Book 12 — BOOK XII.

CONTAINING TWENTY-EIGHT LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN HIS OWN NAME AS PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

1. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to the various Cancellarii of the Several Provinces.

General instructions to the Cancellarii.

'It is generally supposed that long attendance at the Courts of Law increases the love of justice. The character of the Judge also is in some degree estimated by that of his officers[798], as that of a philosophical teacher by his disciples. Thus your bad actions might endanger our reputation, while, on the other hand, with no effort on our part, we earn glory from all that you do well. Beware, therefore, lest by any misconduct of yours, which is sure to be exaggerated by popular rumour, you rouse anger in us, who as your Judge will be sure to exact stern recompence for all the wrong you have done to our reputation. Study this rather, that you may receive praise and promotion at our hands, and go forth, with Divine help, on this Indiction, to such and such a Province, adorned with the pomp of the Cancelli, and girt about with a certain proud gravity. Remember the honour of the fasces which are borne before you, of the Praetorian seat whose commands you execute.

'Fly Avarice, the Queen of all the vices, who never enters the human heart alone, but always brings a flattering and deceiving train along with her. Show yourself zealous for the public good; do more by reason than by terror. Let your person be a refuge for the oppressed, a defence of the weak, a stronghold for him who is stricken down by any calamity. Never do you more truly discharge the functions of the Cancelli than when you open the prison doors to those who have been unjustly confined.'

2. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to all the Judges of the Provinces (a.d. 534-535).

General instructions to the Provincial Governors.

'God be thanked, the Provincials have attended to all my admonitions, and I have kept all my promises to them. You, as Judges, have admirably copied my own freedom from corruption, and I can only desire that you will go on as you have begun.

'Let the peasant pay cheerfully his share of the public taxes, and I on my part will guarantee him the administration of justice in the courts[799].

'It was evidently the intention of the legislators that you should be imitators of our dignity, since they have given you almost the same jurisdiction in the Provinces as ourselves.

'What avails the reputation of being a rich man? It confers no glory. But to be known as a just man wins the praise of all. Nothing mean or avaricious is becoming in a Judge. All his faults are made more conspicuous by his elevation. Better were it to be absolutely unknown, than to be marked out for the scorn of all men. Let us keep our own brews clear from shame; then can we rebuke the sins of others. A terrible leveller is iniquity: it makes the Judge himself feel like the culprit who is tried before him. All these considerations, according to my custom, I bring before you in this my yearly address, since it is impossible ever to have too much of a good thing[800].

'Now, to proceed to business. Do you and your official staff impress upon all the cultivators of the soil the absolute necessity of their paying their land-tax[801] for this thirteenth Indiction[802] at the appointed time. Let there be no pressing them to pay before the time, and no venal connivance at their postponement of payment after the time. What kindness is there in delay? The money must be paid, sooner or later.

'Prepare also a full and faithful statement of the expenditure for every four months[803], and address it to our bureaux[804], that there may be perfect clearness in the public accounts.

'In order to help you, we send A and B, members of our official staff, to examine your accounts. See that you come up to the standard of duty here prescribed for you.'

3. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to all the Sajones who have been assigned to the Cancellarii.

General instructions to the Sajones.

'There must be fear of the magistrate in the heart of the citizen, else the laws would never be obeyed. But as in medicine various remedies are required by various constitutions, so in the administration of the laws sometimes force and sometimes gentleness has to be used. Wisdom is required to decide which is the best mode of dealing with each particular case.

'Therefore we despatch your Devotion[805] to attend upon A B, Clarissimus Cancellarius. Be terrible to the lawless, but to them alone. Above all things see to the punctual collection of the taxes. Do not study popularity. Attend only to those cases which are entrusted to your care, and work them thoroughly. No greater disgrace can attach to an officer of Court than that a Judge's sentence should be left unexecuted[806]. Do not swagger through the streets exulting in the fact that nobody dares meet you. Brave men are ever gentle in time of peace, and there is no greater lover of justice than he who has seen many battles. When you return to your parents and friends let it not be brawls that you have to boast of, but good conduct. We also shall in that case welcome you back with pleasure, and not leave you long without another commission. And the King too, the lord of all[807], will entrust higher duties to him who returns from the lower with credit and the reward of a good conscience.'

4. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to the Canonicarius[808] of the Venetiae.

Praise of Acinaticium, a red wine of Verona.

'A well furnished royal table is a credit to the State. A private person may eat only the produce of his own district; but it is the glory of a King to collect at his table the delicacies of all lands. Let the Danube send us her carp, let the anchorago (?) come from the Rhine, let the labour of Sicily furnish the exormiston[809], let the sea of Bruttii send its sweet acerniae (?); in short, let well-flavoured dishes be gathered from all coasts. It becomes a King so to regale himself that he may seem to foreign ambassadors to possess almost everything.

'And therefore, not to neglect home-produce also, as our fertile Italy is especially rich in wines, we must have these also provided for the King's table. Now the report of the Count of the Patrimony informs us that the stock of Acinaticium[810] has fallen very low in the royal cellars. We therefore order you to visit the cultivators of Verona, and offer them a sufficient price for this product of theirs, which they ought to offer without price to their Sovereign.

'It is in truth a noble wine and one that Italy may be proud of. Inglorious Greece may doctor her wines with foreign admixtures, or disguise them with perfumes. There is no need of any such process with this liquor. It is purple, as becomes the wine of kings. Sweet and strong[811], it grows more dense in tasting it, so that you might doubt whether it was a liquid food or an edible drink[812].

'I have a mind to describe the singular mode of manufacturing this wine. The grape cluster, gathered in autumn, is hung up under the roof of the house to dry till December. Thus exuding its insipid humours it becomes much sweeter. Then in December, when everything else is bound by the frost of winter, the chilly blood of these grapes is allowed to flow forth. It is not insultingly trodden down by the feet, nor is any foul admixture suffered to pollute it; its stream of gem-like clearness is drawn forth from it by a noble provocation. It seems to shed tears of joy, and delights the eye by its beauty as much as the palate by its flavour. Collect this wine as speedily as possible, pay a sufficient price for it, and hand it over to the Cartarii who are charged with this business.

'And this point is not to be forgotten, that it is to be served up in goblets of a milky whiteness. Lilies and roses thus unite their charms, and a pleasure is ministered to the eye, far beyond the mere commonplace facts that the wine has a pleasant taste, and that it restores the strength of the drinker.

'We rely on you to provide both the wine and the drinking vessels[813] with all despatch.'

5. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Valerian, Vir Sublimis.

[Written probably in the autumn or winter of 535, when Belisarius was in Sicily threatening the Southern Provinces of Italy.]

Measures for relief of Lucania and Bruttii.

'The ruler's anxiety for the common good of all over whom he is placed, may allowably show itself in an especial manner towards the dwellers in his own home, and that pre-eminently at a time when they need his succour from peril.

'The numerous army which was destined for the defence of the Republic is said to have laid waste the cultivated parts of Lucania and Bruttii, and to have diminished the abundance of those regions by its love of rapine.

'Now since they must take and you must give, and since the cultivator must not be robbed nor the army starved, know that the prices of provisions are fixed by the order of the Lord of the State at a much lower figure than you have been wont to sell at[814].

'Be not therefore anxious. You have escaped the hands of the tax-collector. The present instrument takes away from you the liability to tribute. In order that your knowledge may be made more complete, we have thought it better that the amounts of the provisions for which you are held responsible should be expressed in the below-written letters[815], that no one may sell you a benefit which you know to be conferred by the public generosity.

'Repress, therefore, the unruly movements of the cultivators[816]. While the Gothic army is fighting, let the Roman peasant enjoy in quiet the peace for which he sighs. According to the King's command, admonish the several tenants on the farms, and the better sort of peasants, not to mingle in the barbarism of the strife, lest the danger to public tranquillity be greater than any service they can render in the wars[817]. Let them lay hands to the iron, but only to cultivate their fields; let them grasp the pointed steel, but only to goad their oxen.

