Variae & Works 4 part 2/4

shun greedy things, that a province wearied by its own disasters may receive you as such a judge as it knows a Roman prince to have sent. It longs for excellent men, compelled by its calamities. Bring it about that it may delight to have been conquered. Let it feel nothing such as it was suffering, when it sought Rome. Let all sadness depart from calamity: let the clouded countenance be cleared at last. Now it befits that province to rejoice, since it has come to its own desires. Gladly must obedience be rendered to the Roman custom, to which you have been restored after long times, since a return is welcome there where it is established that your ancestors held advancement.

And therefore, recalled by God's grace to ancient liberty, clothe yourselves in the manners of the toga, put off barbarism, cast away cruelty of mind, since under the equity of our age it does not befit you to live by alien customs. Accordingly, considering your necessities with our innate gentleness—and may it be said with happy issue—we have believed that the worshipful man Gemellus, vicar of the prefects, proven to us in fidelity and industry, ought to be directed to set the province in order: hoping that he can in nothing offend, who understands that those who sin gravely displease us. Wherefore obey his ordinances according to our commands, since we believe that he decrees things profitable for you. Receive little by little juridical manners.

Let not novelty be irksome, which is upright. For what can be more fortunate than that men should trust in the laws alone and not fear the remaining chances? Public laws are the most certain comforts of human life, the helps of the weak, the curbs of the powerful. Love that whence both security comes and conscience prospers. For barbarism lives according to its own whim: where rather it finds its own death, who can have what pleases him. You now, being secure, display your riches: let the goods of your parents, hidden by long neglect, be brought forth into the light: since each shall be the nobler the more he shall have shone forth both with upright manners and with conspicuous means. For this reason indeed we have directed to you a vicar of the prefecture, that with so great a dignity we may seem to have appointed also a rule of civil life.

You shall enjoy what hitherto you were only hearing of. Understand that men are preferred not so much by bodily force as by reason, and that those deservedly grow who are able to furnish just things to others. They deserve good things who have been seen to choose our clemency, so that through their own advancements we may be able to show that we have judged truly of them. But if it befits such men to be looked after with public liberality, how much more is it worthy that they should possess their own, which is approved to be the common gift of justice? The worshipful Magnus therefore, condemning the company of the enemy because he remembered where he was born, returned home to the Roman empire: by whose absence it is said to have come about that his substance could perish.

And therefore by the present command we ordain that, both in fields and in slaves whether urban or rustic, or whatever belonging to him he can now prove to have been lost in any manner, he may recover it without any delay, retaining by our authority every right of ownership which he held: nor do we wish him to undergo any question concerning things belonging to him by ancient possession—him to whom it is of our purpose to grant even new things. It befits that we should look after just advantages for those who serve our palace, since public labour ought to be fruitful, so that, although unrewarded services are owed to us by right, we may nevertheless encourage services by moderate recompenses.

And therefore, delighted by the skill of your art, which you diligently exercise in carving and adorning marbles, by the present authority we concede that, you reasonably ordering it, there be dispensed the sarcophagi which in the city of Ravenna are sold for the burying of the dead, by whose benefit corpses are buried as in the heights—no small consolation to the mourning, since souls only depart from the converse of the world, but bodies do not leave behind those once their sweet survivors. Hence to certain men sorrows come at a price, and by a pitiable lot of their longings the gain to those who trade grows out of human death.

Yet in such a way that there be no unjust assessment under this occasion, lest the wretched be compelled, amid the bitter griefs of mourning, to bewail also the heavy losses of their means, and, constrained by an impious devotion, either be pressed to lose their patrimonies for the dead, or rather, grieving, cast their beloved bodies into the basest pits. Let there be a measure in the will of those who ask, since pity itself acts on behalf of the buyers. For he ought to be less harmed upon whom more seems to be imposed for the office of piety. Among the glorious cares of the commonwealth which by God's help we revolve in continual thought, the relief of the humble is at our heart, that against the power of the proud we may raise up the obstacle of our piety, nor let anything of audacity be permitted before us, whose purpose it is to trample upon proud things.

Moved therefore by the lamentable calamity of Castorius, whom a deadly envy of divers men has hitherto oppressed, the occasion has furnished us with salutary ordinances, so that the aid of our piety may prevail more than the unjust cunning of the wicked. And therefore by the present authority we decree to you that, if the prefect, the magnificent man Faustus, has either burdened with titles or detained by private usurpation those things which Castorius possessed, the estate, together with another of the same value, be at once restored to him by the invader, with you pressing the matter, so that we may by the remedy of our piety provide for one afflicted by cruel losses.

