'You will be grieved to hear of the death of our lord and grandfather of glorious memory, but will be comforted in learning that he is succeeded by his descendant. Thus, by God's command, did he arrange matters, associating us as lords in the throne of his royalty, in order that he might leave his kingdom at peace, and that no revolution might trouble it after his death.'
[Invitation to take the oath, as in previous letters.]
'Our grandfather of glorious memory is dead, but we have succeeded him, and will faithfully repay, both on his account and our own, the loyalty of our subjects.
'So unanimous was the acclamation of our [Italian] subjects when we succeeded to the throne, that the thing seemed to be of God rather than of man.
'We now invite you to follow their example, that the Goths may give their oath to the Romans, and the Romans may confirm it by a Sacramentum to the Goths, that they are unanimously devoted to our King.'
'Thus will your loyalty be made manifest, and concord and justice flourish among you.'
[There is an appearance of mutuality about this oath of allegiance as between Goths and Romans, not merely by both to Athalaric, which we have not had in the previous letters.]
'Saluting you with all the veneration due to your character and office, we inform you with grief of the death of our lord and grandfather. But your sadness will be moderated when you hear that his kingdom is continued in us. Favour us with your prayers, that the King of Heaven may confirm to us the kingdom, subdue foreign nations before us, forgive us our sins, and propitiously preserve all that He was pleased to bestow on our ancestors. Let your Holiness exhort all the Provincials to concord.'
'As our grandfather used to refresh his mind and strengthen his judgment by intercourse with you, so, à fortiori, may we in our tender years do the same. We therefore make you, by this present letter, Patrician, that the counsels which you give us may not seem to proceed from any unknown and obscure source.
'Greece adorned our hero [Tulum] with the chlamys and the painted silken buskin; and the Eastern peoples yearned to see him, because for some reason civic virtues are most prized in him who is believed to be of warlike disposition[509]. Contented with this repayment of honour he laboured with unwearied devotion for foreign countries (?), and with his relations (or parents) he deigned to offer his obedience to the Sovereign, who was begotten of the stock of so many Kings[510].
[After some very obscure sentences, in which the writer appears to be celebrating the praises of Theodoric, he turns to Tulum, of whom he has hitherto spoken in the third person, and addresses him as you.]
'His toil so formed your character that we have the less need to labour. With you he discussed the sure blessings of peace, the doubtful gains of war; and—rare boon from a wise King—to you, in his anxiety, he confidently opened all the secrets of his breast. You, however, responded fully to his trust. You never put him off with doubtful answers. Ever patient and truthful, you won the entire confidence of your King, and dared even, hardest of all tasks, to argue against him for his own good.
'Thus did your noble deeds justify your alliance with the Amal race [apparently he has received an Amal princess in marriage], and thus did you become worthy to be joined in common fame with Gensemund, a man whose praises the whole world should sing, a man only made son by adoption in arms to the King, yet who exhibited such fidelity to the Amals that he transferred it even to their heirs, although he was himself sought for to be crowned[511]. Therefore will his fame live for ever, so long as the Gothic name endures.
'We look for even nobler things from you, because you are allied to us by race.'
[A singularly obscure, vapid, and ill-written letter. The allusion to Gensemund seems introduced on purpose to bewilder the reader.]
[On the elevation of Tulum to the Patriciate.]
'We are conferring new lustre on your body by the promotion of Tulum. A man sprung from the noblest stock[512] he early undertook the duties of attendance in the King's bedchamber[513], a difficult post, where the knowledge that you share the secret counsels of royalty itself exposes you to enmity.
'In the dawn of manhood he went forth with our army to the war of Sirmium [a.d. 504], showed what one of our young nobles bred in peace could do in war, triumphed over the Huns[514], and gave to slaughter the Bulgarians, terrible to the whole world. Such warriors do even our nurseries send forth: thus does the preparation of a courageous heart supersede the necessity for martial training[515].
'Returned to the Court he became the most intimate counsellor of the King, who arranged with him all his plans for campaign, and so admitted him to his most secret thoughts that Tulum could always anticipate how Theodoric would act in every fresh conjuncture of events; and it may be said "by offering him counsel he ruled the King[516]."
