'The Defensor of the Roman Church hath informed us in his tearful petition that lately, when a President was sought for the Papal chair, so much were the usual largesses to the poor augmented by the promises which had been extorted from the candidate, that, shameful to say, even the sacred vessels were exposed to sale in order to provide the necessary money[604].
'Therefore let your Holiness know that by this present decree, which relates also to all the Patriarchs and Metropolitan Churches [the five Metropolitan Churches in Rome, and such Sees as Milan, Aquileia, Ravenna], we confirm the wise law passed by the Senate in the time of the most holy Pope Boniface [predecessor of John II]. By it any contract or promise made by any person in order to obtain a Bishopric is declared void.
'Anyone refusing to refund money so received is to be declared guilty of sacrilege, and restitution is to be enforced by the Judge.'
'Should a contention arise as to an election to the Apostolic See, and the matter be brought to our Palace for decision, we direct that the maximum fee to be paid, on the completion of the necessary documents (?), shall be 3,000 solidi [£1,800][605]; but this is only to be exacted from persons of sufficient ability to pay it.
'Patriarchs [Archbishops of the other great Italian Sees] under similar circumstances are to pay not more than 2,000 solidi [£1,200].
'No one is to give [on his consecration] more than 500 solidi [£300] to the poor.
'Anyone professing to obtain for money the suffrage of any one of our servants on behalf of a candidate for Papacy or Patriarchate, shall be forced to refund the money. If it cannot be recovered from him, it may be from his heirs. He himself shall be branded with infamy.
'Should the giver of the money have been bound by such oaths, that, without imperilling his soul, he cannot disclose the transaction, anyone else may inform, and on establishing the truth of his accusation, receive a third part of the money so corruptly paid, the rest to go to the churches themselves, for the repair of the fabric or for the daily ministry. Remember the fate of Simon Magus. We have ordered that this decree be made known to the Senate and people by the Praefect of the City.'
[I think the early part of this letter gives us the clue to the pretext under which these simoniacal practices were introduced. It was usual for the Pope on his election to give a certain sum of money to the poor. Then at a vehemently contested election certain of the voters—perhaps especially the priests of the different tituli of Rome—claimed to be distributors of the Papal bounty, a large part of which they no doubt kept for themselves.]
Rehearses the motives of the previous edict, and directs that both it and the Senatus Consulta having reference to the same subject [and framed two years previously], be engraved on marble tablets, and fixed up in a conspicuous place, before the Atrium of St. Peter the Apostle.
'We cannot bear that there should be sadness in Rome, the head of the world. We hear with regret from the Apostolic Pope John, and other nobles, that A and B, who are Romans, on a mere suspicion of sedition are being macerated by so long imprisonment that the whole city mourns for them; no gladness of a holyday and no respect for the Papal name[606] (which is most dear to us) availing to mitigate their confinement. This treatment of persons against whom no crime has been proved distresses us much, and we admonish your Greatness, wherever you may succeed in finding them, to set them free. If, confident in their innocence, they think that they have been unjustly tormented, we give them liberty to make their appeal to the laws. Judges were raised to their high estate, not to oppress but to defend the innocent.
'Now let the Romans return to their ancient gladness; nor let them think that any [rulers] please us but those who seek to act with fairness and moderation. Let them understand that our forefathers underwent labours and dangers that they might have rest; and that we are expending large sums in order that they may rejoice with garrulous exultation. For even if they have before now suffered some rough and unjust treatment, let them not believe that that is a thing to be neglected by our Mildness. No; for we give ourselves no rest, that they may enjoy secure peace and calm gladness. Let them understand at once that we cannot love the men whose excesses have made them terrible to our subjects. Whose favour do those men expect to win who have earned the dislike of their fellow-citizens? They might have reaped a harvest of the public love, and instead thereof they have so acted that their names are justly held in execration.'