But if anyone be found a go-between in this presumption, such that he cannot be found fit for the things that have been commanded, bring him to us bound in chains, that satisfaction may be made by punishment for him whose means do not suffice for retribution. By such confusion therefore let the impulse of the already wicked mind grow quiet, lest he seem to have persecuted not so much Castorius as our own will. But if hereafter on any occasion that notorious craftsman attempt to harm the oft-mentioned Castorius, let him forthwith be struck with a fine of fifty pounds of gold, and let the punishment be greater than tortures—to behold unharmed the man whom he desired to see afflicted. Behold a deed which may forthwith temper and correct all the powers:

the praetorian prefect is not permitted to run riot in the injury of a humble man, and from him to whom we rise up, the power of doing harm to the wretched is taken away. Hence let all understand with what love of equity we are delighted, that we are willing even to diminish the power of our own judges, in order that we may be able to increase the goods of conscience. It is the way of human custom that men grasp the more at things varied, and although excellent things be held in use, everything that satiates produces weariness. Accordingly you, who continually dwell within the sacred walls, ask for the cause of disposing your own affairs that a respite ought to be granted you—not that so brilliant a dwelling-place wearies you, but that your return, renewed, may become sweeter.

And therefore to your illustrious magnitude our piety grants a respite of four months for withdrawing to the province: yet so that, these being fulfilled, you may hasten to return to your own household gods, in order that the Roman habitation, which we wish to throng with manifold concourse, may not, its inhabitants being withdrawn, grow scanty—it being most renowned of all the lands. This too we judge most fitting for you, since a Roman senator may grieve to be delayed elsewhere. For where is that grace of one's kindred? Where can so great a beauty of walls be beheld? It is a kind of sacrilege to make Rome absent from oneself too long, for those who can dwell in it with their hearths established.

It befits us to adorn our court with noble men, that both their wish may be fulfilled and the merits of persons may adorn our service. Accordingly we summon your magnitude to our presence, which we do not doubt is most pleasing to you, by these oracles, so that you, who have lived with us through a long age, may be captivated by the sweetness of our presence. For he hastens to a prince who can but see him propitious: for to whom it is permitted to hold our conversations believes them to be divine gifts. Wherefore we do not delay the desire of one whose sight we long for. We believe that you will come rejoicing, whom we eagerly await.

It is pleasant to commit things to be ordered to men of proven worth, since both the judgement of the one choosing rejoices in such men, and their substance is secure which is committed to the approved. For as we wish there to be one who pleases, so we take care that the one who has pleased may shine forth. Accordingly, initiated with prosperous auspices, set out for Sirmian Pannonia, once the seat of the Goths, girded with the dignity of the illustrious belt, and protect by arms the province committed to you, set it in order by law, that it may joyfully be able to receive ancient defenders—that province which knows that it once happily obeyed our forefathers. You know with what sincerity of conduct you commend yourself to us. The sole way of pleasing is open to you, if you imitate what we do.

Cherish equity, defend innocence with virtue of mind, that amid the perverse custom of the nations you may be able to demonstrate the justice of the Goths: who have always been so placed in the midst of praises that they both grasped the prudence of the Romans and possessed the valour of the peoples. Remove the customs abominably grown ingrained: let a case there be handled rather with words, not with arms; let not the losing of a suit be joined with perishing; let the abjurer of another's property restore the theft, not his life; let not civil litigation snatch away more than wars consume; let them raise their shields against enemies, not against kinsmen.

And lest poverty perchance seem to drive anyone headlong to death, render for such men a plainly glorious loss, being about to gather from us the most abundant fruit of grace, if you can there plant a civil purpose and one truly worthy of our judges—if the judge undergo a loss, so that one about to perish may gain life. Wherefore let our custom be implanted in fierce minds, until the savage spirit grows accustomed to live well. Our providence does not desert its own institution, since, ever intent upon things profitable to its subjects, it makes its dispositions, so that those who know that we have had care of them may be roused to greater devotion.

Hence it is that to the illustrious man Colosseus, mighty in name and in strength, we have committed your governance and defence, so that he who has hitherto given many proofs of his virtue may rather be increased in things to come. And therefore show now also to him your patience, often approved, in his presence, so that in those things which he shall have ordered to be reasonably done for the advantage of our kingdom, they may be fulfilled with commendable devotion: for constancy proves fidelity, and he asserts the integrity of his own mind who persists in continual obediences. This moreover we have believed you ought to be admonished of: that you desire to rage not against yourselves, but against the enemy. Let no small matter lead you to extreme perils: acquiesce in justice, in which the world rejoices.