'He then distinguished himself in the Gaulish campaign [a.d. 508], where he was already enrolled among the generals, directing the campaign by his prudence, and bravely sharing its dangers. In the fierce fight which was waged at Arles for the possession of the covered bridge across the Rhone[517], the bravery of our candidatus was everywhere conspicuous, and he received many honourable wounds, those best and most eloquent champions of a soldier's courage.
'But a general ought not to be always fighting. I have pleasure in relating his next success, which was brilliant yet achieved without bloodshed. When the Frank and Burgundian again fell out, he was sent to Gaul [a.d. 523] to defend our frontier from hostile incursion. He then obtained for the Roman Republic, without any trouble, a whole Province while others were fighting. It was a triumph without a battle, a palm-branch without toil, a victory without slaughter.
'So great were his services in this campaign that Theodoric considered that he ought to be rewarded by the possession of large lands in the district which he had added to our dominions.
'A storm overtook him on his return to Italy: the remembrance of the vanished danger of that storm is sweet to us now[518]. In the wide, foaming sea his ship was swallowed up. He had to save himself by rowing; the sailors perished; he alone with the dear pledge of his love [one child?] escaped. Theodoric rushed to the shore, and would have dashed into the waves to save his friend, but had the delight of receiving him unharmed, saved manifestly by Divine protection for his present honours.
'Favour then, Conscript Fathers, the ambition of our candidatus, and open for the man of our choice the Hall of Liberty[519]. The race of Romulus deserves to have such martial colleagues as Tulum.'
[Note that Cassiodorus has to provide an elegant oration not only for his master, but for this Gothic fellow-minister of State. See Dahn's remarks on the writer of this letter, 'Könige der Germanen' iii. 273.]
'I pray you to receive favourably the order of the King which makes me a member of your body.
'I have ever favoured the dignity of the Senate, as if with a prescience that I should one day hold it. When I shared the counsels of Theodoric, that chief of Kings, of glorious memory, I often by my intercessions obtained for members of your body Consulships, Patriciates, Praefectures; and now, behold, I am similarly honoured myself. Reflect, I pray, that by my accepting it, the genius of the Patriciate is exalted, since none of my fellow-countrymen will hold cheaply that rank in you which he sees honoured in me. Live in security, by the blessing of God; enjoy your prosperity with your children; and strive, now as always, to show forth the true Roman type of character. I shall defend those with whom I am now associated.'
[Bestowing on him the rank of Comes Domesticorum.]
[I have altered the order of subjects in this letter, to make it correspond with that of time. There cannot be much doubt that Arator's pomposa legatio from Dalmatia was his first introduction to the Court of Theodoric, and preceded his employment as Advocatus.]
'By raising Tulum to the Patriciate we have provided for the military strength of the State. Now must we see to it that she is equally adorned by the glory of letters, and for this purpose we raise you, still in the prime of life, to the rank of Comes Domesticorum. By your example it was seen that eloquence could be acquired elsewhere than at Rome, since in your own Province [probably Dalmatia] your father, who was an extremely learned man, taught you to excel in this art: a happy lot for you, who obtained from your father's love that accomplishment which most youths have to acquire with terror from a master.
'That I may say something here of a very recherché character[520], I may mention that, according to some, letters were first invented by Mercury, who watched the flight of cranes by the Strymon, and turned the shapes assumed by their flying squadron into forms expressive of the various sounds of the human voice.
'You were sent upon a stately embassy[521] by the Provincials of Dalmatia to our grandfather; and there, not in commonplace words but with a torrent of eloquence, you so set forth their needs and the measures which would be for the advantage of the public, that Theodoric, a man of cautious temperament, listened to your flow of words without weariness, and all men desired still to listen, when you ceased speaking.
'[Since then] you have filled the office of Advocate in our Court. You might have been a trier of causes (Cognitor): you have preferred to be a pleader, though to all your advocacy you have brought so fair and judicial a mind that your eloquence and your zeal for your client have never exceeded the bounds of truth.'
[Conferring on him the Quaestorship.]
[This Ambrosius, son of Faustinus, is apparently the same to whom Ennodius addressed his 'Paraenesis Didascalica,' containing some important notices of Festus, Symmachus, Boethius, Cethegus, and their contemporaries. (In Migne's 'Patrologia' lxiii. 250.)]
