Letter 3033: It pleases us that our hopes for the growth of the sacred order are being fulfilled.

33. KING THEODERIC TO ARGOLICUS, MAN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK, PREFECT OF THE CITY. [1] It is pleasing to us that our wishes for the increase of the sacred order [the Senate] go forward. We rejoice that such men come to the fore, men who deserve to shine with senatorial light, so that the favor of high office may be conferred upon those conspicuous for their merit. For the Senate house lies open to those schooled in the disciplines of the ancients: nor can he be judged a stranger to it who is a foster-son of the liberal arts. And therefore let your illustrious Magnificence cause to be exhibited, in the case of the most distinguished Armentarius and his son Superbus, those formalities which hoary antiquity prescribes concerning those to be admitted to the Senate. [2] For this is the aforesaid Armentarius, who is commended to us both by the good standing of his parents and by his own talent, claiming by his merits the rank that he hopes to obtain by his prayers. For what could be more fitting than that the toga'd profession [the advocate's calling] should also be clothed with senatorial honor, so that in that throng of the learned he may dare to deliver his opinion freely, and not be checked by the terror of inexperience, he whom the laws of eloquence encourage to raise his voice? [3] Glorious, finally, is the knowledge of letters, because that which is foremost in a man, it purges his character; that which is second, it furnishes grace of speech: thus by both benefits, wondrous, it adorns both the silent and those who speak. Let them therefore be led to the inner sanctuary of Liberty, praised by their own merit, adorned by our judgment, destined without doubt to have the Senate most well disposed toward them, men whose art it is to make of an angry man a benevolent one, of a suspicious man one appeased, of a stern man a gentle one, of an opponent a man made favorable. What, then, could he fail to impose upon the Fathers, who has had the power to bend the mind of the judge?

XXXIII. ARGOLICO V. I. PRAEFECTO URBIS THEODERICUS REX. [1] Gratum nobis est vota nostra circa sacri ordinis augmenta proficere. laetamur tales viros emergere, qui senatoria mereantur luce radiare, ut laude conspicuis deferatur gratia dignitatis. curia namque disciplinis veterum patet: nec ei iudicari potest extraneus, qui bonarum artium est alumnus. atque ideo illustris magnificentia tua in clarissimo Armentario atque Superbo eius filio ea faciat exhiberi, quae circa referendos curiae cana dictat antiquitas. [2] Hic est enim praefatus Armentarius, qui et parentum bono et suo nobis commendatur ingenio, exigens meritis quam sperat precibus dignitatem. nam quid dignius, si et senatorio vestiatur honore togata professio, ut in illa turba doctorum audeat liberam proferre sententiam, nec frenetur imperitiae terrore, quem hortantur ad vocem iura facundiae? [3] Gloriosa est denique scientia litterarum, quia quod primum est in homine, mores purgat: quod secundum, verborum gratiam sumministrat: ita utroque beneficio mirabilis ornat et tacitos et loquentes. ducantur ergo ad penetralia Libertatis laudati merito suo, ornati nostro iudicio, habituri sine dubio gratissimum senatum, quorum ars est facere de irato benivolum, de suspecto placatum, de austero mitem, de adversante propitium. quid ergo patribus imponere non possit, qui flectere animum iudicantis evaluit?