'Let the Judges be active: let the tribunals echo with their denunciations of crime. Let the robber, the adulterer, the forger, the thief, find that the arm of the State is still strong to punish their crimes. True freedom rejoices when these men are made sad. Here, in this civil battle, is full scope for your energies: attend to this, and enjoy the thought that others are fighting the battle with the foreign foe for you.

'Exercise great care in calculating the rations of the soldiers, that no trickery may succeed in defrauding the soldier of his due.

'The officers of the army are by the rulers of the State placed under my authority, and you are therefore to admonish them if they go wrong, while redressing all their real grievances. They, in their turn, must uphold discipline, which is the most powerful weapon of an army. Rise to the dignity of the occasion, and show that you are able to govern a Province in a disturbed condition of public affairs, since anyone can govern it while all things are quiet.

'The royal household is specially ordered to pay the same obedience to this rescript as all the rest of the Province; and as for my own dependants, I say expressly that, though I wish them well, I ask for no favour for them which I would not grant to all the other inhabitants of the Province.'

6. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to all the Subordinate Governors of the Praefecture[818].

General instructions to subordinate Governors.

'The exhortations addressed to you by the inborn piety of our Lords ought to suffice; but nevertheless, that we may be doubly assured, we will address to you our threats against all who shall wield their power unrighteously. Cease from avarice, from arrogance, from venality. What will your money avail you when the day of inquisition comes? We shall not be tempted by it. Let it be clearly understood that we shall not sell pardons to unjust Judges, but shall hunt them to their ruin.

'But all you, good and honest rulers, continue to serve the State without fear. No rival will buy your offices over your heads; you are secure in your seats so long as you do well, until the time fixed by our Lords expires. Be earnest, therefore, that my good deeds may be imitated and receive their due meed of praise in your persons.'

7. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to the Tax-Collector of the Venetian Province[819].

Remission of taxes on account of invasion by the Suevi.

'A good Sovereign will always exert himself to repair fortuitous disasters, and will allow those who have paid their taxes punctually in prosperity, considerable liberty in times of barbaric invasion. On this ground, and on account of the incursions of the Suevi, the King grants for this year, the fifteenth Indiction[820], a discharge of all claims by the Fiscus preferred against A and B. And in all similar cases where you shall be satisfied that the property has really been laid waste by those Barbarians, you are at liberty to remit the taxes for this Indiction. Afterwards you will use all the ordinary methods, in order that you may be able to pay over the stipulated sum to the Royal Treasurer. But meanwhile the poor cultivator has the best of all arguments against paying you, namely, that he has nothing left him wherewith to pay. Thus is his calamity his best voucher for payment[821]; and we do not wish that he who has been already alarmed by the arms of the robber should further tremble at the official robe of the civil servant[822].

8. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to the Consularis of the Province of Liguria.

Permission to pay taxes direct to Royal Treasury.

'It is a new and delightful kind of profit to be able to grant the request of a petitioner without feeling any loss oneself. The present suitor, complaining that he is vexed by the exactions of the tax-gatherer on account of certain farms mentioned in the subjoined letter, offers to bring the amount due from them himself to our Treasurers[823]. We are willing to grant this request, on condition that the Fiscus does not suffer thereby; and therefore desire your Respectability to warn all Curiales, Compulsores, and all other persons concerned, to remove for this Indiction every kind of legal process from the before-mentioned properties; the condition of this immunity being that he shall, before the kalends of such and such a month produce the receipts[824] of the Arcarius, showing that he has discharged his debt to the State. Otherwise the debt must be exacted by ordinary process. But it is delightful to us whenever the tax is paid without calling in the aid of the Compulsor. Would that the peasant would always thus freely anticipate the needs of the Treasury!'

9. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Paschasius, Praefect of the Corn-Distributions[825].

African claims to succeed to estate of an intestate countryman.

