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 …
symmachus · c. 382 · score 0.02
… ause of justice itself — that's your chief concern — but I do dare ask that the imperial response come quickly, to give force to the rulings already made.
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 …
libanius · c. 389 · score 0.01
To Antipater. (362/63) You seem to want letters from a scoundrel — whether I have forgotten a friend through length of time or suffered this very thing from some good fortune. And I wonder why you did not count it a gain to be rid of someone afflicted with such faults. As for me, I have my share of the common good fort …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
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 …
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.01
… d you saw fit to grant to those very petitioners what they had asked. 7. Though imperial power is great, consider, Emperor, how great God is. He sees the hearts of all, He examines the innermost conscience, He knows all things before they happen — He knows the hidden depths of your heart. You do not allow yourselves to …
gregory_great · c. 595 · score 0.01
… dvised connivance that neither is the fear of God maintained there, nor are the imperial commands carried out. They add that in the aforesaid province, through the bribes of the Donatists, the Catholic faith is being openly sold. The distinguished Gennadius, on the other hand, has in turn lodged a complaint against one …
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 …
leo_great · c. 459 · score 0.01
… of the Council's decrees, we support wholeheartedly. The Lord has given you the imperial authority not only for the governance of the state but for the protection of His Church, and we are confident that you will exercise this sacred trust with the same wisdom and firmness that have distinguished your reign. Dated from …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.01
Your brother Gratian removed them by formal rescript. Will you now undo what your father allowed to stand and your brother actively abolished? The petition claims to come from the Senate. But the Christian senators — who are the majority — did not consent to it. They did not sign it. They did not authorize it. A handfu …
libanius · c. 348 · score 0.01
We fear this may cost them their standing, and we ask you to preserve their status even in their absence. They say that your word is law to Musonius, and indeed it is an old law that the prefect decides such matters for those who hold the post that man now holds. Confirm, then, so fine a reputation through what I now r …
pliny_younger · c. 112 · score 0.01
Trajan to Pliny. It is owing to the situation of the free city of Byzantium, and the fact that so many travellers make their way into it from all sides, that, in conformity with established precedent, I have decided to send them a legionary centurion to protect their privileges. If I were to decide to assist the people …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed prince and most Christian Emperor Valentinian. All who live under Roman rule serve you, the emperors and princes of the world. But you yourselves serve Almighty God and the holy faith. There is no path to salvation unless everyone worships in truth the true God — the God of the Chri …
augustine_hippo · c. 400 · score 0.01
… , greetings in the Lord. Against the disobedience of dissenters: the utility of imperial laws. 1. The laws that have been passed against the Donatists [imperial edicts aimed at suppressing the Donatist schism in North Africa] are for their own benefit, whatever they may think. A physician is not the patient's enemy bec …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
But I will say no more about these men. The Lord's tribunal is near, where what is required is not stage performance but the reality of life. I beg your excellency to express my thanks to the Christ-loving emperor and the godly Augusta for making true religion the firm root of their pious empire. Implore their majestie …
theodoret_cyrrhus · c. 440 · score 0.01
… her staunch orthodoxy], Since you adorn the empire with your piety and make the imperial purple shine brighter by your faith, I am emboldened to write to you -- setting aside my own insignificance, because you have always shown proper honor to the clergy. With these sentiments, I beg your majesty to show mercy to our u …
ennodius_pavia · c. 509 · score 0.01
Both what is pious befits me to hope, and it befits you to grant. For by unequal paths an intention deserving reward tends toward a single end. You bestow solaces on affairs; from me the slender aid of speech is required. So it comes about that the one upon whom it falls by consideration of office to furnish greater th …
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 …
symmachus · c. 394 · score 0.01
You are still silent, but my loquacity is not restrained by your example, and my leisure gives me too convenient an opportunity for a flood of words. For I am in the country, though I do not rusticate. From the bank of the Tiber -- for the river flows through my estate -- I watch the laden ships pass by, no longer anxi …
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 …