The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 38

'Any calamity which comes upon a man from causes beyond his control ought not to be imputed to him as a fault. The pathetic pet.i.tion of the Superintendents of Grain[335] informs us that the cargoes which they destined for Gaul have perished at sea.

[Footnote 335: 'Prosecutores frumentorum.' It would seem that these are not merchants supplying the famine-stricken Provinces of Gaul as a private speculation (according to iv. 5), but public officers who have had certain cargoes of corn entrusted to them from the State magazines, and who, but for this letter, would be bound to make good the loss suffered under their management.]

'The framework of the timbers of the s.h.i.+ps gaped under the violence of the winds and waves, and from all that overabundance of water nothing remains to them but their tears.

'Let your Sublimity therefore promptly refund to them the proportion (modiatio) which each of them can prove that he has thus lost. It would be cruel to punish them for having merely suffered s.h.i.+pwreck.'

8. KING THEODORIC TO THE HONOURED POSSESSORES AND CURIALES OF FORUM LIVII (FORLI).

[Sidenote: Transport of timber ordered for Alsuanum.]

'You must not think anything which we order hard; for our commands are reasonable, and we know what you ought to do. Your Devotion is therefore to cut timber and transport it to Alsuanum[336], where you will be paid the proper price for it.'

[Footnote 336: Where is this?]

9. KING THEODORIC TO OSUIN, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND COMES.

[Sidenote: Tuitio regii nominis.]

[This letter is quoted by Dahn ('Konige der Germanen' iii. 117) as an ill.u.s.tration of '_tuitio regii nominis_.']

'Maurentius and Paula, who are left orphans, inform us that their youth and helplessness expose them to the attacks of many unscrupulous persons.

'Let your Sublimity therefore cause it to be known that any suits against them must be prosecuted in our Comitatus, the place of succour for the distressed and of sharp punishment for tricksters.'

10. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES, SENATOR AND CONSULARIS OF CAMPANIA.

[Sidenote: The lawless custom of Pignoratio is to be repressed.]

[A custom had apparently grown up during the lawless years of the Fifth Century, of litigants helping themselves, during the slow progress of the suit, to a 'material guarantee' from the fields of their opponents. This custom, unknown apparently at the time of the Theodosian Code, was called 'Pignoratio,' and was especially rife in the Provinces of Campania and Samnium.]

'How does peace differ from the confusion of war, if law-suits are to be settled by violence? We hear with displeasure from our Provincials in Campania and Samnium that certain persons there are giving themselves up to the practice of _pignoratio_. And so far has this gone that neighbours club together and transfer their claims to some one person who "pignorates" for the whole of them, thus in fact compelling a man to pay a debt to an entire stranger--a monstrous perversion of all the rules of law, which separates so delicately between the rights even of near relations, and will not allow the son to be sued for the father's debts unless he is the heir, nor the wife for the husband's unless she has succeeded to the estate. Hitherto our ignorance has allowed this lawless practice to exist. Now that we know of it we are determined to suppress it. Therefore, firstly, if any man lays violent hands on any property to secure an alleged claim, he shall at once forfeit that claim [and restore the _pignus_]. Secondly, where one has "pignorated" for another, he shall be compelled to restore twofold the value of that which he has taken. Thirdly, if any offender is so poor and squalid that rest.i.tution cannot be compelled from him, he shall be beaten with clubs.'

11. KING THEODORIC TO SENARIUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND COMES.

[Sidenote: Dispute between Possessores and Curiales.]

'Let your Magnitude enquire into and decide promptly the dispute between the Possessores and Curiales of Velia.' [A conjectural emendation for _Volienses_.]

12. KING THEODORIC TO MARABAD, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND COMES; AND GEMELLUS, SENATOR.

[Sidenote: Archotamia's complaint against the extravagant widow of her grandson.]

'It is our purpose not only to defend by arms but to govern by just laws the Provinces which G.o.d has subjected to us.

'Archotamia, an ill.u.s.trious lady who has lost her grandson by death, complains that his widow Aetheria, having married again with a certain Liberius, is wasting the property of her children in order to make her new home appear more splendid.

'Let your Sublimities enquire into this matter. After suppressing all violent action[337], placing the holy Gospels in the midst of the Court, and calling in three honourable persons agreed upon by the parties, as a.s.sessors, decide with their help upon the matter according to ancient law, due reference being had to the arrangements of modern times.'

[Footnote 337: 'Omni incivilitate submota.']

[Theodoric says that in not hearing the case himself, but referring it to Marabad and Gemellus, he is following his usual practice, 'remittere ad statuta Divalium sanctionum;' that is, apparently, according to the Theodosian Code. See Dahn, 'Konige der Germanen' iv.

140, _n._ 2.]

13. KING THEODORIC TO SENARIUS, VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS, COMES PRIVATARUM.

[Sidenote: Supplies for Colossaeus and his suite.]

'Let Colossaeus, who is sent as Governor to Pannonia Sirmiensis, have rations for himself and suite, according to ancient usage. [For his appointment, see Letters iii. 23 and 24.]

'A hungry army cannot be expected to preserve discipline, since the armed man will always help himself to that which he requires. Let him have the chance of buying, that he may not be forced to think what he can plunder. Necessity loves not a law[338], nor is it right to command the many to observe a moderation which even the few can barely practise.'

[Footnote 338: 'Necessitas moderamen non diligit.']

14. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO GESILA.

[Sidenote: Evasion of land-tax by Goths in Picenum and Thuscia.]

'It is a great offence to put off the burden of one's own debts upon other people. That man ought to pay the "tributum" for a property who receives the income of it. But some of the Goths in Picenum and the two Tuscanies[339] are evading the payment of their proper taxes[340].

This vicious practice must be suppressed at once, lest it spread by imitation. If anyone in a spirit of clownish stubbornness shall still refuse to obey our commands as expressed through you, affix the proper notice to his houses and confiscate them, that he who would not pay a small debt may suffer a great loss[341]. None ought to be more prompt in their payments to the exchequer than those [the Goths] who are the receivers of our donative. The sum thus given by our liberality is much more than they could claim as soldiers' pay. In fact _we_ pay them a voluntary tribute by the care which we have of their fortunes.'

[Footnote 339: 'Gothi per Picenum sive Thuscias utrasque residentes.'

What are the two Thusciae?]

[Footnote 340: 'Debitas functiones.']

[Footnote 341: 'Si quis ergo jussa nostra agresti spiritu resupinatus abjecerit, casas ejus appositis t.i.tulis fisci nostri juribus vindicabis; ut qui juste noluit parva solvere, rationabiliter videatur maxima perdidisse.']

15. KING THEODORIC TO BENENATUS, SENATOR.

[Sidenote: New rowers to be selected. Their qualifications.]

'Being informed by the Ill.u.s.trious and Magnificent Count of the Patrimony that twenty-one of the _Dromonarii_ [rowers in the express-boats] have been removed by the inconvenient incident of death, we hereby charge you to select others to fill their places. But they must be strong men, for the toil of rowing requires powerful arms and stout hearts to battle with the stormy waves. For what is in fact more daring than with one's little bark to enter upon that wide and treacherous sea, which only despair enables a man successfully to combat?'

16. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: Arigern entrusted with the charge of the City of Rome.]

'Some time ago we committed the government of our new Gaulish Provinces to Arigern, a member of your body, that he might by his firmness and prudence bring about a settlement in that agitated country. This he has accomplished to our entire satisfaction, and, practising the lessons which he learned in your midst, he has also brought back warlike trophies from thence. We now decide to bestow upon him the charge of the Roman order.