'A steady gradation of honours secures good servants for the State. You have already served with credit the office of Count of the Private Largesses. And you have also filled satisfactorily the place of a high official who was dismissed in disgrace[522]. We now therefore promote you to the office of Quaestor, and expect you to be the Pliny to the new Trajan. Let your eloquent tongue adorn all that we have to say, and be fearless in suggesting to us all that is for the welfare of the State. A good Sovereign always allows his ministers to speak to him on behalf of justice, while it is the sure mark of a tyrant to refuse to listen to the voice of the ancient maxims of law. Remember that celebrated saying of Trajan to an orator: "Plead, if I am a good ruler, for the Republic and me; if I am a bad one, for the Republic against me[523]." But remember, that if we are thus severe upon ourselves we are equally strict with regard to you, and expect you to follow the example of your noble ancestors, and to abstain from everything like an infraction of the laws. We confer upon you the insignia of the Quaestorship for this fifth Indiction' [Sept. 1, 526—Sept. 1, 527].
[On the elevation of Ambrosius to the Quaestorship].
'As a kind of door to our royal favour do we appoint Ambrosius to be our Quaestor. You know his merits of old: but, to speak only of recent matters[524], we may remind you that when your hearts were wrung with grief for the death of our glorious grandfather, it was by his mouth that we assured you of our determination to continue to you the blessings of good government.
'The presence of Ambrosius is full of dignity, and has a soothing influence which the words of his speech do but confirm[525]. It is unfortunate for an orator to have eloquence for his only gift, and to have to obliterate by his oration the unfavourable effect produced on the multitude by his appearance.
'We consider it not necessary to praise his eloquence. Of course a Quaestor is eloquent. While some have the government of a Province committed to them, others the care of the Treasury, he receives the ensigns of his dignity in order that by him his Sovereign's fame may be spread abroad through the whole world.'
[On the election of Pope Felix III, 526.]
[As this letter has an important bearing on the royal rights in connection with Papal elections, it is translated in full.]
'We profess that we hear with great satisfaction that you have responded to the judgment of our glorious lord and grandfather in your election of a Bishop. It was right in sooth to obey the will of a good Sovereign, who, handling the matter with wise deliberation, although it had reference to a form of faith alien from his own[526], thought fit to select such a Pontiff as could rightfully be displeasing to none. You may thus recognise that his one chief desire was that Religion might flourish by good priests being supplied to all the churches.
'You have received then a man both admirably endowed with Divine grace and approved by royal scrutiny. Let no one any longer be involved in the old contention. There is no disgrace in being conquered when the King's power has helped the winning side. That man makes him [the successful candidate] his own, who manifests to him pure affection. For what cause for regret can there be, when you find in this man, those very qualities which you looked for in the other when you embraced his party?
'These are family quarrels[527], a battle without cold steel, a contest without hatred: by shouts, not wounds, a matter like this is decided.
'For even though the person who is desired be taken from you, yet naught is lost by the faithful, since the longed-for priesthood is possessed by them. [They have a Pope, if not just the Pope whom they wished for.] Wherefore on the return of your Legate, the Illustrious Publianus, we have thought it right to send to your assembly these letters of salutation. For we taste one of our highest pleasures when we exchange words with our nobles; and we doubt not that this is very sweet to you also, when you reflect that what you did by our grandsire's order is personally agreeable to ourselves.'
[For remarks on this important letter see Dahn's 'Könige der Germanen' iii. 239. He makes it a simple appointment of the Pope by the bare will of Theodoric, afterwards confirmed by Athalaric. To me it seems more probable that there had been a contest, threatening the election of an antipope (as in 498 in the case of Symmachus and Laurentius), and that the matter had been, as on that occasion, referred to the arbitration of Theodoric.]
'It is generally necessary to weigh carefully the merits of a new aspirant to the honours of the Court (aulicas dignitates); but in your case the merits of your family render this examination needless. Both your father and brother held the same office[528] which we are now entrusting to you, and one may say that this dignity has taken up its abode in your house.
'You learned the duties of a subordinate in the office under your brother; and often did he, leaning upon you as on a staff, take a little needful repose, knowing that all things would be attended to by you. The crowds of suppliants who resorted to him with their grievances, shared the confidence which the people had in you, and saw that you were already assuming the character of a good judge.
'Most useful also were your services to the throne at the commencement of the new reign, when men's minds were in trouble as to what should happen next. You bore the news of our accession to the Ligurians, and so strengthened them by your wise address that the error into which they had been betrayed by the sun-setting was turned into joy at the rising of our empire[529].'