Why do you resort to single combat, you who have no venal judge? Lay down the sword, you who have no enemy. Most wickedly you raise your arm against kinsmen, for whom it is established that one ought gloriously to die. What need has a man of a tongue, if an armed hand pleads his cause? Or how can there be peace where it is believed to be, if under civil order there is fighting? Imitate surely our Goths, who know how to wage battles abroad and to exercise moderation at home. Thus we wish you to live, even as you behold our forefathers, by the Lord's bestowal, to have flourished. We love to insert into public functions persons conspicuous for probity of manners, that through the obediences of the faithful an increase of advantage may grow for us.

Accordingly, knowing the sincerity of your mind through illustrious proofs, our ordinance commits to you the office of the siliquaticum, which by the right of the faithful lordship we had given over to the scrutiny of the first, second, and third indiction throughout the province of Dalmatia: so that wherever, upon your investigation, a public loss shall have been discovered by any trace of fraud, it may without doubt be brought into our treasuries: since we seek not so much gains as we hasten to detect the characters of our subjects. Moreover we order you to search out by mining the iron-mines of the aforesaid Dalmatia, where earthly softness brings forth the rigour of iron, and is melted by fire so that it may be transformed into hardness. Hence, by God's help, comes the defence of the fatherland:

hence the advantage of fields is procured, and is extended for the uses of human life with manifold convenience. It commands gold itself, and compels the wealthy to serve the poor when they are steadfastly armed. It befits therefore to examine this commodity with diligent inquiry, through which both gains are generated for us and destructions procured for our enemies. Be therefore solicitous concerning the aforesaid scrutiny, and temperate in public advantages, so that our reasonable profit may be able to procure for you an increase of growth. Although it belongs to your prudence to furnish protection to those appointed to the public advantage, yet our admonition adds itself, that it may be done the more securely where the reverence of our command accommodates itself.

Accordingly the most renowned man Simeonius, whose fidelity has long been known to us and whose devotion has been proven, we have directed by our ordinance to the province of Dalmatia for the ordering of the siliquaticum and likewise of the iron-mines. To him do not deny the aids he seeks, that your sublimity may become more commended to us, since he hastens to give himself to public functions. It is the purpose of the royal piety to cut away the place of unjust hatreds, and to restrain the haughtiness of armed power by reverence for our commands. For the offence of a superior is hostile to the humble, when it is drawn to praise if vengeance be acquired upon men of middling station.

Accordingly, long tossed by varied persecution, you have not vainly fled to the remedies of our piety, asserting that the most eminent prefecture is a terror to you, lest private hatreds be sated against you through the public discipline. But we, who wish the dignities we have bestowed to obey justice, not grief, fortify you with our protection against unlawful presumptions, so that, by the interposition of the royal majesty, the fury of seething spirits may be dashed upon its own rocks, and insolence may rather take punishment upon itself, while the innocent is shielded. For so long is one called a judge as he is also reckoned just, since a name which is taken from equity is not held through pride.

It remains now that you fulfil the office of the consulship you have assumed, and that, diligent and devoted, you spend yourself upon the public interests which your predecessors are known to have administered, and that you hasten to display as much modesty as you are protected by us. For if you take delight in knowing that praetorian prefects have been removed for harming you, what do you suppose will befall you, who are shown to be under that same office, should you act wickedly? The sight of those is ever pleasing to us who have settled in our minds by glorious deeds, since they who have been approved among us as zealous for virtue have given a perpetual pledge of their love.

Accordingly we summon Your Greatness, proven to us by glorious service, to the court by the present command, so that our adornment may grow through your royal attendance and you may be exalted in our sight. For it is fitting that he too be sought out who made our times to be praised exceedingly. You have adorned the palaces by the integrity of your conscience; you have granted to the peoples a profound tranquillity. Hence you have become better known to all, because he who wished to do so could not know you when set in power; but when brought before the tribunals, men saw a judge without any terror of loss; you became more precious to all because you were sold for no bribe. Who would not long to see such a man, to whom it is established that we have publicly rendered favour?

For we who strove to restrain another have praised you even with the palace as witness. Quicken your steps, hasten your coming with speed. It befits him to come eagerly who knows that he can be upheld by the prince. Who could fail to know that the gain of the suppliant is our own advantage, and that for good princes that increases which they can bestow by kindly generosity? For these royal gifts are like seeds: scattered, they grow up into a harvest; gathered into one, they perish. We desire, therefore, to divide gifts bestowed upon many, that our benefits may sprout everywhere.