[This edict is minutely examined by Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iv. 123-135). I have adopted his division of paragraphs, though rather disposed to think that the 'De Donationibus' should be broken up into two, to prevent counting the Epilogue as a section. See also Manso ('Geschichte der Ostrogothen' 405-415).]
'Prologue. This edict is a general one. No names are mentioned in it, and those who are conscious of innocence need take no offence at anything contained therein.
'For long an ominous whisper has reached our ears that certain persons, despising civilitas, affect a life of beastly barbarism[607], returning to the wild beginnings of society, and looking with a fierce hatred on all human laws. The present seems to us a fitting time for repressing these men, in order that we may be hunting down vice and immorality within the Republic at the same time that, with God's help, we are resisting her external foes. Both are hurtful, both have to be repelled; but the internal enemy is even more dangerous than the external. One, however, rests upon the other; and we shall more easily sweep down the armies of our enemies if we subdue under us the vices of the age. [This allusion to foreign enemies is perhaps explained by the hint in Jordanes ('De Reb. Get.' 59) of threatened war with the Franks. But he gives us no sufficient indication of time to enable us to fix the date of the Edictum.]
'I. Forcible Appropriation of Landed Property[608] (Pervasio). This is a crime which is quite inconsistent with civilitas, and we remit those who are guilty of it to the punishment[609] provided by a law of Divus Valentinianus [Valentinian III. Novell. xix. 'De Invasoribus'], adding that if anyone is unable to pay the penalty therein provided he shall suffer banishment (deportatio). He ought to have been more chary of disobeying the laws if he had no means to pay the penalty. Judges who shrink from obeying this law, and allow the Pervasor to remain in possession of what he has forcibly annexed, shall lose their offices and be held liable to pay to our Treasury the same fine which might have been exacted from him. If the Pervasor sets the Judge's official staff (officium) at defiance, on the report of the Judge our Sajones will make him feel the weight of the royal vengeance who refused to obey the [humbler] Cognitor.
'II. Affixing Titles to Property. [When land had from any cause become public property, the Emperor's officers used to affix tituli, to denote the fact and to warn off all other claimants. Powerful men who had dispossessed weaker claimants used to imitate this practice, and are here forbidden to do so.]
'This offence shall subject the perpetrator to the same penalties as pervasio. It is really a kind of sacrilege to try to add the majesty of the royal name to the weight of his own oppression. Costs are to be borne by the defeated claimant.
'III. Suppression of Words in a Decree. Anyone obtaining a decree against an adversary is to be careful to suppress nothing in the copy which he serves upon him. If he does so, he shall lose all the benefits that he obtained. We wish to help honest men, not rogues.
'IV. Seduction of a Married Woman. He who tries to interfere with the married rights of another, shall be punished by inability to contract a valid marriage himself. [This punishment of compulsory celibacy is, according to Dahn, derived neither from Roman nor German law, but is possibly due to Church influence.] The offender who has no hope of present or future matrimony[610] shall be punished by confiscation of half his property; or, if a poor man, by banishment.
'V. Adultery. All the statutes of the late King (divalis commonitio) in this matter are to be strictly observed. [Edict. Theodorici, § 38, inflicted the penalty of death on both offenders and on the abettors of the crime.]
'VI. Bigamy is to be punished with loss of all the offender's property.
'VII. Concubinage. If a married man forms a connection of this kind with a free woman, she and all her children shall become the slaves of the injured wife. If with a woman who is a slave already, she shall be subjected to any revenge that the lawful wife likes to inflict upon her, short of blood-shedding[611].
'VIII. Donations are not to be extorted by terror, nor acquired by fraud, or as the price of immorality. Where a gift is bonâ fide, the document conveying it is to be drawn up with the strictness prescribed by Antiquity, in order to remove occasions of fraud.
'IX. Magicians and other persons practising nefarious arts are to be punished by the severity of the laws. What madness to leave the Giver of life and seek to the Author of death! Let the Judges be especially careful to avoid the contagion of these foul practices.
