Resultados25 letters/passages
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It is the purpose of royal compassion to cut off the ground for unjust hatreds and to restrain the arrogance of armed power with the reverence of royal commands. The hostility of a superior is a fearsome thing for the humble, since it is considered praiseworthy when vengeance is extracted from the lowly. Therefore, aft …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
[1] It is fitting that the provinces subject to our rule, with God's help, be governed by law and good morals, because the only truly human life is one ordered by the rule of law. Living at the mercy of chance is the way of wild beasts: driven by the impulse to seize, they fall victim to their own reckless daring. A sk …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
We grant our benefits to your grace especially if we find you administering your duties with good judgment. You will not go unrewarded if you receive foreign peoples wisely and manage the commerce of our own people with balanced fairness. Although prudence is needed everywhere, it is particularly suited to this role, s …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It is my duty to energetically raise up those whom royal compassion has resolved to relieve — for where the lords' clemency has deigned to reach down, it is fitting that their subordinates also contribute from their own authority. Recently you thanked me for having given you hope of better things, if not yet tangible r …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
We have often learned that the saiones [royal enforcers] whom we believed we were granting out of compassion have instead become sources of the greatest complaint. Our benefit has been corrupted -- the remedy has only increased the calamity, because the malice of petitioners has diverted these agents to purposes other …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
Formula of the Praetorian Prefecture. [1] The praetorian prefect is the highest civilian official in the realm, the man to whom the king entrusts the administration of all civil affairs. This is an office of extraordinary responsibility and extraordinary honor — the honor is great because the responsibility is great. [ …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Formula of the Provincial Countship. [1] The count of a province is the direct representative of the king in that territory — the man who bears the weight of the entire royal administration upon his shoulders within his area. It is a position that demands the combination of many qualities: wisdom in counsel, firmness i …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to All Saiones [Gothic Royal Agents] Assigned to the Chancellors. Everything ought to be carried out in a spirit of tranquility, as befits men of good character. But such is the diversity of human behavior in public life that no one can defend the laws unless some measure of intimidation is …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to Julian, Count of the Patrimony. [1] The patrimony of the crown must be administered with the same care as private property, and indeed with greater, since its revenues support not one household but the entire apparatus of government. An administrator who neglects this duty fails not merely his master …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theoderic to Festus, a Man of Illustrious Rank and a Patrician. [1] Great offices demand great men, and the man who takes on a high position takes on a great responsibility. It is not enough to have the title — one must show by one's actions that the honor was deservedly bestowed. [2] We therefore address you, who …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Now procure what has been ordered. You make the soldier devoted when you willingly accept the command. The fair prices will be communicated to you at the next opportunity, once the bearer of this letter has reported to me the extent of the harvest. Nothing can be justly assessed until the abundance of the supply has be …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Do not boast that no one can stand against you, and do not grow proud because the humility of many people fears you. Brave men are always modest in peacetime, and those who have dealt most often with war love justice most. How gratifying it would be if, on your return among your kinsmen, you brought back no reproach of …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Not without reason is it called the Campania of Ravenna — the royal city's pantry, an exceedingly pleasant and delightful retreat. Advancing into the north, it enjoys an admirable climate. It also has — I would not speak improperly — its own version of Baiae [the famous Roman resort on the Bay of Naples]. There the und …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
The man appointed to distribute the Emperor's generosity must be of proven conscience, so that no stain of greed may dry up what flows from such great liberality. Grasping hands alter any gift — and just as a spring's purity is corrupted by flowing through mud, so a good king's abundance is debased by greedy distributo …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
The voice of pain is always a complaint -- the injured cannot keep silent, and a wounded spirit feeds on outcry. But a freer speech is one that our own authority has authorized. We despise the oppression of the unfortunate; we are moved even by the suffering of those who do not complain, and what a patient sufferer tri …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
The wrongdoing of the guilty provides a ruler with the opportunity for glory -- without occasions for fault, compassion would have no place. What would good governance achieve if perfect morals already governed everything? Dry soil longs for the gift of refreshing rain. The healing hands of doctors are needed only by t …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Let the guilty alone perish for the correction of the many, since it is itself an act of mercy to check criminal impulses before they grow strong. [5] The tax collectors are said to be crushing landowners' estates through fraudulent weights. To eliminate every opportunity for fraud, we order all public taxes to be paid …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
[1] We wish every day to be filled with our benefactions. We wish our generosity to shine everywhere, because what a ruler gives in munificence lives forever. Buildings crumble, laws are forgotten, but the memory of a generous king outlasts them all — or rather, the buildings he raises and the laws he enacts endure pre …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
It is human custom that people enjoy variety more, and even though they possess exceptional things, anything that satiates eventually breeds boredom. Therefore, since you have been dwelling continuously within the sacred walls, you ask that a leave of absence be granted for the purpose of managing your own affairs. Not …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
[1] When famine, wearing a grim face, struck the dwellings of Rome in a time of uncertainty, and though rare, any hunger in so great a city seemed deeply shameful, we judged it right to provide grain supplies from Spain, so that Rome under our rule might once again receive the ancient tribute of plenty. The distinguish …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
[1] Your delay rightly made you suspect in the eyes of our grandfather of blessed memory, who even thought it necessary to warn you a second time — so that you would finally stop burdening the provincials and hasten to account for your conduct before his justice. And now your failure to present yourselves at the beginn …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Eusebius, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious]. After the wearisome anxieties of a turbulent city and the oppressive burden of your responsibilities, Your Greatness longs to be refreshed by the pleasures of provincial life. You report that circumstances in the present times have given you heavy cares, and …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Public expenditures, which fluctuate with the changing circumstances of the times, can be stabilized if the healthfulness of our orders follows the productivity of each region. For procurement is easy where the harvest is more abundant — but if what barren scarcity has denied is demanded, then the province is harmed an …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
King Theodoric to Agapitus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Patrician. Our deliberations require the service of wise men, so that the business of the public good may be accomplished through the ministry of the learned. Therefore let Your Illustrious Magnitude know, with God's help, that we have resolved to send an em …
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 …