Resultados25 letters/passages
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
King Theoderic to Alaric, King of the Visigoths. 1. Although the innumerable multitude of your ancestors gives confidence to your valor, and although you may recall that the mighty Attila was brought low by the forces of the Visigoths, nevertheless, since the hearts of fierce peoples grow soft in a long peace, beware o …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
Athalaric, King of the Goths, to Hilderic, King of the Vandals. We are forced by the harshest circumstances to bring bitter accusations against those we once called beloved kinsmen — accusations that no one who remembers the bonds of family loyalty can simply let pass. Who does not know that Amalafrida of divine memory …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
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 0.02
We rejoice in the kinship of your glorious valor -- that you have stirred the Frankish nation, long settled in ancient peace, into new battles, and that you have subdued the Alamannic peoples with your victorious hand, crushing their bravest warriors. But since excess in the founders of treachery always seems worthy of …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
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
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
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
[1] Although many kings have sought alliance with us, and we have given granddaughters and daughters in marriage, with God's inspiration, to strengthen those bonds, we consider that we gave nothing comparable to what we did when we made our own sister -- the singular glory of the Amal dynasty -- your wife: a woman equa …
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
King Theoderic to the King of the Warni. [1] Between kingdoms that share a frontier, peace is always preferable to war — not because war is always avoidable, but because its costs fall upon the innocent as well as the guilty, and because even a victorious war often destroys more than it creates. [2] We therefore write …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to the Haesti [a Baltic people]. Through the arrival of your envoys, we learned that you have gone to great lengths to make our acquaintance — you who dwell on the shores of the Ocean [the Baltic Sea] yet seek to join your minds with ours. A welcome and pleasing request indeed: that our fame should reach …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Certain matters concerning your interests that have come to our attention we have entrusted to the bearers of this letter to communicate to you verbally, so that, better informed, you may enjoy the desired victory with confidence. Your welfare is our glory, and we consider the kingdom of Italy to prosper whenever we le …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Gundobad, King of the Burgundians. It is a grave evil to see the wills of beloved royal persons set against each other, and to watch in silence as something lamentable threatens to erupt from their conflict. If our kinsmen fight while we stand by and do nothing, the blame falls on us too. You all hold …
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 …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
It seems an entirely honorable and necessary undertaking to petition a pious Emperor for the security of the Roman state, since it is fitting to seek from you what can benefit our liberty. For among all the blessings God has uniquely granted you, nothing is more glorious than the knowledge that you have the power to gi …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Athalaric, King of the Goths, to the Emperor Justin. Most merciful of princes, I could rightly be criticized if I pursued peace with you halfheartedly — peace that my forebears, as everyone knows, sought with the greatest ardor. What kind of heir would I be if I fell short of their achievement in so great a glory? It i …
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
Pope Gelasius to King Theodoric. It is well known to Your Magnanimity that a bishop is compelled by the very nature of his office to intercede on behalf of anyone who asks. Trusting in the Christian piety of your mind, I have thought it right to commend to you by this letter the distinguished Constantius — since it is …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to the Senate of the City of Rome. [1] We desire, Conscript Fathers, that your assembly be adorned with the bloom of various honors, since it is our delight to cultivate those whose dignity reflects upon us. Therefore we have resolved to honor the excellent man Ambrosius with the belt of the illustrious …
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
King Theoderic to the Kings of the Heruls, Warni, and Thuringians. [1] It is the custom of great rulers to bind lesser kingdoms to themselves by ties of friendship and treaty, so that the peace of the whole region may be maintained through a web of mutual obligation. We therefore address you as friends whose goodwill w …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Most merciful Emperor, how deeply I desire the sweetness of your favor can be understood from this alone: that after so many grievous injuries, after so much bloodshed, I still seek your peace as though no one on your side had ever harmed us. We have endured things that could offend even those who inflicted them — pros …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodahad to the Emperor Justinian. [1] The close relationship between the kingdoms of the East and West, which my predecessors Theoderic and Athalaric cultivated with such care, is one that I am eager to maintain and strengthen. The peace of the world depends upon the harmony between our two great powers, and I a …