'X. Violence Exercised towards the Weak. Let the condition of mediocrity be safe from the arrogance of the rich. Let the madness of bloodshed be avoided. To take the law into your own hands is to wage private war, especially in the case of those who are fortified by the authority of our tuitio. If anyone attempts with foul presumption to act contrary to these principles, let him be considered a violator of our orders.
'XI. Appeals are not to be made twice in the same cause.
'XII. Epilogue. But lest, while touching on a few points, we should be thought not to wish the laws to be observed in other matters, we declare that all the edicts of ourself and of our lord and grandfather, which were confirmed by venerable deliberation[612], and the whole body of decided law[613], be adhered to with the utmost rigour.
'And these laws are so scrupulously guarded that our own oath is interposed for their defence. Why enlarge further? Let the usual rule of law and the honest intent of our precepts be everywhere observed.'
'Good laws are called forth by evil manners. If no complaints were ever heard, the Prince might take holiday. Stirred up by many and frequent complaints of our people, we have drawn up certain regulations necessary for the Roman peace, in our edict which is divided into twelve chapters, after the manner of the civil law[614]. We do not thereby abrogate, but rather confirm, the previously existing body of law.
'Let this edict be read in your splendid assembly, and exhibited for thirty days by the Praefect of the City in the most conspicuous places. Thus shall our civilitas be recognised, and truculent men lose their confidence. What insolent subjects[615] can indulge in violence when the Sovereign condemns it? Our armies fight that there may be peace at home. Let the Judges do their duty fearlessly, and avoid foul corruption.'
'It is vexatious that, though we appoint you year by year to your duties, and leave no district without its Judge, there is yet such tardiness in administering justice that suitors come by preference to our distant Court.
'To take away all excuse from you, and relieve the necessity of our subjects, we have drawn up an edict which we desire you to exhibit for thirty days in the wonted manner at all places of public meeting.'
'You who are called Fathers should be interested in all that concerns the education of your sons. We hear by certain whisperings that the teachers of eloquence at Rome are not receiving their proper reward, and that the sums appointed to be paid to the masters of schools are lessened by the haggling of some persons.
'Grammar is the noble foundation of all literature, the glorious mother of eloquence. As a virtuous man is offended by any act of vice, as a musician is pained by a discordant note, so does the grammarian in a moment perceive a false concord.
'The grammatical art is not used by barbarous kings: it abides peculiarly with legitimate sovereigns[616]. Other nations have arms: the lords of the Romans alone have eloquence. Hence sounds the trumpet for the legal fray in the Forum. Hence comes the eloquence of so many chiefs of the State. Hence, to say nothing more, even this discourse which is now addressed to you[617].
'Wherefore let the teacher of grammar and of rhetoric, if he be found suitable for his work and obey the decrees of the Praefect of the City, be supported by your authority, and suffer no diminution of his salary[618].
'To prevent his being dependent in any way on the caprice of his employer, let him receive half his salary at the end of half a year, and his annonae at the customary times. If the person whose business it is to pay him neglects this order, he shall be charged interest on the arrears.
'The Grammarian is a man to whom every hour unemployed is misery, and it is a shame that such a man should have to wait the caprice of a public functionary before he gets his pay. We provide for the salaries of the play-actors, who minister only to the amusement of the public; and how much more for these men, the moulders of the style and character of our youth! Therefore let them henceforward not have to try the philosophical problem of thinking about two things at once, but, with their minds at ease about their subsistence, devote themselves with all their vigour to the teaching of liberal arts.'
[Flavius Theodoras Paulinus Junior was Consul with the Emperor Justinian in 534. This letter was written in Sept. 533, about thirteen months before the death of Athalaric. Paulinus was son of Venantius and grandson of Liberius.]
'The absent from our Court need not fear that they will be disregarded in the distribution of honours, especially when they are sprung from an illustrious stock, the offspring of the Senate.
