Letter 9025: We have crowned with our benefits the man already rich in virtues, wealthy in character, and full of great honors --...

25. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME. [1] We have indeed heaped up our benefits, conscript fathers, upon a Senator abounding in virtues, rich in character, full of great honors; and if you consider his merits, we owe everything that we are paying out. For by what recompense is he to be commended, who has often filled the ears of his rulers with brilliant praise, who has handled the dignities entrusted to him with exceptional seriousness, and who has striven to make times such as might deservedly be praised in a prince? Truth and the eloquence of his words drew the mind of the one reigning, and to him he reported all things in such a way that the very one who did them marveled at them. [2] He alone alleged what would profit all, and while he lends out purple-clad praises to his hearer, he made our rule pleasing to you. For he commends his own people who soothes the royal eminence with conciliatory oratory, since from among you too another such man is believed to exist, from whom like services may be required. [3] With what eloquence too, in that very Hall of Liberty, did he devotedly proclaim the father of our clemency! You recall how that noble orator embellished his deeds, making his virtues more wonderful than his honors. In a finished matter it is granted to prove what we say. Estimate, conscript fathers, with what favor you could be regarded by him, by whose body he saw himself thus adorned. For to glorious lords praises are more welcome than tributes, because a stipend is paid even to a tyrant, but commendation is owed to none but a good prince. What, you men of acclaim, do you believe he was content only with this, that he should strive to praise living lords, from whom, while perhaps a return of rewards is sought, the wearinesses of labor are not avoided? [4] He extended himself also into our ancient lineage, learning by reading what the hoary knowledge of our elders scarcely retained. He led the kings of the Goths, hidden in long oblivion, out from the hiding place of antiquity. He restored the Amals together with the splendor of their race, plainly showing that we possess a royal stock in the seventeenth generation. [5] He made the Gothic origin to be Roman history, gathering as if into one garland that flowering seed which before had been scattered here and there throughout the fields of books. [6] Weigh carefully how much he cherished you in our praise, who taught that the nation of your prince was wonderful from antiquity, so that, just as you have always been esteemed noble by your ancestors, so an ancient line of kings might rule over you. We yield, conscript fathers, and if we still wish to recount, the benefits conferred are surpassed. [7] With how great labor too did he devote himself to our beginnings, when the newness of the kingdom demanded that many things be set in order? He alone was sufficient for all matters: the public dictation required him, our counsels required him, and by his labor it was brought about that the empire should not labor. [8] We found him indeed a Master, but he fulfilled for us the office of Quaestor, and paying off the dues with most just devotion, he gladly displayed for the heir's advantage that prudence which he had learned from our author. But adding something greater to these things, he aided the beginnings of our reign both with arms and with letters. For while concerns for the coasts pressed upon royal thoughts, suddenly, cast out from the inner chambers of letters, the equal of his ancestors, he took up the command undaunted; and because an enemy was lacking to him, he triumphed by his exceptional character. [9] For he fed the assigned Goths at his own expense, so that he neither distressed the provincials nor burdened our treasury with the weight of expenditures. His arms felt no losses to the landholders. He was indeed the truest guardian of the provinces: for he properly is to be called a defender who protects without harm. [10] But soon, as the season closed the passage of ships and the care of war was released, he exercised his talent rather as an author of laws, healing without loss to the litigants what before had stood torn apart for a price. Such, you read, was the command of Metellus in Asia, such that of Cato in Spain, who were praised more for their discipline than through arms: not unjustly, because to engage the enemy is always a varied outcome, but it is undoubted glory to have guarded the measure of one's conduct. [11] What then? Did he, presuming on such conduct, vaunt himself with any elation, while it is natural to men to be lifted up when they have learned that they are well esteemed concerning themselves? Did he not conduct himself with such fellowship that he believed the favor of his prince had been granted to him only for benefits, being benevolent to all, moderate in prosperity, knowing not how to be angry unless gravely provoked? He who, though he is rigid in justice, does not persist austere when it comes to the remission of angers: an outstanding distributor of his own goods, and while he knows not how to seek what belongs to others, he knows how to offer his own bountifully. These ways, therefore, divine reading made firm, since matters are always well managed if the fear of heaven is set against human impulses. For from this is taken the manifest knowledge of all the virtues; from this wisdom is seasoned with the savor of truth. Thus he is rendered humble toward all things, whom heavenly doctrine has imbued. [12] To this man therefore, conscript fathers, with God as our sponsor, from the twelfth indiction we have granted the dignity of the Praetorian Prefecture to be governed, that he may, by God's favor, with his integrity settle all the complaints gathered through the trafficking of faithless men, and may make himself, though so greatly longed for, such that he can be beneficial to all. May the powers above attend our dispositions, so that he whom we have found prudent through long association may be discovered most prosperous for himself, most faithful to us, useful to the commonwealth, and may leave to posterity a fame through which he may make his family glorious for the ages. Cassiodorus

