great distinction or especial privileges, for Cassiodorus not only enumerates no civic advantages thus secured to them, but expressly says, "We intend to bestow better things than this upon you, if you earn our approbation in your present office." He does not use this language to those adorned with the Comitiva Primi Ordinis.'
'As one must rule and the rest obey, we have for this Indiction conferred the Countship of your City on A B, that he may hear your causes and give effect to our orders.'
[Apparently this letter and the preceding relate to the same appointment. The words 'secundi ordinis' are not added to the title of the new Count when his fellow-citizens are informed of it.]
'Judge and Court Officer (Praesul and Miles) are terms which involve one another. The officers of the Court have no right to exist, without the Judge; he is powerless without them to execute his commands. We therefore think it well to inform you of our appointment of A B as Count over your body[485]. It is no light benefit that so long as you attend to your duty[486] you are allowed to elect the examiners.'
'We entrust to you an important office, the care of the gate of such and such a city. Do not keep it always shut—that were to turn the city into a prison; nor let it always lie open—then the walls are useless. Use your own judgment, but remember that the gate of a city is like the jaws of the human body, through which provisions enter to nourish it.'
'It is right that one who has served his time in civil employment should receive his reward, and we therefore appoint as your Tribune the man who has a right to the office by seniority. You are to obey him, since officers of this kind partake of the nature of Judges [governors], as they are called to account for any excesses committed by you.'
[Who this Tribune was—since the Tribunus Voluptatum is apparently out of the question—and how his jurisdiction fitted in to that of other officers, Manso (p. 362) deems it impossible to decide, nor can I offer any suggestion.]
'As there must be the Officium, of a Count in Rome, and as we want to have our chief Princeps[487] near us [in Ravenna], we wish you to take his place and wield power as his Vicarius in Rome.
'If you think that any of the Comitiaci ought to be sent to attend our Comitatus [at Ravenna], do so at your own discretion, retaining those whom you think proper to retain at Rome. Let there be an alternation, however, that one set of men be not worn out with continuous labour, while the others are rusting in idleness.'
'Great is the crime of tampering with the coinage; a crime against the many—whose buying and selling is disturbed by it; and a crime and a sacrilege against us, whose image is impressed on the coins.
'Let everything be pure and unalloyed which bears the impress of our Serenity. Let the flame of gold be pale and unmixed, let the colour of silver smile with its gracious whiteness, let the ruddy copper retain its native glow.
'Coins are to keep their full weight. They used to pass current by weight, not by tale, whence the words for profit and expenditure[488]. Pecunia was named from cattle (pecus). You must see that our money does not return to this low condition. King Servius first used stamped money. Take then the care of the mint; hold it for five years, and be very careful how you administer it.'
'Since it is important that when ambassadors return to their country they should feel that they have been well treated in ours, hand the enclosed douceur (humanitas), and a certain quantity of fodder for their horses, to the ambassadors of such and such a nation. Nothing pleases those who have commenced their return journey better than speeding them on their way.'
'We summon you by these presents to our Comitatus, that you may have an extraordinary pleasure. Be brisk therefore, and come on such a day to such a city. Our Palace longs for the presence of good men, and God puts it into our hearts to give them a cordial reception.'
'It is a sign of a good conscience to seek the presence of a just ruler; it is only good deeds that crave the light of the sun. Come then speedily. We consider our own glory augmented when we see noble men flocking to our obedience.'
'All men require change: even honey cloys after a time. We therefore give you leave to visit such a Province and remain there so many months, with the understanding that when they are over you return to the City. If it be tedious to live always in the City, how much more to live long in the country! But we gladly give you this holiday, not that Rome should be deserted, but that absence from her may commend her to you all the more.'
'Wishing to bestow the right honours on the right man among our subjects, we decorate you with the splendour of a Spectabilis, that you may know that your opinion is duly respected[489] at all public meeting-places, when you take your honoured seat among the nobles.'
'The desire of praise is a good thing, and leads to the increase of virtue. Receive the honour of the Clarissimatus, as a testimony to the excellence of your past life and a pledge of your future prosperity. Observe, you are not called Clarus, but Clarissimus. Everything that is most excellent may be believed of him who is saluted by such a splendid superlative.'
'Though it seems superfluous to grant special protection to any of our subjects, since all are shielded by the laws, yet moved by your cry for help we are willing to relieve you and to give you as a strong tower of defence the shelter of our name[490], into which you may retire when wounded by the assaults of your enemies. This defence will avail you alike against the hot-headed onslaughts [of the Goths] and the ruinous chicanery [of the Romans][491]; but you must beware that you, who have thus had to solicit the help of the law, do not yourself set law at defiance by refusing to appear in answer to a summons.
'That our royal protection be not a mere name, we appoint A and B to protect you by their fidelity and diligence, the former against the Goths, and the latter against the Romans[492]. If any one hereafter attempt any act of incivilitas against you, you will see your desire upon your enemies.'
