Letter 1003: KING THEODERIC TO CASSIODORUS, A MAN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK AND A PATRICIAN.

King Theoderic to Cassiodorus, Vir Illustris [an Illustrious Man, the highest senatorial rank] and Patrician. [1] Although that which is praiseworthy by nature enjoys its own honor, and the insignia of a proven conscience are not lacking, since it begets dignities in the mind — for indeed all good things are joined with their own fruits, nor can that be believed to be virtue which is set apart from a reward — nevertheless the summit of our judgment is lofty: since he who is advanced by us is reckoned to be full of exceptional merits. [2] For if he is to be believed even-handed whom a just man has chosen, if he is to be reckoned endowed with self-restraint whom a temperate man has adopted, then assuredly he can be capable of all merits who has deserved to have as his judge the assessor of every virtue. For what greater thing is sought than to have found the proofs of one's praises there, where the granting of favor cannot be suspect? For the sentence of one who reigns takes its judgment from deeds alone, nor does a master's mind, fortified by power, deign to flatter. [3] Let there at least be recalled those things which have instilled you into our regard, that you may take the fruit of your labor, when you recognize that each one has clung pleasantly to our mind. For in the very devoted beginning of our reign, when amid still unsettled affairs the hearts of the provinces wavered, and the very newness of things suffered an untried lord to be neglected, you turned aside the minds of the suspicious Sicilians from their headlong obstinacy, removing the fault from them and withdrawing from us the necessity of vengeance. [4] Wholesome persuasion accomplished what vehement severity might have had to correct. You won over the losses of the province, which deserved to know nothing of them under its loyalty: there, guarding the laws of citizens while girded for war [under martial discipline], you appraised public and private advantages as an arbiter free of greed, and, neglecting your own revenue, without the odium of profit you brought back the riches of good character, shutting out both any access for complaints and any room for disparagement; and from a quarter where scarcely even the silence of patience is usually carried home, the voices of those praising you served you. For we know, with Tullius [Cicero] as witness, how prone by nature the Sicilians are to complaints, so that by their accustomed habit they can accuse their judges even on suspicions. [5] But not content with that limit of public praises, we gave you the customs of the Bruttii and of Lucania to govern, lest the good which a foreign province had merited should be unknown to the fortune of your native soil. Yet you, expending your customary devotion, bound us by that service in such a way that we think we have repaid you everything: thereby enlarging the debt in the very place where it could have been believed discharged. Through everything you acted as a judge free of all error, neither pressing anyone down through ill will nor exalting anyone through coaxing favor. And while this is everywhere difficult, it becomes glorious in one's homeland: where it is inevitable that either kinship provokes favoritism or long disputes exasperate hatred. [6] Therefore it delights us to call to mind the conduct of your prefecture, a benefit most well-known to all Italy, where, disposing all things by provident ordering, you showed how light a thing it is to pay tribute under the integrity of a judge. No one offered grudgingly what he paid under equity, because whatever is rendered in due order is not reckoned a loss. [7] Enjoy now your good things, and receive doubled the private advantage which you scorned out of regard for the public. For this is the glorious benefit of a life: to have lords as witnesses, and to have fellow citizens as praisers. [8] Spurred therefore by these so many and so ample praises, we confer upon you the summit of the patriciate as a just remuneration, so that what to others is a reward may to you be a repayment of merits. Be honored, most eminent man, with praiseworthy good fortune, you who have driven the mind of your ruler to this utterance, that we should rather confess that what we grant belongs to your own good deeds. May these things be everlasting through the divine, so that, when we bestow these as remuneration, we may again be called upon by your merits for better things.

III. CASSIODORO V. I. ATQUE PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Quamvis proprio fruatur honore quod est natura laudabile, nec desint probatae conscientiae fasces, cum generat animo dignitates—omnia siquidem bona suis sunt iuncta cum fructibus, nec credi potest virtus quae sequestratur a praemio—tamen iudicii nostri culmen excelsum est: quoniam qui a nobis provehitur, praecipuis plenus meritis aestimatur. [2] Nam si aequabilis credendus est quem iustus elegerit, si temperantia praeditus quem moderatus ascivit, omnium profecto capax potest esse meritorum, qui iudicem cunctarum meruit habere virtutum. quid enim maius quaeritur quam ibi invenisse laudum testimonia, ubi gratificatio non potest esse suspecta? regnantis quippe sententia iudicium de solis actibus sumit, nec blandiri dignatur animus domini potestate munitus. [3] Repetantur certe quae te nostris sensibus infuderunt, ut laboris tui fructum capias, cum nostris animis singula suaviter inhaesisse cognoscas. in ipso quippe imperii nostri devotus exordio, cum adhuc fluctuantibus rebus provinciarum corda vagarentur et neglegi rudem dominum novitas ipsa pateretur, Siculorum suspicacium mentes ab obstinatione praecipiti deviasti, culpam removens illis, nobis necessitatem subtrahens ultionis. [4] Egit salubris persuasio, quod vehemens poterat emendare districtio. lucratus es damna provinciae, quae meruit sub devotione nescire: ubi sub praecinctu Martio civilia iura custodiens publica privataque commoda inavarus arbiter aestimabas et proprio censu neglecto sine invidia lucri morum divitias retulisti, excludens vel querelis aditum vel derogationibus locum: et unde vix solet reportari patientiae silentium, voces tibi militavere laudantium. novimus enim testante Tullio, Siculorum natura quam sit facilis ad querelas, ut solita consuetudine possint iudices etiam de suspicionibus accusare. [5] Sed non eo praeconiorum fine contenti Bruttiorum et Lucaniae tibi dedimus mores regendos, ne bonum, quod peregrina provincia meruisset, genitalis soli fortune nesciret. at tu consuetudinem devotionis impendens eo nos obligasti munere, quo tibi nos putamus omnia reddidisse: inde amplificando debitum, unde credi poterat absolutum. egisti per cuncta iudicem totius erroris expertem, nec invidia quempiam deprimens nec gratia blandiente sublimans. quod cum ubique sit arduum, tum fit in patria gloriosum: ubi necesse est aut gratiam parentela provocet aut odium longae contentiones exasperent. [6] Oblectat igitur nos actus praefecturae recolere, totius Italiae notissimum bonum, ubi cuncta provida ordinatione disponens ostendisti, quam leve sit stipendia sub iudicis integritate dependere. nullus gravanter obtulit quod sub aequitate persolvit, quia quicquid ex ordine tribuitur, dispendium non putatur. [7] Fruere nunc bonis tuis et utilitatem propriam, quam respectu publico contempsisti, recipe duplicatam. haec est enim vitae gloriosa commoditas dominos esse testes, cives habere laudantes. [8] His igitur tot amplissimis laudibus incitati patriciatus tibi apicem iusta remuneratione conferimus, ut quod aliis est praemium, tibi sit retributio meritorum. macte, summe vir, felicitate laudabili, qui ad hanc vocem dominantis animos impulisti, ut bonorum tuorum potius fateamur esse quod cedimus. sint haec divina perpetua, ut, cum haec pro remuneratione tribuimus, meliora iterum tuis meritis exigamur.