XXV. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Cumulavimus quidem, patres conscripti, beneficiis nostris copiosum virtutibus, divitem moribus, plenum magnis honoribus Senatorem: cuius si merita consideretis, debemus omne quod solvimus. qua enim compensatione commendandus est, qui aures dominantium luculenta saepius praedicatione complevit, dignitates sibi creditas eximia gravitate tractavit et nisus est tempora facere quae merito laudarentur in principe. trahebat regnantis animum veritas et disertitudo dictorum, cui sic omnia retulit, ut miraretur ipse qui fecit. [2] Allegavit solus quod omnes iuvaret et dum purpuratas auditori suo fenerat laudes, gratiosum vobis nostrum fecit inperium. commendat enim suam gentem, qui oratione placabili permulcet regiam summitatem, quando ex vobis et alter talis creditur, a quo similia postulentur. [3] Patrem quoque clementiae nostrae in ipsa curia Libertatis qua disertitudine devotus asseruit! recolitis quemadmodum facta eius orator nobilis excolebat, virtutes ipsius plus mirabiles faciens quam honores. in absoluto datur probare quod dicimus. aestimate, patres conscripti, quali gratia potuistis ab illo respici, a quorum se corpore sic videbat ornari. gloriosis quippe dominis gratiora sunt praeconia quam tributa, quia stipendium et tyranno penditur, praedicatio autem nisi bono principi non debetur. quid, praeconiales viri, creditis his tantum fuisse contentum, ut dominos niteretur laudare superstites, a quibus dum vicissitudo praemiorum forsitan quaeritur, laboris taedia non vitantur? [4] Tetendit se etiam in antiquam prosapiem nostram, lectione discens quod vix maiorum notitia cana retinebat. iste reges Gothorum longa oblivione celatos latibulo vetustatis eduxit. iste Hamalos cum generis sui claritate restituit, evidenter ostendens in septimam decimam progeniem stirpem nos habere regalem. [5] Originem Gothicam historiam fecit esse Romanam, colligens quasi in unam coronam germen floridum quod per librorum campos passim fuerat ante dispersum. [6] Perpendite, quantum vos in nostra laude dilexerit, qui vestri principis nationem docuit ab antiquitate mirabilem, ut, sicut fuistis a maioribus vestris semper nobiles aestimati, ita vobis antiqua regum progenies inperaret. cedimus, patres conscripti, et si adhuc referre volumus, beneficia collata superantur. [7] Nostris quoque principiis quanto se labore concessit, cum novitas regni multa posceret ordinari? erat solus ad universa sufficiens: ipsum dictatio publica, ipsum consilia nostra poscebant, et labore huius actum est, ne laboraret inperium. [8] Reperimus eum quidem magistrum, sed implevit nobis quaestoris officium et mercedes iustissima devotione persolvens cautelam, quam ab auctore nostro didicerat, libenter heredis utilitatibus exhibebat. verum his aliquid maius adiciens primordia regni nostri et armis iuvit et litteris. nam dum curae litorum regias cogitationes incesserent, subito a litterarum penetralibus eiectus par suis maioribus ducatum sumpsit intrepidus, cui quia defuit hostis, moribus triumphavit eximiis. [9] Nam deputatos Gothos propriis pavit expensis, ut nec provinciales percelleret nec fiscum nostrum expensarum oneribus ingravaret. arma eius nulla possessorum damna senserunt. fuit nimirum provinciarum verissimus custos: nam ille defensor proprie dicendus est, qui tuetur innoxie. [10] Mox autem ut tempus clausit navium commeatum bellique cura resoluta est, ingenium suum legum potius auctor exercuit, sanans sine damno litigantium quod ante sub pretio constabat esse laceratum. talem Metelli in Asia, talem Catonis in Hispania legitis fuisse ducatum, qui plus de sua disciplina quam per arma laudati sunt: non iniuria, quia hostem congredi varius semper eventus est, indubitata vero gloria morum custodisse mensuram. [11] Quid ergo? num quid tali actione praesumens aliqua se elatione iactavit, dum familiare est hominibus extolli, cum bene de se cognoverint aestimari? nonne tanta se communione tractavit, ut principis sibi gratiam ad beneficia tantum crederet esse concessam, benivolus cunctis, moderatus in prosperis, ignorans nisi graviter lacessitus irasci? qui cum sit iustitia rigidus, ad remissiones irarum non perdurat austerus: suarum rerum distributor egregius et dum nesciat aliena quaerere, novit propria largus offerre. hos igitur mores lectio divina solidavit, quando semper bene geritur, si caelestis metus humanis motibus obponatur. hinc enim virtutum omnium sumitur manifesta cognitio: hinc sapientia veritatis sapore conditur. sic ad omnia redditur humilis, quem inbuit doctrina caelestis. [12] Huic ergo, patres conscripti, deo auspice a duodecima indictione praefecturae praetorianae regendam tribuimus dignitatem, ut querellas omnes infidelium nundinatione collectas deo praestante sua integritate componat faciatque tam nimium desideratus, ut cunctis possit esse beneficus. assint superna dispositis, ut quem nos probavimus longa conversatione prudentem, prosperrimus sibi, fidelissimus nobis, utilis rei publicae debeat inveniri et relinquat posteris famam, per quam gloriosam saeculis suam faciat esse familiam. Cassiodorus