Resultados25 letters/passages
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It is our policy, conscript fathers, to grant rewards to upright character and to kindle men of good promise toward still better conduct by the fruit of our generosity. The examples set by rewards nourish virtue, and no one fails to strive for the highest standards of character when what conscience approves does not go …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
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 0.02
We also order this inquiry: the accounts between defensores, town councillors, and landowners must be traced, and whatever a landowner can prove he paid above the established tax rate from the recently concluded eighth indiction -- if it was neither deposited in our treasury nor shown by proper accounting to have been …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
We return to this subject a third time because nothing we have written matters more for the future of our kingdom. The strength of arms wins battles; the strength of learning wins the future. We have observed that among certain of our Gothic subjects, learning is regarded as a soft pursuit, suitable only for those unab …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
The remedy we have devised for you, conscript fathers, with a devoted heart, we will not allow to be turned against you by bitter suspicion -- because it amounts to an injury to help in secret while appearing to intend something else. Know, therefore, that our arms have been deployed for your safety, so that whoever da …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
You should gladly obey Roman custom, to which you have been restored after so long -- for the return is welcome to a place where your ancestors are known to have prospered. Therefore, recalled by God's grace to your ancient liberty, clothe yourselves in the manners of the toga. Cast off barbarism; throw away the cruelt …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Although it is natural for you to love your rulers with a pure heart and to act in such obedience that you may keep the king's favor, it has always been the particular mark of your ancestors that they were joined to their princes as limbs are joined to the head. What return can a people make who are defended with the g …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Severinus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious]. [This is one of the most detailed administrative letters in the Variae -- a comprehensive reform mandate for the province of Savia (roughly modern Slovenia and northwestern Croatia), dealing with tax fraud, corrupt officials, and the rights of barbarian set …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
My Senate grows in honors, increases ceaselessly in wealth. "Do not through discord scatter what you ought to defend through war. I have had many kings, but never one so learned. I have had wise men, but none so distinguished in both learning and devotion. I love this son of the Amal line [Witigis], nursed at my breast …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
The pain may subside, yes — but it leaves behind consequences worse than itself. In a novel form of misery, the illness appears to depart while the patient never stops being ill. Even debtor chains are sometimes released from those they torment, but these bonds, once they have captured a man, never release him for the …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to the Emperor Anastasius. [1] It befits us, most merciful Emperor, to seek peace, since we are known to have no cause for anger — for that man is already bound by his own conduct who is found unprepared for what is just. In every kingdom, tranquility ought to be desired, in which both peoples flourish a …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
The Nile of Egypt rises at fixed seasons, flooding the plains with its muddy overflow, churning and turbulent under a clear sky. But how much more beautiful it is that the Roman Claudia sends its purest streams through pipes across so many dry mountain summits to baths and houses, flowing so steadily that its welcome s …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Let us love the gifts God has granted there. Against this scourge of the human race, the timely defenses of these baths have been provided. What no decade of endurance can overcome, what no thousand potions can soften, is driven out there by pleasurable remedies. May God grant the desired blessing — so that I may confi …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Luduin [Clovis], King of the Franks. The divine will has ordained that the bonds of kinship among kings should strengthen, so that through their peaceable dispositions the longed-for tranquility of peoples may be achieved. This bond is sacred — it must not be violated by any upheaval. For what hostage …
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
[1] The complaint brought before our clemency by Patzenis is a serious one. He testifies that while he was on campaign in Gaul, Brandila committed such an outrage against him as to take his wife Regina for his own, disguising adultery under the pretense of a lawful marriage -- an insult to the standards of our times. W …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
You will recall, wisest of Emperors, that both through our ambassadors and through the very eloquent Peter, whom Your Piety recently sent to us, we have shown how earnestly we desire harmony with your August Serenity. Now again, through the same most holy man, I thought it right to repeat these appeals — so that you ma …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Athalaric to All Provincials Settled Throughout the Gauls. Although the passing of our grandfather of glorious memory may seem a sorrowful event to you, given his outstanding merits, nonetheless -- since he fell by the common condition of humanity -- he left us behind to continue the governance he had so singularl …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Scyllaceum [Squillace, on the coast of Calabria], the first city of the Bruttii — which Troy's destroyer Ulysses is said to have founded — is reported to be irrationally harassed by the excessive demands of presumptuous officials. This should not have been tolerated under my administration, since I am compelled to feel …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Athalaric to Liberius, Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls. [Liberius was a distinguished Roman senator who served as Praetorian Prefect of Gaul under the Ostrogothic crown. This letter announces the death of Theodoric the Great (526) and asks Liberius to secure loyalty oaths from the Gothic and Roman populations of G …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
[1] The grace of Your Piety delights us so deeply that whatever might contribute to our honor, we gladly seek from your side — because such requests are more properly called marks of mutual friendship than signs of need. For the gifts exchanged between allies do not diminish the giver but enrich both parties, and what …
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
Formula of the Count of the Aqueducts. [The Comes Formarum was responsible for Rome's famous aqueducts. Cassiodorus here pauses for a remarkable description of the city's water system.] Although the buildings of Rome can scarcely be called inferior to one another -- since everything that can be seen there was clearly d …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Where the season calls for a moderate order, I will not demand that things be purchased, nor will I attach official pricing to goods that are not actually needed. Concern yourselves only with what is customary; be at ease regarding innovation. I have judged that the only thing profitable for me is to keep you, with God …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Let us enter your thoughts as well, we who have inherited the royal succession. To have so great and powerful a protector on my side — that, for me, surpasses dominion itself. May the early days of my reign earn the support of a long-reigning emperor. May my youth receive the protection of your favor, so that I am not …