'In your family Rome recognises the descendants of her ancient heroes the Decii, who, in a great crisis, alone saved their country.
'Take then for the twelfth Indiction the ensigns of the Consulship[619]. It is an arduous honour, but one which your family is well used to. The Fasti are studded with its names, and nearly all the Senate is of kin to you. Still, presume not too much on the merits of your ancestors, but rather seek to emulate their noble deeds.'
'Judge of our esteem for your honourable body, Conscript Fathers, when, without any hesitation, we appoint your sons whom we have never seen to high office, because they are your sons.
'We admire the Patrician Venantius, blessed as he has been with such an abundant progeny, and found equal to the weight of so many Consulships. His sons have been all temperate and lively; worthy members of the same distinguished family. They have been trained in arms, their minds have been formed by letters, their bodies by the exercises of the gymnasium. They have learned to show constancy to their friends, loyalty to their lords; and they have succeeded to the virtues of their ancestors, as they will to their patrimony. Wisely husbanding his own fortune, Venantius has been able to support the honour—gratifying, but burdensome—of seeing so many of his sons made Consuls. But this is an honour not strange to his family, sprung from the ancient Decii. His hall is full of laurelled Fasces, and in his line one might almost say that each one is born a Consular.
'Favour our candidate then, Conscript Fathers, and cherish him with that care which the name of your body[620] signifies.'
'If you had been hitherto an obscure person we might feel some doubt how you would bear yourself in your new office, but your long and glorious career under our grandfather relieves us from any such anxieties. His choice of you is a thing to be not discussed but reverently accepted. It was by him that we ourselves were chosen; and the Divine favour so conspicuously followed him that no General whom he selected was other than victorious, no Judge whom he appointed was other than just. In short, one might almost deem him to have been endowed with the gift of prophecy.
'In your early manhood he received you into the office of Quaestor, and soon found you to be a conscientious man, learned in the law beyond your years[621]. You were the chief ornament of your times, inasmuch as you, by your blameless service sustaining the weight of that royal intellect by all the force of your eloquence, enabled him, with his keen interest in all public affairs, to await the result with confidence. In you he possessed a counsellor pleasant in the transaction of business, rigid in his sense of justice, free from all taint of avarice. You never fixed a scandalous tariff for the sale of his benefits; and thus you reaped your reward in a wealth of public opinion, not in gold. It was because that just Prince proved you to be averse from all these vices that he selected you for his glorious friendship. A wise judge, he threw upon you the weight of listening to the arguments of contending parties; and so high was his opinion of your tried sagacity that he at once uttered your decision as the greatest benefit that he could confer on the litigants. How often did he rank you among the oldest chiefs of his Council! How often was it seen that your young beginnings were more than a match for them, who had the experience of long years behind them! What he found to praise in you was your excellent disposition, wide open for useful work, tight closed against the vices of avarice. Whereas, for some reason, it is rare to find amongst men, the hand closed and justice open.
'Let us pass on to the dignity of Magister Officiorum, which all men knew that you obtained, not from the reputation of wealth, but as a testimony to your character. In this place you were always ready to help the [successive] Quaestors; for, when pure eloquence was required, the case was always put in your hands. The benignant Sovereign claimed from you the fulfilment of duties which he knew that he had not formally laid upon you; and such was the favour that he had for you, while others laboured you received the reward of his abundant praises[622]. For under your administration no dignity kept its exact limits; anything that was to be honestly done by all the chiefs of the State together, you considered to be entrusted to your conscience for its performance.
'No one found occasion to murmur anything to your disadvantage, though you had to bear all the weight of unpopularity which comes from the Sovereign's favour. The integrity of your life conquered those who longed to detract from your reputation, and your enemies were obliged to utter the praises which their hearts abhorred; for even malice leaves manifest goodness unattacked, lest it be itself exposed to general hatred.
