Resultados25 letters/passages
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
Even if corpses do not feel theft, anyone who is shown to have robbed the dead is proven utterly devoid of all natural feeling. Consider what has been entrusted to you: the chastity of the living and the security of the dead. [5] You also have no small amount of revenue from perpetual tax rights across the provinces. Y …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It is right that royal devotion should accommodate itself to those wounded by the blow of fate, because those whom the adversity of their lot has crushed deserve all the more to be lifted up. We therefore declare to your magnificence by the present authority that you are to allow the sons of Ecdicius -- whom we had pre …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It is a pleasure to entrust responsibilities to proven men, since the judgment of the one who chooses is vindicated by their selection, and what is committed to the approved rests on a secure foundation. Just as we hope to find men who please us, so we take care that those who please us may flourish. Therefore, setting …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
[1] The Count of the Private Estates, as the very name suggests, was originally charged with managing the personal property of former emperors through the oversight of accountants. Because the office could not properly exercise judicial authority among people of the lowest legal condition, it wisely took on additional …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It would be pointless to praise eloquence in a quaestor, since he is specifically chosen for the purpose of enhancing the age's reputation through the quality of his words. Other judges are entrusted with collecting provincial revenues; others are given custody of the private treasury. But in the quaestor are lodged th …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect, to the Tax Collector of Venetia. The lavish provisions of the royal table are no small ornament to the state, for a ruler is believed to possess as much as the novelties on which he feasts. A private man has what his locality provides. But at a royal banquet, one ought to seek …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to Florianus, a Man of Distinction. [1] Lawsuits that have been settled should not be dragged out endlessly. For what peace will be given to those in dispute, if they will not submit even to lawful sentences? There is one harbor built amid human storms; if men pass it by in the heat of passion, they will …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Receive, conscript fathers, the appointment that marks the beginning of our reign. First decisions are always scrutinized more closely, because people believe the sequel will match the start. No one expects a ruler to be careful later if he is not seen guarding his reputation from the very first. A prudent gardener str …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
The blessings of our times seize our attention and, like travelers parched by a long drought, invite us to drink from the sweetest spring. What a fortunate age! Under a prince still at leisure, a mother's affection reigns, and through her everything is accomplished so that we all feel sheltered by a universal care. She …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect, to the Senate of the City of Rome. [Cassiodorus served as Praetorian Prefect under the Ostrogothic kings of Italy. The Variae are official state letters he drafted on behalf of the court.] Senators, you honor my appointment by making it clear that it was something you wished f …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Rejoice together, Goths and Romans alike -- here is a wonder for all to proclaim! By God's grace, our blessed queen has fulfilled what is finest in both sexes: she has given us a glorious king and defended a vast empire through the strength of her spirit. These things touch on military affairs and are reported as best …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to Honoratus, Illustrious Quaestor. [1] The office of quaestor is one of the most demanding in our administration, for the quaestor must not only be learned in the law but must also be able to express the king's will in language worthy of the dignity of the royal chancery. A clumsy letter reflects ill on …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Marabadus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious]. It befits our mercy to arrange petitioners' requests through sound administration, since the spirits of our subjects are relieved each time a mourner's complaint is settled. The respectable Liberius has come before us with a grievous petition, stating that …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
It is right that we should look after the just compensation of those who serve our palace, because public labor should be productive. Although service to us is owed freely by right, we should still encourage it through moderate rewards. Delighted by your skill in your craft -- which you practice diligently in carving a …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Your distinguished nobility and your great record of loyal service persuaded me to entrust you with governing in peacetime the city of Ticinum [Pavia], which you had defended in war. But now, struck by a sudden flood of gout in the joints, you have asked permission to seek the waters at Bormio [in the Alps] — specifica …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
From this comes an invaluable advantage for many nations: no one needs an interpreter before the ears of our most learned queen. No ambassador suffers delay, and no petitioner loses time waiting for a translator, since each is heard in his own words and answered in his own tongue. Add to all this, like a priceless crow …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Argolicus, Praefectus Urbis [Prefect of the City]. A prince's clemency rightly takes in those whom a father's love has left behind, since under a public parent the loss of one's own father should scarcely be felt. Destitute youth rightly turns to us, for the growth of all our people is our concern. Th …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Senator (Cassiodorus), Praetorian Prefect, to Pope John, Most Blessed Father. [1] It is not only by the authority of secular administration that I address you, most holy Father, but also by the bonds of that shared Christian faith which unites all the servants of God, whatever their earthly station. The praetorian pref …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
It is fitting that the splendor of Rome's buildings should have a skilled guardian, so that the marvelous forest of its monuments may be preserved through diligent care and new construction may be raised through expert craftsmanship. Our generosity does not shrink from this effort: we both restore the works of the anci …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to the Senate of the City of Rome. Senators, it is certain that your council flourishes with wise men. But it is also a distinguished fact that among you the honor of letters is woven in. Whenever we elevate someone to the high office of Quaestor [the chief legal officer who drafted royal decrees], we ju …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to Felix, a Man of Distinction. [1] Through the petition of Venantius, guardian of Plutianus, we have learned that you have been acting in a way unworthy of your station — that you have afflicted with financial injury the very ward whom you should have supported at your own expense. Your family relations …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
To these virtues is added a desirable literary education, which renders an already praiseworthy nature truly distinguished. Through learning, the wise man finds what makes him wiser; the warrior discovers what strengthens his courage; the prince learns how to govern his peoples with fairness. There is no condition in t …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
What the invaders suffered is well known -- but I choose to pass over the details, lest the spirit of our allied prince be embarrassed by another's disgrace. How highly the East regarded our court can be understood from this: the Eastern emperor freely granted peace to those who had offended him, though he had refused …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
This was received so gratefully by all that everyone felt enriched by his reward, since whatever is given to a worthy man is, without doubt, felt as a gift to many. What, then, shall I say of the queen's strength of mind, which surpasses even the most celebrated philosophers? From her lips flows generous speech and pro …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
There are many more such examples, if one investigates. Everything that can encounter adversity would be quickly destroyed if creatures did not care for their own safety. Let me return my words to you, master of the prison. Allow your penal sanctuary to be innocently empty. You are tormented, indeed, that no one is bei …