'We therefore confer upon you the dignity of Count of the Sacred Largesses from this sixth Indiction (Sept. 1, 527). Enjoy all the privileges and emoluments which belonged to your predecessors. God forbid that those whose own actions are right should be shaken by any machinations of calumny. There was a time when even Judges were harassed by informers (delatores); but that time is over. Lay aside then all fear, you who have no errors to reproach yourself with, and freely enjoy the advantages of your dignity. Imitate your brother: even though a little way behind him you will still be before most holders of the office. He was a man of the highest authority and of proved constancy, and the highest testimony to his merits was afforded by the fact that even under a successor who was hostile to him the whole official staff of the palace was loud in his praises[530].'
[This letter is of great importance, as containing indirectly the expression of Cassiodorus' opinion on the trial of Boethius, and the tendency of that opinion seems to be against him and in favour of his accusers. Comparing this letter with v. 40, addressed to Cyprian, Cornes Sacrarum Largitionum and son of Opilio, we may with something like certainty construct this genealogical table:
| Opilio, | |
| C.S.L. (? son of the Consul of 453). | |
| | | |
| | | | |
| Cyprian, C.S.L. 524. |
Opilio, C.S.L. 527. |
Now Cyprian, whose ready wit and ingenious eloquence had rendered him a favourite with Theodoric, is represented to us in the 'Philosophiae Consolatio' of Boethius (I. iv.) and in the 'Anonymus Valesii' (85) as the informer by whom Albinus and Boethius were accused of high treason. Opilio too (no doubt the same as the receiver of this letter) is described by Boethius (loc. cit.) as a man who on account of his numberless frauds had been ordered by the King to go into banishment, had taken refuge at the altar, and had been sternly bidden to leave Ravenna before a given day, and then had purchased pardon by coming forward as a delator against Boethius.
Against all this passionate invective it is fair to set this remarkable letter of Cassiodorus, written it is true in the young King's name and presenting the Court view of these transactions, but still written after the death of Theodoric, and perhaps republished by Cassiodorus in the 'Variarum' after the downfall of the Gothic Monarchy. In any case the allusions to delatores in this letter, considering the history of Opilio and his brother, are extraordinary.]
This letter, though it does not mention the name of Opilio, is evidently written on his promotion to the office of Comes Sacrarum Largitionum. It enumerates his good qualities, and declares that it is marvellous and almost fortunate for Athalaric that so suitable a candidate should not have been promoted in the reign of his grandfather. The father of Opilio was a man of noble character and robust body, who distinguished himself by his abstinence from the vices of the times and his preference for dignified repose in the stormy period of Odovacar[531].
'He was reputed an excellent man in those times, when the Sovereign was not a man of honour[532]. But why go back to his parentage, when his brother has set so noble an example. The friendship, the rivalry in virtue of these two brothers, is worthy of the good old times. Both are true to their friends; both are devoid of avarice. Both have kept their loyalty to their King unspotted, and no marvel, since they have first shown themselves true to their friends and colleagues.
'Distinguished by these virtues, our candidate has been fittingly allied by marriage with the noble family of Basilius[533].
'He has managed his private affairs so as to avoid the two extremes of parsimony and extravagance. He has become popular with the Goths by his manner of life, and with the Romans by his righteous judgments[534]; and has been over and over again chosen as a referee (Judex privatus), thus showing the high opinion in which his integrity is held.
'The Conscript Fathers are exhorted to endorse the favourable judgment of the King, by welcoming the new Count of Sacred Largesses into their body.'
[In view of these letters I do not understand what Gibbon means by saying (cap. xxxix. n. 95), 'The characters of the two delators, Basilius ('Var.' ii. 10, 11; iv. 22) and Opilio (v. 41; viii. 16), are illustrated, not much to their honour, in the Epistles of Cassiodorus.' This is quite true of Basilius, if the person alluded to in the references given by Gibbon be the same as the informer against Boethius, of which there may be a doubt; but Opilio is mentioned, as we see, with the highest honour by Cassiodorus. So, too, is Decoratus, whom in the same note Gibbon too hastily stigmatises as 'the worthless colleague of Boethius.']
[This cannot be the same as the Consul of 511, nor even his son; for that Felix was of Gaulish extraction, and came from beyond the Alps.]