'To the Monarch you showed yourself a friendly Minister and an intimate Noble[623]. For when he had laid aside the cares of State, he would seek in your conversation the opinions of wise men of old, that by his own deeds he might make himself equal to the ancients[624]. Into the courses of the stars, into the gulfs of the sea, into the marvels of springing fountains, this most acute questioner enquired, so that by his diligent investigations into the nature of things he seemed to be a Philosopher wearing the purple.
'It were long to narrate all your merits in the past. Let us rather turn to the future, and show how the heir of Theodoric's Empire proposes to pay the debts of Theodoric.
'Therefore, with the Divine help, we bestow on you from the twelfth Indiction [Sept. 1, 533] the authority and insignia of Praetorian Praefect. Let the Provinces, which we know to have been hitherto wearied by the administration of dishonest men, fearlessly receive a Judge of tried integrity.
'Though you have before you the example of your father's Praefecture[625], renowned throughout the Italian world, we do not so much set before you either that or any other example, as your own past character, exhorting you to rule consistently with that. You have always been averse from bribery; now earnestly help the victims of injustice. We have purposely delayed your accession to this high office that you might be the more heartily welcomed by the people, who expected to see you clothed with it long ago. Diligently seek out anything belonging to the titles of the Praetorian Praefecture, of which it has been defrauded by the cupidity of others. We send you as a light into a dark chamber, and expect that your sagacity and loyalty will discover many hidden things.
'We know that you will work not so much for the sake of honour as in order to satisfy your conscience; and work so done knows no limit to its excellence.'
'We have loaded Senator with our benefits, Conscript Fathers, because he abounds in virtue, is rich in excellence of character, and is already full of the highest honours. But, in fact, we are his debtors. How shall we repay that eloquent tongue of his, with which he set forth the deeds of the Prince, till he himself who had wrought them wondered at his story? In praising the reign of the wearer of the purple, he made it acceptable to your nation. For taxes may be paid to a tyrant; praise, such as this, is given only to a good Prince.
'Not satisfied with extolling living Kings, from whom he might hope for a reward, he drew forth the Kings of the Goths from the dust of ages, showing that the Amal family had been royal for seventeen generations, and proved that the origin of the Gothic people belonged to Roman history[626], adorning the whole subject with the flowers of his learning gathered from wide fields of literature.
'In the early days of our reign what labour he gave to the settling of our affairs! He was alone sufficient for all. The duty of making public harangues, our own private counsels, required him. He laboured that the Empire might rest.
'We found him Magister; but he discharged the duties of Quaestor, and willingly bestowed on us, the heir, the experience which he had gained in the counsels of our grandfather.
'And not only so, he helped the beginning of our reign both with his arms and his pen. For when the care of our shores[627] occupied our royal meditation, he suddenly emerged from the seclusion of his cabinet, boldly, like his ancestors, assumed the office of General[628], and triumphed by his character when there was no enemy to overcome. For he maintained the Gothic warriors[629] at his own charges, so that there should be no robbery of the Provincials on the one hand, no too heavy burden on the exchequer on the other. Thus was the soldier what he ought to be, the true defender, not the ravager of his country. Then when the time for victualling the ships was over, and the war was laid aside, he shone as an administrator rather than a warrior, healing, without injury to the litigants, the various suits which arose out of the sudden cessation of the contracts[630].
'Such was the glory of the military command of a Metellus in Asia, of a Cato in Spain—a glory far more durable than any that can be derived from the varying shock of war.
'Yet with all these merits, how humble he has been, how modest, how benevolent, how slow to wrath, how generous in the distribution of that which is his own, how slow to covet the property of others! All these virtues have been consolidated by his reading of the Divine Book, the fear of God helping him to triumph over baser, human motives. Thus has he been rendered humble towards all, as one imbued with heavenly teaching.
'Him therefore, Conscript Fathers, we make, under God's blessing, Praetorian Praefect from the twelfth Indiction [Sept. 1, 533], that he may repress by his own loyalty the trafficking of knaves, and may use his power for the good of the Republic, bequeathing eternal renown to his posterity.'