[This important letter is commented upon at some length by Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iii. 125-127). I am not sure that he is right in stating that Tuitio against a Goth would necessarily be given by means of a Sajo, though evidently this was often the rank of the officer employed.]
'An eternal benefit is that which is bestowed on a man's offspring; and hard is the lot of him who, born with a stain on his name, finds his troubles prepared as soon as he comes forth to the light of day.
'You pray that the woman whom you have loved but not married may receive the honour of wedlock, and that your children by her may attain the name of heirs. We grant your request, and ordain that your mistress shall be your lawful wife, and the children whom you love and whom Nature has given you, your successors.'
[Some of the maxims of this letter can hardly have obtained the approval of the author after he 'entered religion.']
'An honourable boast is contained in the suit for "venia aetatis." In it a young man says, "Give me those rights which my stability of character warrants, though my age does not as yet entitle me to them."
'Thus you refuse the protection which the law throws round the years of weakness, and this is as bold a thing as any man can do. We grant your request; and if you can prove that you have come to the age at which "venia aetatis" should be asked for, we ordain that, with the proper formalities which have been of old provided in this matter[493], you shall be admitted to all the rights of an adult, and that your dispositions of property, whether in city or country, shall be held valid[494]. You must exhibit that steadfastness of character which you claim. You say that you will not be caught by the snares of designing men; and you must remember that now to deny the fulfilment of your promise will become a much more serious matter than heretofore.'
'Heavy charges are sometimes brought against the Sajones whom with the best intentions we have granted for the protection of our wealthy subjects. We are told that the valour of the Sajo is employed not merely for the protection of him to whom he is assigned, but for illegal violence and rapine against that person's enemies. Thus our remedy becomes itself a disease. To guard against this perversion of our beneficent designs we ordain that anyone asking for the guardianship of a brave Sajo against violence with which he feels himself unable to cope, shall give a penal bond to our Officium, with this condition, that if the Sajo[495] who is assigned to him shall exceed our orders by any improper violence, he himself shall pay by way of fine so many pounds of gold, and shall make satisfaction for the damage sustained by his adversary as well as for the expenses of his journey [to obtain redress]. For our wish is to repress uncivil dispositions, not to injure the innocent. As for the Sajo who shall have wilfully transgressed the limit of our commands, he shall lose his donative, and—which is the heaviest of all punishments—our favour also. Nor will we entrust any further duty to him who has been the violator rather than the executor of our will.'
'At the suggestion of the Tribune of the Cartarii—to whom the whole office pays fitting reverence—we bestow upon you the title of a Cartarius. Flee avarice and avoid all unjust gains.'
[This letter gives no information as to the duties of a Cartarius, or, as he is called in the Codes, Cartularius.]
'He who seeks to become owner of public property can only justify his claim by making the squalid beautiful, and by adorning the waste. Therefore, as you desire it, we confer upon you as your full property such and such a place, reserving all mineral rights—brass, lead, marbles—should any such be found therein; but we do this on the understanding that you will restore to beauty that which has become shabby by age and neglect. It is the part of a good citizen to adorn the face of his city, and you may securely transmit to your posterity that which your own labour has accomplished[497].'
'You complain that the land-tax (tributum) levied upon your holding (possessio) in such a Province is so heavy that all your means are swallowed up in the swamp of indebtedness, and that more is claimed by the tax-collectors than can be obtained from the soil by the husbandman. You might, by surrendering the property altogether, escape from this miserable necessity which is making you a slave rather than, a landowner; but since the Imperial laws (sacratissimae leges) give us the power to relieve a man of moderate fortune in such circumstances, our Greatness, which always hath the cause of justice at heart, decrees by these presents that if the case be as you say, the liability for the payment of so many solidi on behalf of the aforesaid property shall be cancelled in the public archives, and that this shall be done so thoroughly that there shall be no trace of it left in any copy of the taxing-rolls by which the charge may be revived at a future day[498].'
'After the laws of the two tables, Moses adds the laws wherein God forbids marriages between near kindred, to guard against incest and provide for a wise admixture of divers strains of blood[499].
'These commands have been extended to remoter degrees of relationship by the wise men of old, who have however reserved to the Prince the power of granting dispensations from the rule in the cases (not likely to be frequent) where first cousins (by the mother's side) seek to intermarry.
'Acting on this wise principle we permit you to marry C D, if she is of no nearer kinship to you than first cousin. By God's favour may you have legitimate heirs from this marriage, which, our consent having been obtained, is not blameable but praiseworthy.'
'It is the hard lot of human nature often to be injured by the very things which were intended as remedies. The prohibition against the sale of the property of a Curialis was intended for his protection, and to enable him fearlessly to discharge his share of the public burdens. In some cases, however, where he has contracted large debts, this prohibition simply prevents him from saving anything out of the gulf of indebtedness. You have the power, after making due enquiry into the circumstances, to authorise the sale of such a property. You have the power; but as the proceeding is an unusual one, to guard you against any odium to which it may expose you, we fortify your Eminence by this our present command. Let the Curialis who petitions for this relief satisfy you as to the cause of his losses, that it may be shown that they are really the result of circumstances beyond his own control, not due to his own bad character.
