Letter 11001: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect, to the Senate of the City of Rome.

I. The Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to the Senate of the City of Rome. [1] You commend my advancement to me, conscript fathers, if I understand that it was something you desired; for I believe that what is established to have been wished by so many fortunate men has turned out most prosperously. Indeed your longings are proven to be the omens of all good men, since no one can be received with the favor of such men except him whom the divine power has decreed to be exalted. Exchange your good will, therefore, that you may exact compliance. It is the nature of things to love a colleague. Nay rather, you exalt your own praises, if you raise up the honor that has been given to a Senator. [2] Let the solicitude of the fathers urge me insistently toward public benefits, that it may be reckoned the more to your heralding, when I shall have deserved to please with such consolation. My second care is to commend myself to you after the princes, because we are confident that you love that which we perceive the masters of affairs also to command: first, that we should account that useful which is honorable, that justice may always accompany our acts like an attendant, and that what we have not bought from a self-controlled prince we should sell shamefully to no one. [3] You have heard, princely men, what weights of affairs I have undertaken, being proclaimed for them. He is required beyond his strength who is praised for having entered upon the summits of dignity. These things we do not dare to call false, but we confess they are greater still: for such judgments did not find merits, but made them; nor indeed do we boast on that account, we who understand that our masters wished to raise up lowly things, lest they should seem to have bestowed such immense things upon the undeserving. The good things of a praiseworthy time carry us away and, as though thirsting from long aridity, invite us to a draught of the sweetest savor. [4] O blessed fortune of the age! Under a prince at leisure there reigns the affection of a mother, through whom the whole is so carried out that a general charity is felt to shelter us. To her, whom all things serve, leisure renders a glorious obedience, and by a marvelous tempering of concord, before she could rule peoples, she had already begun to govern by her own character. This is assuredly the most difficult kind of ruling: to exercise as a young person a princedom over one's own feelings. It is altogether a rare good for a master to triumph over his own character, and to attain in a flourishing age that to which hoary modesty is scarcely believed to arrive. [5] Let us rejoice, conscript fathers, and render thanks to the supernal majesty with suppliant devotion, since no clemency will be difficult for our prince with the advance of time, who in boyish years learned to serve piety. But let us assign this marvel to the character of both: for so great is the maternal spirit, that even by right an outside prince ought to have served her. [6] For most worthily do all kingdoms venerate her, whom to see is a reverence, to hear speaking is a marvel. For in what tongue is she not proven most learned? She is eloquent with the brilliance of Attic eloquence: she shines with the pomp of Roman speech: she glories in the abundance of her native tongue: she excels all in their own, since she is equally marvelous everywhere. For if to know one's vernacular tongue well belongs to the prudent person, what shall be estimated of such wisdom, which preserves so many kinds of eloquence with unhindered practice? [7] Hence there comes to the diverse nations a necessary and great protection, namely that before the ears of the most prudent lady no one needs an interpreter. For neither does an envoy suffer delay, nor does an interrupting party bear any loss from the slowness of a mediator, since each is both heard in his native words and answered with a response in his own tongue. To these things is joined, like an exceptional diadem, the inestimable knowledge of letters, through which, while the prudence of the ancients is learned, the royal dignity is always increased. [8] But although she rejoices in so great a perfection of tongues, in public action she is so silent that she might be believed to be idle. With few words she dissolves knotty disputes: she settles fervent wars under quietude, the public good is conducted silently. You do not hear proclaimed what is openly seen to be undertaken, and by a marvelous tempering she accomplishes through dissembling what she knows must be hastened. [9] What such thing did honored antiquity deserve? We have learned that Placidia, celebrated in the world's opinion, glorious by the lineage of certain princes, was zealous for her purple-clad son; while she administered the empire remissly through him, it is recognized to have been unbecomingly diminished. Finally she procured for herself a daughter-in-law by the loss of Illyricum, and the union of the reigning pair was made a grievous division for the provinces. She also dissolved the soldiery by excessive ease. Protected by his mother, he endured what he could scarcely have borne if abandoned. [10] But under this lady, who had as many kings as she had kinsmen, with God's help our army terrifies foreigners: poised by provident disposition, it is neither worn down by continual wars nor again softened by long peace. In its very beginnings too, when novelty is always tried with uncertainty, against the wish of the prince of the East it made the Danube Roman. [11] It is known what the invaders endured: which things I judge ought therefore to be passed over, lest the spirit of an allied prince should