And therefore, having received the petition presented in the proceedings of the illustrious and magnificent patrician Paulinus, which is contained below: certain granaries ruined by the decay of long age, to which antiquity affixed this name or that, if they are now shown to be by no means necessary for public use, and if no store belonging to the treasury is gathered there, we grant by absolute liberality to the aforesaid man, together with all things pertaining to them, so that, having taken up the licence of building and of transmitting them to posterity, he may dispose them to be of profit to his own interests; for whoever has preferred to undertake the restoration of ruins confers a greater service upon the commonwealth, especially in that city where it is fitting that all things should shine forth well-constructed, lest amid so many beauties of the walls an unsightly ruin of stones should appear.

In other cities indeed less splendid things are tolerated; but in that one we suffer not even anything mediocre, which is praised before all by the mouth of the world. The care of the Roman city ever keeps watch in our thoughts. For what is more worthy for us to deal with than to demand the restoration of that which is known to comprise the adornment of our commonwealth? Accordingly let Your Illustrious Highness know that we have dispatched the respectable man John on account of the splendid sewers of the Roman city, which bring such astonishment to those who behold them that they can surpass the wonders of other cities. There you may see rivers, as it were enclosed within hollow mountains, running down through immense channels of waterproof concrete;

You may see ships built to be navigated through the rapid waters with no small care, lest, if the torrent be hurled headlong, they should suffer sea-like shipwrecks. From this, Rome, one may gather how singular is the greatness that is in you. For what among cities would dare to contend with your summits, when not even your lowest parts can find their like? And therefore we resolve that you provide to the aforesaid John the assistance of your office, since we wish public persons to carry out our ordinances, removing private hands, which more boldly plunge into things unlawful.

Although we desire to spend tireless care upon our whole commonwealth, and, with God's favour, strive to recall all things to their former state, nevertheless the more anxious increase of the Roman city constrains us, where whatever is expended upon adornment is displayed for the general joy. It has therefore come to our knowledge, through the report of many—which cannot conceal crimes so wicked—that detestable usurpers are seizing many things to the prejudice of the city of Rome, so that she upon whom we desire to bestow the highest zeal suffers unjust deceit. Wherefore we cause our ordinances to come to your notice, by which we believe the losses of your city will be all the more displeasing.

It is said, therefore, that out of care for private gain, the water of the aqueducts—which ought with the highest zeal to be safeguarded—has been diverted to work water-mills or to irrigate gardens: a base and pitiable thing that this should be done in that city, which would scarcely be fitting to undertake across the fields. And because we cannot correct the nature of what has been admitted beyond what the laws allow—lest, while we wish to benefit the structures, we should destroy the eminence of the laws—if the master of this most abominable affair is protected by the prescription of thirty years, let him, having received a fitting price, sell off his error, so that what causes harm to the public works may not be presumed any further, lest what we now correct under indulgence we should later avenge most severely. But if anything of the kind has been attempted by recent presumption, let it without hesitation be removed.

For the general benefit ought to be preferred to the desire of one man, against which even in just causes it can rarely be opposed. We have learned, moreover, that slaves assigned by the provision of princes to the service of the aqueducts have passed into the ownership of private men. Besides this, bronze of no small weight, and—what is most easily plundered—the softest lead, are reported to have been carried off from the adornment of the walls, things which their authors consecrated to the ages. For Ionos, king of Thessaly, discovered bronze, and Midas, ruler of Phrygia, discovered lead. And how wretched it is that, from the very thing whence others gained a reputation for foresight, we should be seen to have incurred a reputation for negligence! Temples too and public places, which we granted to many petitioners for restoration, are reported to have been delivered up rather to demolition.

And since the correction of evil things delights us, lest licence should seem to have been granted by our silence, we have directed the respectable man John, chosen by our justice, to investigate these matters which we have mentioned above, so that all things, discussed in their order, may be made clear to us by the service of a report, to the end that we may decree, after the manner of our justice, what ought to be done about each matter or about the usurpers thereof. Apply now your zeal, furnish your assistance, so that you may appear to fulfil with a pleasing mind the inquiry which you ought to have requested. It is established with us that the services of the faithful do not perish, but receive what was spent in times of sorrow in a better fortune.