'I have hitherto forborne to distress you with the sad tidings of the death of my son of glorious memory, but now am able to mingle a joyful announcement with this mournful message. We have promoted to the sceptre a man allied to us by a fraternal tie, that he may wear the purple robes of his ancestors, and may cheer our own soul by his prudent counsels. We are persuaded that you will give us your good wishes on this event, as we hope that every kind of prosperity may befall the kingdom of your Piety. The friendship of princes is always comely, but your friendship absolutely ennobles me, since that person is exalted in dignity who is united by friendship to your glory[631].
'As we cannot in the short space of a letter express all that we desire to say on such an occasion, we have entrusted certain verbal messages to the ambassadors who bear this epistle.'
'It is usual for newly-crowned Kings to signify their accession to the different nations round them. I, in making this communication to you, am greatly favoured by Providence, feeling secure of your favour, because I know that my most excellent Lady and Sister has already attained it. I feel confident that I shall justify the choice of one who shines in such a light of wisdom that she both governs her own kingdom with admirable forethought and keeps firmly the vows of friendship which she has plighted to her neighbours. Partner of her cares, I desire also to be a partner of her wisely-formed friendships, those especially which she has contracted with you, who have nothing like unto you in the whole world. This alliance is no new thing: if you will look back upon the deeds of our ancestors you will find that there is a custom which has obtained the force of a law, that the Amals should be friendly with the Empire. So old a friendship is likely to endure; and if, in obedience to it and to my Sister's choice, I have your love, I shall feel that I am indeed a King.
'The ambassadors who have charge of this letter will further express my sentiments.'
'After the death of our son of blessed memory[632] our love for the common weal overcame the yearnings of a mother's heart and caused us to seek your prosperity rather than an opportunity to indulge in our own sorrow. We have considered by what solace we should strengthen ourselves for the cares of royalty. The same Providence which has deprived us of a son in the dawn of manhood, has reserved for us the affection of a brother in mature age. Under the Divine auspices we have chosen Theodahad[633] as the fortunate partner of our throne. We two, with conjoined counsels, shall now labour for the common welfare, two in our meditations, one in the action which results from them. The stars give one another mutual help in ruling the heavens, and God has bestowed on man two hands, two ears, two eyes, that each one of these members should assist the other.
'Therefore exult, Conscript Fathers, and commend our deed to the blessing of the Almighty. Our sharing our power with another is a pledge of its being wisely and gently exercised. By God's help we have opened our palace to a man of our own race, conspicuous by his illustrious position, who, born of the Amal stock, has a kingly dignity in all his actions, being patient in adversity, moderate in prosperity, and, most difficult of all kinds of government, long used to the government of himself. Moreover, he possesses that desirable quality, literary erudition, lending a grace to a nature originally praiseworthy. It is in books that the sage counsellor finds deeper wisdom, in books that the warrior learns how he may be strengthened by the courage of the soul, in books that the Sovereign discovers how he may weld nations together under his equal rule. In short, there is no condition in life the credit whereof is not augmented by the glorious knowledge of literature.
'Your new Sovereign is moreover learned in ecclesiastical lore, by which we are ever reminded of the things which make for our own true honour, right judgment, wise discretion, reverence for God, thought of the future judgment. For the remembrance that we shall one day stand at the bar to answer for ourselves compels us to follow the footprints of Justice. Thus does religious reading not only sharpen the intellect but ever tend to make men scrupulous in the performance of their duties.
'Let me pass on to that most generous frugality of his private household[634] which procured the means of such abundance in his gifts, of such plenty at his banquets, that even the kingdom will not call for any new expenditure in this respect greater than the old. Generous in his hospitality, most pitiful in his compassions, while he was thus spending much, his fortune, by a heavenly reward, was ever on the increase.