'It is desirable that those who are appointed as Judges should know something of law, and most unfitting that he whom so many officials (milites) obey should be seen to be dependent for his law on some one of his subordinates.
'You long ago, when engaged in civil causes as an Advocate, were marked out by your Sovereign's eye[535]. He noted your eloquence, your fidelity, your youthful beauty, and your maturity of mind. No client could ask for more devotion than you showed in his cause; no Judge found in you anything to blame.
'Receive then now the dignity of Quaestor for this sixth Indiction (Sept. 1, 527), and judge in the Courts where hitherto you have pleaded.
'You are called Felix; act so as always to merit that name; for it is absurd to have a name which denotes one thing and to display the opposite in one's character. We think we have now said enough for a man of your good conscience. Many admonitions seem to imply a doubt of the character of him who receives them.' [A maxim often forgotten by Cassiodorus.]
[On the promotion of Felix.]
'As the sky with stars, or the meadow with flowers, so do we wish the Senate to be resplendent with the men of eminence whom we introduce into it. It is itself a seminary of Senators; but our favour and the dignities of our Court also rear them.
'The Quaestorship is the true mother of the senatorial dignity, since who can be fitter to take his seat in the Curia than he who has shared the counsels of his Sovereign?
'You know the eloquence of our candidate [Felix], his early triumphs, his modesty, his fidelity. To leave such a man unpromoted were a public loss; and he will always love the laws by the practice of which he has risen to eminence.
'Nor is he the first of his race to earn rhetorical distinction. His father shone so brilliantly in the Forum of Milan, that he bloomed forth with undying fruits from the soil of Cicero[536]. He stood against Magnus Olybrius, he was found equal in fluency to Eugenius[537] and many others whom Rome knew as foremost in their art. If the transmission of material wealth by long descent makes men noble, how much more should the inheritance of the treasures of the intellect give nobility.'
'Your predecessor has been the model of a bad governor. As the North wind clears the face of the sky from the rain and clouds brought by the South wind, so do we look to you to repair the evils wrought by his misgovernment. In all things your best maxim will be to do exactly the opposite of what he did. He made himself hateful by his unjust prosecutions: do you become popular by your righteous deeds. He was rapacious: be you moderate. Soothe and relieve the harassed people entrusted to your charge. Receive for this sixth Indiction [Sept. 1, 527-528] the fasces of the Praefecture, and let the office of Praetorian Praefect return to its ancient fame, an object of praise to the whole world[539]. This office dates from Joseph, and rightly is he who holds it called by our laws Father of the Provinces, Father of the Empire.
'See that you avoid all unjust exactions. We cannot bear that our Treasury should be filled by unrighteous means.
'Your descent from a father who has held the same high office, and your intimate knowledge of the Dicta prudentum, warrant us in believing that you will make a good judge.'
[I have not been able to find any hint of the name of the Praefectus Praetorio for 526-527, so bitterly condemned in this letter. As he may have held office for some years, his misgovernment may have been connected with the death of Boethius (524). Can we connect him with the Trigguilla 'Regiae Praepositus Domus' whose injustice is denounced by Boethius ('Phil. Cons.' i. 4)?]
In these two letters the high character and distinguished services of Cyprian are commemorated. 'Under Theodoric he distinguished himself both in war and peace. At the time of the war of Sirmium he was conspicuous both in his resistance to the fiery onslaught of the Bulgarians and in his active pursuit of them when their ranks were broken[540]. He then filled, with great credit to himself, the office of Referendarius[541]. Great was the responsibility of exercising peaceful as well as warlike offices under such a master as Theodoric. In fact the training for one was helpful for the other, since it required a soldier's courage and promptness to be always ready with a truthful and accurate reply to that keen, firm-minded ruler of men[542].
'Thence he was promoted to the dignity of Count of the Sacred Largesses, a post well suited to his pure, self-restrained character[543]. He is now growing old in body, but ever young in fame, and the King heartily wishes him increase of years to enjoy his renown.
'Rightly, too, is there now conferred upon him the dignity of Patricius, since he is the father of such noble sons, men whose childhood was passed in the palace under the very eye of Theodoric (thus like young eagles already learning to gaze upon the sun), and who now cultivate the friendship of the Goths, learn from them all martial exercises, speak their language, and thus give evident tokens of their future fidelity to the Gothic nation[544].