'Wisely has Antiquity laid upon you the responsibility of deciding cases of this kind, you whose advantage lies in the maintenance of the Curia. For by whom could its burdens be borne, if the nerves of the communities should everywhere be seen to be severed[500]?'
[Some MSS. read Justiniano, but there can be no doubt that Justino is the right reading. Athalaric's accession took place August 30, 526; the death of Justin, August 1, 527. Justinian was associated with his uncle in the Empire, April 1, 527.]
'Most earnestly do I seek your friendship, oh most clement of Princes, who are made even more illustrious by the wide extension of your favours than by the purple robe and the kingly throne. On this friendship I have an hereditary claim. My father was adorned by you with the palm-enwoven robe of the Consul [Eutharic, Consul 519] and adopted as a son in arms, a name which I, as one of a younger generation, could more fittingly receive[501]. My grandfather also received curule honours from you[502] in your city. Love and friendship should pass from parents to their offspring, while hatred should be buried in the tomb; and therefore with confidence, as one who by reason of my tender years cannot be an object of suspicion to you, and as one whose ancestors you have already known and cherished, I claim from you your friendship on the same compacts and conditions on which your renowned predecessors granted it to my lord and grandfather of Divine memory[503]. It will be to me something better than dominion to have the friendship of so excellent and so mighty a ruler. My ambassadors (A and B) will open the purport of their commission more fully to your Serenity.'
'Great must be the joy of all orders of the State at hearing of the accession of a new ruler, above all of a peaceful succession, without war, without sedition, without loss of any kind to the Republic.
'Such has been our succession to our grandfather. On account of the glory of the Amal race, which yields to none[504], the hope of our youth has been preferred to the merits of all others. The chiefs, glorious in council and in war, have flocked to recognise us as King so gladly, so unmurmuringly, that it seems like a Divine inspiration, and the kingdom has been changed as one changes a garment.
'The institution of royalty is consolidated when power thus passes from one generation to another, and when a good prince lives again, not in statues of brass but in the lineaments and the character of his descendants.
'The general consent of Goths and Romans [at Ravenna] has crowned us King, and they have confirmed their allegiance by an oath. You, though separated from us by space, are, we know, as near to us in heart as they; and we call upon you therefore to follow their example. We all know that the most excellent fathers of the Senate love their King more fervently than other ranks of the State, in proportion to the greater benefits which they have received at his hand.
'And since one should never enter your Curia empty-handed, we have sent our Count, the Illustrious Sigismer, with certain persons to administer the oath to you. If you have any requests to make to us which shall be for the common benefit of the Republic, make them through him, and they are granted beforehand.'
'If a stranger to the royal line were succeeding to the throne, you might doubt whether the friendship between him and you would endure, and might look for a reversal of the policy of his predecessors. But now the person of the King only, not his policy, is changed. We are determined to follow the revered maxims of our predecessor, and to load with even more abundant benefits those whom he most kindly defended.
'Everything was so ordered by our glorious grandfather that on his death the glad consent of Goths called us to our kingdom; and that no doubt might remain upon the matter they pledged themselves by an oath most cordially taken, to accept us as their ruler. We invite you to follow their example, and like Trajan, we, the Sovereign, in whose name all oaths are made, will also swear to you. The bearers of this letter will receive your sworn promise, and will give you ours, "by the Lord's help to observe justice and fair clemency, the nourisher of the nations; that Goths and Romans shall meet with impartial treatment at our hands; and that there shall be no other division between the two nations, except that they undergo the labours of war for the common benefit, while you are increased in numbers by your peaceable inhabitancy of the City of Rome[505]." Raise then your spirits, and hope for even better things and more tranquillity, under God's blessing, from our reign than from that of our predecessor.'
'He who hears of a change in the ruler is apt to fear that it may be a change for the worse; and a new King who makes no kind promises at his accession is supposed to be harbouring designs of severity. We therefore inform you that we have received the oaths of Goths and Romans and are ready to receive yours, which we doubt not you will willingly offer.' [The rest as in the preceding letters.]
'Gladly would we have announced to you the prolonged life of our lord and grandfather; but inasmuch as he has been withdrawn by hard fate from us who loved him, he has substituted us, by Divine command, as heirs of his kingdom, that through us his successors in blood, he might make the benefits which he has conferred on you perpetual. And in truth we hope not only to defend but to increase the blessings wrought by him. All the Goths in the Royal City [Ravenna] have taken the oaths to us. Do you do the same by this Count whom we send to you.
'Receive then a name which ever brought prosperity to your race, the royal offshoot of the Amals, the sprout of the Balthae[506], a childhood clad in purple. Ye are they by whom, with God's help, our ancestors were borne to such a height of honour, and obtained an ever higher place amid the serried ranks of kings[507].'