bear the shame of the loser. For what she felt concerning our regions is given to be understood from this, that being injured she conferred the peace which, being entreated, she had been unwilling to grant to others. There is added the fact that, though so rarely solicited, he honored us with such great embassies, and that singular power, in order to raise up the lords of Italy, inclined the reverence of the Eastern summit. [12] The Franks too, most powerful by so many victories over barbarians, by how vast an expedition were they thrown into confusion? Once provoked, they feared to enter into contest with our men, they who with headlong leap have always brought battles upon the nations. But although that proud nation declined the conflict, it could nevertheless not avoid the destruction of its own king. For that Theudericus, long glorying in his powerful name, fell to the triumph of our princes, overcome rather by the battle of sickness: by divine ordering, I believe, lest either wars of kindred should defile us, or an army justly led forth should not have some vengeance. Hail, expedition of the Goths, more delightful than all good fortune, which cut off the royal enemy at the head and withdraws from us not even the death of a single least man. [13] Indeed the Burgundian too, that he might recover his own, was made devoted, surrendering himself wholly so that he might receive a little. For he chose to obey while intact rather than to resist while diminished: he then defended his kingdom more safely, when he laid down his arms. For by entreaty he recovered what he had lost in the battle line. Blessed are you, lady, with manifold praise, from whom by divine benefit all necessity of contest is taken away, since you either conquer the adversaries of the commonwealth by heavenly felicity or join them to yourself by spontaneous bounty under your commands. [14] Exult, Goths and Romans alike: a worthy marvel, which all may speak of. Behold, by God's bestowal, the fortunate lady has fulfilled what each sex has as its excellence: for she both produced for us a glorious king and vindicated a most extensive empire by the fortitude of her spirit. [15] These things, insofar as they pertain to arms, are somehow related: for if we should wish to enter the halls of her piety, scarcely will a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths be able to suffice us: she whose equity and will are indeed equal, but whose benignity is greater than her power. Let us therefore say small things about great ones, few about very many. You know how great goods she has bestowed upon our order by heavenly benignity: there is no doubt where the Senate is witness. The afflicted she has restored to a better state, the unharmed she has exalted with honors, and individually she has bestowed goods upon those whom she has guarded under universal protection. [16] Those things which we assert have already grown. For consider the patrician Liberius, prefect also of the Gauls, a military man, most pleasing in fellowship, illustrious in merits, conspicuous in form, but more beautiful in his wounds, having obtained the rewards of his labors, so that he neither lost the prefecture, which he administered well, and a doubled honor adorned the exceptional man: she confessed his merit, for whom one office alone does not suffice as a reward. For he also received a present dignity, lest one who had deserved well of the commonwealth should, by being long absent, be thought ungrateful. [17] O admirable benevolence of the masters, which so far exalted the aforesaid man that, the fasces having been granted, she judged a patrimony also should be added: which was so gratefully received by all that, in his gift, all believed themselves rather to be enriched, since whatever is yielded to a worthy man, this without doubt is felt to have been conferred upon many. What then shall I say of her firmness of spirit, which conquered even the much-praised philosophers? For from the lady's mouth there proceeds a beneficent word and a promise abiding in security. [18] The things we speak are not less proven to us, conscript fathers: a true witness is he who praises from experience. For you have learned what wishes have striven against me: neither gold nor great prayers prevailed: all things were attempted, that the glorious constancy of the most wise lady might be proven. [19] The order of discourse demands that we shake out the pomp of the ancient Augustae by a modern comparison. But how shall feminine examples be able to suffice for her, to whom all the praise of men yields? If that royal company of her forebears were to behold her, they would soon see their own heraldings as in a most pure mirror. For Hamal shone with felicity, Ostrogotha with patience, Athala with mildness, Winitarius with equity, Unimundus with form, Thorismuth with chastity, Walamer with faith, Theudimer with piety, and her renowned father with wisdom, as you have already seen. Here assuredly all would recognize their own qualities individually, but would happily confess them to be surpassed, since the heralding of one cannot by right be equaled with a crowd of virtues. [20] Estimate what joy they would have over such an heir, who was able to surpass the merits of all. You may perhaps ask separately for the good qualities of the prince: he abundantly proclaims the offspring, who praises its author. Then you retain the exceptional saying of the most eloquent Symmachus: 'I look with felicity to the increases of his virtue, I who defer praising his beginnings.' Come to my aid, conscript fathers, and by rendering thanks on my behalf to our common masters, pay my debt by your satisfaction: for just as one is not able to satiate the wishes of all, so many are able to fulfill the dispositions of one.

I. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE SENATOR PPO. [1] Commendatis mihi, patres conscripti, provectum meum, si vobis intellego fuisse votivum: credo enim evenisse prosperrime quod tot felices constat optasse. desideria quippe vestra bonorum omnium probantur auspicia, quando nemo potest talium favore suscipi, nisi quem divinitas praecepit augeri. mutuamini ergo gratiam, ut exigatis obsequium. natura rerum est amare collegam. laudes quin immo vestras extollitis, si honorem qui Senatori datus est erigatis. [2] Sollicitudo patrum ad publicas me utilitates instanter impellat, ut vestro magis imputetur praeconio, cum tali meruero placere solacio. secunda mihi est cura vobis me commendare post principes, quia illud vos amare confidimus, quod et rerum dominos iubere sentimus: primum, ut hoc putemus utile quod honestum, ut nostros actus quasi pedisequa semper iustitia comitetur et quod a continenti principe non emimus, nulli turpiter venditemus. [3] Audistis, principes viri, quae rerum pondera praedicatus exceperim. supra vires exigitur, qui dignitatis culmina laudatur ingressus. haec non audemus falsa dicere, sed confitemur esse potiora: nam talia iudicia non invenerunt merita, sed fecerunt: neque enim nos inde iactamus, qui intellegimus dominos nostros humilia voluisse sustollere, ne videantur inmeritis tam ingentia praestitisse. rapiunt nos praedicandi temporis bona et velut longa ariditate sitientes ad haustum dulcissimi saporis invitant. [4] O saeculi beata fortuna! sub principe feriato matris regnat affectio, per quam totum sic peragitur, ut generalis nos tegere caritas sentiatur. huic gloriosum praestat obsequium cui omnia serviunt et mirabili temperamento concordiae, antequam possit populos regere, suis iam coepit moribus imperare. hoc est profecto difficillimum regnandi genus exercere iuvenem in suis sensibus principatum. rarum omnino bonum est dominum triumphare de moribus et hoc consequi in florida aetate, ad quod vix creditur cana modestia pervenire. [5] Gaudeamus, patres conscripti, et supernae maiestati gratias supplici devotione referamus, quando nulla erit accessu temporis difficilis clementia nostro principi, qui in annis puerilibus didicit servire pietati. sed hoc miraculum utriusque moribus demus: nam tantus est genius maternus, cui etiam iure princeps servire debuisset extraneus. [6] Hanc enim dignissime omnia regna venerantur, quam videre reverentia est, loquentem audire miraculum. qua enim lingua non probatur esse doctissima? Atticae facundiae claritate diserta est: Romani eloquii pompa resplendet: nativi sermonis ubertate gloriatur: excellit cunctos in propriis, cum sit aequaliter ubique mirabilis. nam si vernaculam linguam bene nosse prudentis est, quid de tali sapientia poterit aestimari, quae tot genera eloquii inoffensa exercitatione custodit? [7] Hinc venit diversis nationibus necessarium magnumque praesidium, quod apud aures prudentissimae dominae nullus eget interprete. non enim aut legatus moram aut interpellans aliquam sustinet de mediatoris tarditate iacturam, quando uterque et genuinis verbis auditur et patriotica responsione componitur. iungitur his rebus quasi diadema eximium inpretiabilis notitia litterarum, per quam, dum veterum prudentia discitur, regalis dignitas semper augetur. [8] Sed cum tanta gaudeat perfectione linguarum, in actu publico sic tacita est, ut credatur otiosa. paucis litigia nodosa dissolvit: bella ferventia sub quiete disponit, silentiose geritur publicum bonum. non audis praedici quod palam videtur assumi et temperamento mirabili dissimulando peragit quod adcelerandum esse cognoscit. [9] Quid tale antiquitas honora promeruit? Placidiam mundi opinione celebratam, aliquorum principum prosapia gloriosam purpurato filio studuisse percepimus, cuius dum remisse administrat imperium, indecenter cognoscitur imminutum. nurum denique sibi amissione Illyrici comparavit factaque est coniunctio regnantis divisio dolenda provinciis. militem quoque nimia quiete dissolvit. pertulit a matre protectus quod vix pati potuit destitutus. [10] Sub hac autem domina, quae tot reges habuit quot parentes, iuvante deo, noster exercitus terret externos: qui provida dispositione libratus nec assiduis bellis adteritur nec iterum longa pace mollitur. in ipsis quoque primordiis, quando semper novitas incerta temptatur, contra Orientis principis votum Romanum fecit esse Danuvium. [11] Notum est quae pertulerint invasores: quae ideo praetermittenda diiudico, ne genius socialis principis verecundiam sustineat perditoris. quid enim de nostris partibus senserit, hinc datur