To the people of Arles, therefore, who, enduring on our side, bore the want of a glorious siege, our humanity remits the fiscal tributes for the fourth indiction, in such wise that in future time they may return to their accustomed contribution; to the end both that we may be seen to have rendered a return to the well-deserving, and that from them, when the situation shall demand, the accustomed devotion may not be denied. Let those be satisfied in liberty who for our sake chose rather to hunger amid straits; let those be glad who faithfully endured sorrow. It is not fitting that he should at once be anxious about tributes who could scarcely escape the final disaster. We seek these things from men at rest, not from the besieged. For what would you exact from the master of a field whom you know not to have cultivated it?

They have already given us the precious tribute of their faith. It is unjust that base monies be exacted from those who have offered glorious consciences. It is pleasing to us that our wishes should advance toward the increase of the sacred order. We rejoice that such men emerge as deserve to shine with senatorial light, so that the favour of rank may be conferred upon men conspicuous for praise. For the curia lies open to those disciplined in the ways of the ancients; nor can he be judged a stranger to it who is a foster-child of the good arts. And therefore let Your Illustrious Magnificence cause those things to be displayed, in the case of the most distinguished Armentarius and Superbus his son, which hoary antiquity prescribes concerning those to be enrolled in the curia.

For this is the aforesaid Armentarius, who is commended to us both by the goodness of his parents and by his own talent, demanding by his merits the dignity which he hopes for through entreaties. For what is more worthy than that the toga-clad profession should also be clothed with senatorial honour, so that amid that throng of the learned it may dare to bring forth a free opinion, and not be curbed by the terror of inexperience—one whom the laws of eloquence urge to speak? Glorious, finally, is the knowledge of letters, because what is first in man it purifies, namely his morals; what is second, it supplies, namely the grace of words: thus by both benefits, wonderful as it is, it adorns both the silent and the speaking.

Let them, therefore, be led to the inner sanctuaries of Liberty, praised by their own merit, adorned by our judgement, destined without doubt to have a most gratified senate—men whose art it is to make of the angry a kindly man, of the suspect a reconciled one, of the harsh a gentle one, of the opponent a favourable one. What, then, can he not impose upon the fathers, who has had the power to bend the mind of the judge? It is our purpose to direct persons approved for fortitude and moderation to your governance and defence, so that both the welfare of the provincials may be relieved and the public good may be increased by good men presiding.

Accordingly we have judged that Count Marabad, known to us for his equity, ought to be directed to the city of Marseilles, so that, with God's help, he may accomplish whatever pertains to your security and civic order, and, mindful of our favour, may have care of justice; that he may bring solace to the lowly, set the severity of his discipline against the insolent, suffer no one finally to be oppressed by unjust presumption, but compel all to what is just, whence empire ever flourishes. Wherefore, in those things which the appointed man shall command you for the public good, obey with willing minds, so that your faith, which is already shown by earlier examples, may be declared also by subsequent proofs, because that obedience is the more pleasing which is preserved by enduring devotion.

But we for our part think to render a place to recompense, who cannot forget services rendered. It befits our liberality to hold firm constancy, because the prince's resolve ought to be unshaken, nor to be torn away for the zeal of the malicious—that which is known to be confirmed by our command. And therefore by the present order we decree that whatever, by our ordinance, the patrician Liberius is established to have assigned to you and to your mother by warrant, ought to remain in its strength, nor should you fear from anyone an unreasonable questioning, you who possess the firmness of our benefit.

It is the purpose of our piety not to deny a hearing to pitiable weeping, especially since it is our custom to refer all things to the laws, so that both the complainant may obtain his effect and the one accused may complain of having suffered no prejudice. Accordingly Firminus says that he has a suit against the magnificent man, the patrician Venantius, and that his propositions have frequently been despised by him. And because in lawsuits power is always suspect—since the will is believed to be present where the capacity is judged to be—we command, with reverence preserved, that the aforesaid man be admonished by you, so that under legitimate surety he may promise to direct an instructed person to our court, who, before the judges delegated by our authority, may be able to furnish a response to his pleadings:

this agent being about to receive the penalty of his own audacity, if against the magnificent man he should have the outcome of falsehood proved. If it befits Your Beatitude to be employed in others' causes, so that through you the clamour of those at strife may be stilled, how much more ought that to be referred to you which regards you as its authors? And therefore let Your Sanctity know that we have been approached by Germanus with a tearful allegation, who asserts himself to be the lawful son of the late Thomas, saying that a portion of his father's estate, which belongs to him by the laws, is detained by you.