'The wish of the people should coincide with our choice of such a man, who, reasonably spending his own goods, does not desire the goods of others[635]. For moderation in his own expenditure takes away from the Sovereign the temptation to transgress the precepts of justice and to abandon the golden mean.
'Rejoice then, Conscript Fathers, and give thanks to the Most High, that I have chosen such a ruler, who will supplement my justice by the good deeds which spring from his own piety. For this man is both admonished by the virtue of his ancestors and powerfully stimulated by the example of his uncle Theodoric.'
'We announce to you, Conscript Fathers, the Divine favour which has been manifested unto us, in that our sovereign Lady[636], who is renowned throughout the whole world, has with generous affection made me partaker of her throne, so that she may not lack loyal support and I may be fittingly clothed with the purple of my ancestors.
'I know that this elevation of mine was the object of the wishes of the community. Your whispers in my favour might have been a source of danger, but now your openly expressed acclamations are my proudest boast. You wished that God should bestow upon me this honour, to which I for my part should not have ventured to aspire. But if I have, as I trust I have, any influence with you, let me prevail upon you to join with me in perpetually hymning the glorious praises of our Lady and Sister. She has wished to strengthen the greatness of our Empire by associating me therein, even as the two eyes of a man harmoniously co-operate towards a single act of vision. Divine grace joins us together: our near relationship cements our friendship. Persons of diverse character may find it an arduous matter thus to work in common; but, to those who resemble one another in the goodness of their intentions, the difficulty would rather be not to work in harmony. The man devoid of forethought may fear the changing of his purposes; but he who is really great in wisdom eagerly seeks wisdom in another.
'But of all the gifts which with this regal dignity the Divine favour has bestowed upon me, none pleases me more than the fact that I should have been thus chosen by that wisest Lady who is herself a moral balance of the utmost delicacy, and who made me first feel her justice before advancing me to this high dignity. For, as you know, she ordained that I should plead my cause against private persons in the common judgment-hall[637]. Oh wonderful nobility of her mind! Oh admirable justice, which the world may well tell of! She hesitated not first to subject her own relation to the course of public justice, even him whom, a little after, she would raise above the laws themselves. She thoroughly searched the conscience of him to whom she was about to hand over the dignity of kingship, that she might be recognised as sovereign Lady of all, and that I, when tested, might be advanced by her to the throne.
'When shall I be able to repay her for all these favours: her who, having reigned alone during the minority of her son, now chooses me as the partner of her realm? In her is the glory of all kingdoms, the flower of all our family. All our splendour is derived from her, and she reflects a lustre not only on our ancestors, but on the whole human race. Her dutiful affection, her weight of character, who can set forth? The philosophers would learn new lessons if they knew her, and would acknowledge that their books fail to describe all her attributes. Acute she is in her powers of reasoning; but with royal taciturnity she knows how to veil her conclusions in secrecy. She is mistress of many languages; and her intellect, if suddenly tested, is found so ready for the trial that it scarcely seems like that of a mortal. In the Books of Kings the Queen of the South is said to have come to learn the wisdom of Solomon: but here a woman speaks, and Sovereigns listen to her with admiration. Infinite depths of meaning are fathomed by her in few words, and she, with utmost ease, expresses what others can only after long deliberation embody in language[638].
'Happy the commonwealth which boasts the guidance of such a mistress. It was not enough that already liberty and convenience were combined for the multitude[639]: her merits have secured the fitting reverence for the person of the Sovereign. In obeying her we obey all the virtues. I, too, with such a counsellor, fear not the weight of the crown; and I know that whatever is strange to me in my new duties I shall learn from her as the safest of teachers.
'Acknowledge, noble Sirs, that all my power of increased usefulness to the State comes from this our most wise Lady, from whom I may either gain wisdom by asking questions, or virtue by following her example.
'Live happily: live in harmony by God's help, and emulate that grace of concord which you see prevailing between your Sovereigns.'