Cassiodorus→Caelianus and Agapitus, Patricians|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus|AI-assisted
imperial politics
King Theoderic to Agapitus, Vir Inlustris, Praefectus Urbis [Prefect of the City].
[1] It is fitting that the chief magistrate of so eminent a city should be the guardian of peace; for from whom ought self-restraint better to be hoped than from one to whom Rome could be entrusted? For that mother of all dignities rejoices that men of virtue preside over her. And therefore you ought to make your spirit equal to your honor, so that what you have obtained by our benefits you may be believed to have found by your own merits. It becomes you to look carefully about you, lest at the public spectacles any cause of sedition arise, since a quiet populace is your proclamation of praise. Let the custom of jeering be kept within measure, so that honorable license may not perish from liberty, nor discipline be wanting to good conduct. [2] Wherefore, just as by our pronouncements we have both instructed the most ample order [the Senate] and decreed that the common people be admonished, so we judge that your greatness too should observe this: that, if an injury be inflicted by anyone upon a senator, the talkative rashness be at once chastised by the severity of the laws. But if a senator, forgetful of civility, shall have caused any freeborn man to be afflicted by wicked slaughter, let him, the moment a report is sent on, be struck and receive a fine of our perpetuity [the royal treasury]. [3] For let all remember so to divide the enthusiasms and factions of the spectacles that in their homeland they ought to be of one accord, and that contests of pleasures are not put on for them so that from them hostile anger should boil up. But, that hereafter no frenzied contention may again be able to arise, let Helladius come in from the public stage to furnish pleasure to the people, holding an equality of monthly pay with the other pantomimes of the factions. [4] That matter also, which stirs up frequent seditions among them, we settle by the present order: that the admirers of Helladius, whom we have commanded to dance from the public stage without the partisanship of either faction, shall have free liberty to watch wherever they may choose. But if their slippery inclination shall have passed over into favor for a single color, let the people hold their enthusiasms, both in the circus and in the theater, for the faction which it prefers, so that whoever shall have presumed otherwise may himself be judged to have sought forbidden discord.
XXXII. AGAPITO V. I. P. V. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Eximiae urbis praesulem pacis convenit esse custodem. nam a quo melius moderatio debet sperari, quam cui potuit Roma committi? illa enim mater omnium dignitatum viros sibi gaudet praesidere virtutum. et ideo honori tuo debes animos exaequare, ut quod nostris adeptus es beneficiis, tuis meritis invenisse credaris. circumspicere te decet, ne qua in spectaculis seditionum causa nascatur, quia tuum praeconium est populus quietus. sit insultandi consuetudo moderata, ut nec libertati pereat honesta licentia nec desit moribus disciplina. [2] Quocirca sicut nostris oraculis et amplissimum ordinem docuimus et plebem decrevimus ammoneri, hoc tuam quoque magnitudinem observare censemus, ut, si a quoquam irrogata fuerit iniuria senatori, confestim loquax temeritas legum severitate plectatur. si vero senator civilitatis immemor quemquam ingenuum nefaria fecerit caede vexari, protinus relatione transmissa perennitatis nostrae multam perculsus excipiat. [3] Meminerint enim cuncti sic spectaculorum studia partesque dividere, ut in patria debeant esse concordes, nec ad hoc sibi voluptatum exhiberi certamina, ut exinde hostilis ira fervescat. verum, ne posthac ulla possit iterum furiosa contentio provenire, Helladius de medio, voluptatem populi praestaturus, introeat, habiturus aequalitatem menstrui cum ceteris partium pantomimis. [4] Illud etiam, quod crebras inter eos seditiones exagitat, praesenti iussione definimus, ut amatores Helladii, quem de medio saltare praecepimus sine utriusque partis studio, spectandi eis, ubi delegerint, libera sit facultas. si vero eorum lubrica voluntas in unius coloris migraverit favorem, studia sua populus tam in circo quam theatro habeat pro parte quam diligit, ut is qui praesumpserit, vetitam ipse iudicetur quaesisse discordiam.