'The Senate is therefore exhorted to welcome its thus promoted colleague, who at each accession of rank has shown himself yet worthier of his high place, and whom grandfather and grandson have both delighted to honour. Thus will it renew the glories of the Decii and the Corvini, who were its sons in the days of old.'
[The subject of these letters is indisputably the same Cyprian whom the 'Anonymus Valesii' speaks of as suborning false witnesses against Albinus and Boethius, and of whom the latter says ('Phil. Cons.' i. 4): 'Ne Albinum, Consularem virum praejudicatae accusationis poena corriperet, odiis me Cypriani delatoris opposui.' Compare the remarks made on Letters 16 and 17; and remember that this letter was composed three years after the death of Boethius, when Theodoric also was dead, and his daughter was only too willing to retrace his steps, in all that concerned the severities of the latter years of his reign. For the pedigree of Cyprian see p. 363.]
'Kings should always be generous, but especially to those of their own family.
'Therefore we desire your Greatness to transfer the farms herein described, to the exalted and most honourable Theodahad, weighing out to him so many solidi, out of that which was formerly the patrimony of his magnificent Mother; and we guarantee to him the absolute ownership of such farms, free from any claims to the inheritance on our part[545].
'We trust to his sincerity and good faith, that in the future he will deserve the remainder of the above-mentioned patrimony, with the addition of the whole quantity[546].
'What can we deny to such a man, whose obedience might claim a higher reward even were he not our cousin—a man who is not puffed up by any pride of his noble birth, humble in his modesty, always uniform in his prudence? Therefore instruct the Cartarii of your office to make over the aforesaid farms to his Actores without delay[547].'
'For the gift of kingly power we owe an infinite debt to God, whose ministers ye are.
'Ye state in your tearful memorial to us that it has been an ordinance of long custom that anyone who has a suit of any kind against a servant of the sacrosanct Roman Church should first address himself to the chief Priest of that City, lest haply your clergy, being profaned by the litigation of the Forum, should be occupied in secular rather than religious matters. And you add that one of your Deacons has, to the disgrace of religion, been so sharply handled by legal process that the Sajo[548] has dared actually to take him into his own custody.
'This dishonour to the Ministers of holy things is highly displeasing to our inborn reverence, yet we are glad that it gives us the opportunity of paying part of our debt to Heaven.
'Therefore, considering the honour of the Apostolic See, and wishing to meet the desires of the petitioners, we by the authority of this letter decree in regular course[549]:
'That if anyone shall think he has a good cause for going to law with a person belonging to the Roman clergy, he shall first present himself for hearing at the judgment-seat of the most blessed Pope, in order that the latter may either decide between the two in his own holy manner, or may delegate the cause to a Jurisconsult to be ended by him. And if, perchance, which it is impiety to believe, the reasonable desire of the petitioner shall have been evaded, then may he come to the secular courts with his grievance, when he can prove that his petitions have been spurned by the Bishop of the aforesaid See[550].
'Should any litigant be so dishonest and so irreverent, both towards the Holy See and our authority, as to disregard this order [and proceed first in our tribunals against one of the Roman clergy], he shall forfeit 10 lbs. of gold [£400], to be exacted by the officers of the Count of Sacred Largesses and distributed by the Pope to the poor; and he shall lose his suit in addition, notwithstanding any decree which he may have gained in the secular court.
'Meanwhile do you, whom our judgments thus venerate, live according to the ordinances of the Church. It is a great wickedness in you to admit such crimes as do not become the conversation even of secular men. Your profession is the heavenly life. Do not condescend to the grovelling wishes and vulgar errors of ordinary mortals. Let the men of this world be coerced by human laws; do you obey the precepts of righteousness.'
[See Dahn, 'Könige der Germanen' iii. 191-2, Sartorius 145, and Bauer's 'History of the Popes' ii. 323-4, for remarks on this important privilegium.
It is clear that it relates to civil, not criminal procedure, and that it does leave a right of final appeal from the Papal Courts to the dissatisfied secular litigant. At the same time, that such an appeal would be prosecuted with immense difficulty is clear even from the words of the decree. The appellant will have to satisfy the King's Judges of a thing which it is almost impiety to believe, that the occupant of the Roman See has spurned his petitions.]