intellegi, quando pacem contulit laesus, quam aliis concedere noluit exoratus. additur quod tantis nos legationibus tam raro requisitus ornavit et singularis illa potentia, ut Italicos dominos erigeret, reverentiam Eoi culminis inclinavit. [12] Franci etiam, tot barbarorum victoriis praepotentes, quam ingenti expeditione turbati sunt? lacessiti metuerunt cum nostris inire certamen qui praecipiti saltu proelia semper gentibus intulerunt. sed quamvis superba natio declinaverit conflictum, vitare tamen proprii regis nequivit interitum. nam Theodericus ille diu potenti nomine gloriatus in triumphum principum nostrorum langoris potius pugna superatus occubuit: ordinatione credo divina, ne nos aut affinium bella polluerent aut iuste productus exercitus vindictam aliquam non haberet. macte procinctus Gothorum omni felicitate iucundior, qui hostem regalem capite caedis et nobis nec unius ultimi fata subducis. [13] Burgundio quin etiam ut sua reciperet, devotus effectus est, reddens se totus, dum accepisset exiguum. elegit quippe integer oboedire quam imminutus obsistere: tutius tunc defendit regnum, quando arma deposuit. recuperavit enim prece quod amisit in acie. beatam te, domina, laude multiplici, cui divino beneficio necessitas tollitur cuncta certaminis, quando adversos rei publicae aut caelesti felicitate vincis aut tuis imperiis spontanea largitate coniungis. [14] Exultate, Gothi pariter ac Romani: dignum miraculum, quod omnes loquantur. ecce praestante deo felix domina quod habet eximium uterque sexus, implevit: nam et gloriosum regem nobis edidit et latissimum imperium animi fortitudine vindicavit. [15] Haec quantum ad arma pertinent, utcumque referuntur: nam si pietatis eius atria velimus intrare, vix nobis poterunt centum linguae centumque ora sufficere: cui par est quidem aequitas et voluntas, sed maior benignitas quam potestas. dicamus igitur parva de magnis, pauca de plurimis. scitis quanta bona nostro ordini caelesti benignitate largita est: nihil est dubium, ubi est testis senatus. afflictos statu meliore restituit, illaesos sublimavit honoribus et singillatim bona tribuit, quos sub universali munimine custodivit. [16] Ea quae asserimus iam creverunt. respicite namque patricium Liberium praefectum etiam Galliarum, exercitualem virum, communione gratissimum, meritis clarum, forma conspicuum, sed vulneribus pulchriorem, laborum suorum munera consecutum, ut nec praefecturam, quam bene gessit, amitteret et eximium virum honor geminatus ornaret: confessus meritum, cui solus non sufficit ad praemium. accepit enim et praesentaneam dignitatem, ne de re publica bene meritus diu absens putaretur ingratus. [17] O admiranda benivolentia dominorum, quae in tantum extulit praedictum virum, ut donatis fascibus et patrimonium iudicaret addendum: quod sic ab universis gratanter exceptum est, ut in munere eius cuncti se potius crederent esse ditatos, quando quicquid digno ceditur, hoc multis sine dubio collatum esse sentitur. quid ergo de animi firmitate loquar, quae vicit et philosophos valde praedicatos? procedit enim ex ore dominae beneficus sermo et manens sub securitate promissio. [18] Non sunt nobis, patres conscripti, minus probata quae loquimur: verus testis est, qui laudat expertus. cognovistis enim quae contra me vota conflixerunt: non aurum, non magnae valuere preces: temptata sunt universa, ut probaretur sapientissimae dominae gloriosa constantia. [19] Ordo flagitat dictionis Augustarum veterum pompam moderna comparatione excutere. sed quemadmodum illi sufficere poterunt exempla feminea, cui virorum laus cedit universa? hanc si parentum cohors illa regalis aspiceret, tamquam in speculum purissimum sua praeconia mox videret. enituit enim Hamalus felicitate, Ostrogotha patientia, Athala mansuetudine, VVinitarius aequitate, Unimundus forma, Thorismuth castitate, VValamer fide, Theudimer pietate, sapientia, ut iam vidistis, inclitus pater. cognoscerent hic profecto universi singillatim propria, sed feliciter faterentur esse superata, quando unius praeconium cum turba se iure non potest aequare virtutum. [20] Aestimate quale eis esset de tali herede gaudium, quae merita potuit transire cunctorum. quaeratis forsitan sequestratim principis bona: abunde praedicat subolem, qui eius laudat auctorem. deinde retinetis facundissimi Symmachi eximium dictum: 'specto feliciter virtutis eius augmenta, qui differo laudare principia'. subvenite, patres conscripti, et agendo pro me communibus dominis gratias debitum meum vestra satisfactione persolvite: nam sicut unus satiare non valet omnium vota, ita multi unius possunt complere disposita.