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King Theoderic to Agapitus, Vir Inlustris, Praefectus Urbis [Prefect of the City].
[1] It is fitting that the chief magistrate of so eminent a city should be the guardian of peace; for from whom ought self-restraint better to be hoped than from one to whom Rome could be entrusted? For that mother of all dignities rejoices that men of virtue preside over her. And therefore you ought to make your spirit equal to your honor, so that what you have obtained by our benefits you may be believed to have found by your own merits. It becomes you to look carefully about you, lest at the public spectacles any cause of sedition arise, since a quiet populace is your proclamation of praise. Let the custom of jeering be kept within measure, so that honorable license may not perish from liberty, nor discipline be wanting to good conduct. [2] Wherefore, just as by our pronouncements we have both instructed the most ample order [the Senate] and decreed that the common people be admonished, so we judge that your greatness too should observe this: that, if an injury be inflicted by anyone upon a senator, the talkative rashness be at once chastised by the severity of the laws. But if a senator, forgetful of civility, shall have caused any freeborn man to be afflicted by wicked slaughter, let him, the moment a report is sent on, be struck and receive a fine of our perpetuity [the royal treasury]. [3] For let all remember so to divide the enthusiasms and factions of the spectacles that in their homeland they ought to be of one accord, and that contests of pleasures are not put on for them so that from them hostile anger should boil up. But, that hereafter no frenzied contention may again be able to arise, let Helladius come in from the public stage to furnish pleasure to the people, holding an equality of monthly pay with the other pantomimes of the factions. [4] That matter also, which stirs up frequent seditions among them, we settle by the present order: that the admirers of Helladius, whom we have commanded to dance from the public stage without the partisanship of either faction, shall have free liberty to watch wherever they may choose. But if their slippery inclination shall have passed over into favor for a single color, let the people hold their enthusiasms, both in the circus and in the theater, for the faction which it prefers, so that whoever shall have presumed otherwise may himself be judged to have sought forbidden discord.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
XXXII. AGAPITO V. I. P. V. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Eximiae urbis praesulem pacis convenit esse custodem. nam a quo melius moderatio debet sperari, quam cui potuit Roma committi? illa enim mater omnium dignitatum viros sibi gaudet praesidere virtutum. et ideo honori tuo debes animos exaequare, ut quod nostris adeptus es beneficiis, tuis meritis invenisse credaris. circumspicere te decet, ne qua in spectaculis seditionum causa nascatur, quia tuum praeconium est populus quietus. sit insultandi consuetudo moderata, ut nec libertati pereat honesta licentia nec desit moribus disciplina. [2] Quocirca sicut nostris oraculis et amplissimum ordinem docuimus et plebem decrevimus ammoneri, hoc tuam quoque magnitudinem observare censemus, ut, si a quoquam irrogata fuerit iniuria senatori, confestim loquax temeritas legum severitate plectatur. si vero senator civilitatis immemor quemquam ingenuum nefaria fecerit caede vexari, protinus relatione transmissa perennitatis nostrae multam perculsus excipiat. [3] Meminerint enim cuncti sic spectaculorum studia partesque dividere, ut in patria debeant esse concordes, nec ad hoc sibi voluptatum exhiberi certamina, ut exinde hostilis ira fervescat. verum, ne posthac ulla possit iterum furiosa contentio provenire, Helladius de medio, voluptatem populi praestaturus, introeat, habiturus aequalitatem menstrui cum ceteris partium pantomimis. [4] Illud etiam, quod crebras inter eos seditiones exagitat, praesenti iussione definimus, ut amatores Helladii, quem de medio saltare praecepimus sine utriusque partis studio, spectandi eis, ubi delegerint, libera sit facultas. si vero eorum lubrica voluntas in unius coloris migraverit favorem, studia sua populus tam in circo quam theatro habeat pro parte quam diligit, ut is qui praesumpserit, vetitam ipse iudicetur quaesisse discordiam.