[To make this letter intelligible we must presuppose a custom, certainly a very extraordinary one, by which on the death of an African without heirs, any other African in Italy was allowed to claim the inheritance. By 'African,' no doubt, we must understand one of the indigenous inhabitants of Africa, perhaps a man of Negro race. The custom certainly cannot have applied to African Provincials of Roman descent. It was perhaps based on some old tribal notions of joint possession and mutual inheritance.]

'It is a work of wondrous kindness to oblige a foreign race with public benefits, and not only to invite blood relations to enjoy the advantages of property, but to permit even strangers to share them. This kind of heirship is independent of the ties of kindred, independent of succession from parents, and requires nothing else save only power to utter the speech of the fatherland.

'This is the privilege which, as the African asserts, was of old bestowed on his race. By virtue thereof they lawfully demand the inheritance of others, and thus obtain a right which the Roman in a similar case could never claim. Nor have they this benefit in their own land; but here they are for this purpose looked upon as all related to one another.

'The whole nation, in what relates to the advantages of succession, is regarded as one family.

'Your Experience is therefore to submit the subject of this man's petition to a diligent examination, and if it shall turn out, as he alleges, that the deceased has left no sons nor other persons who might reasonably claim to succeed him, your official staff is to induct him into the aforesaid property according to the established usage.

'He will thus cease to be a foreigner, and will acquire the status of a native possessor, and therewith the usual liability to pay tribute. He is inferior to other owners only in this one point, that he lacks the power of alienating his property. Let him who has derived so much benefit from our commiseration now relieve others. Fortunate and enviable has turned out his captivity[826], which enables him at one and the same time to enjoy the citizenship of Rome and the privileges of the African.'

10. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to divers Cancellarii in the Provinces.

Taxes to be punctually enforced.

'Arrears of tribute are like bodily diseases, serious and enfeebling when they become chronic. A man who is under a load of debt cannot be called free: he has abandoned the power of controlling his actions to another. Your supposed indulgence to the taxpayer is no real kindness. There comes a time when the whole arrear of debt has to be claimed, and then these venal delays of yours make the demand seem twice as heavy in the eyes of the unfortunate taxpayer. Cease then to trade upon the peasants' losses. Exact the whole amount of taxes for the coming Indiction, and pay them in on the appointed day to the Treasurer[827] of the Province; or else it will be the worse for you, and you will have to return, stripped of all official rank[828], into the Province which you are conscious of having badly administered.

'I shall not speak again on this subject, but shall, if necessary, extract the sums from you by an irrevocable act of distraint.'

11. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Peter, Vir Clarissimus, Distributor of Relishes[829].

Distribution of relishes to Roman citizens.

'The liberality of a good Sovereign must not be discredited by fraud and carelessness in the person charged with its distribution. Even molten gold contracts a stain if not poured into an absolutely clean vessel. How sweet is it to see a stream flowing clear and unpolluted over a snow-white channel! Even so must you see that the gifts of the Sovereign of the State reach the Roman people as pure and as copious as they issue forth from him.

'All fraud is hateful; but fraud exercised upon the people of Romulus is absolutely unbearable. That quiet and easily satisfied people, whose existence you might forget except when they testify their happiness by their shouts; noisy without a thought of sedition; whose only care is to shun poverty without amassing wealth; lowly in fortune but rich in temper—it is a kind of profanation to rob such people as these.

'We therefore entrust to you the task of distributing the relishes[830] to the Roman people from this Indiction. Be true to the citizens, else you will become as an alien unto us. Do not be bribed into allowing anyone to pass as a Latin who was not born in Latium.

'These privileges belong to the Quirites alone: no slave must be admitted to share them. That man sins against the majesty of the Roman people, who defiles the pure river of their blood by thrusting upon them the fellowship of slaves.'

12. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Anastasius, Cancellarius of Lucania and Bruttii.

Praise of the cheese and wine of Bruttii.

'When we were dining, according to our wonted custom, with the Sovereign of the State[831], the conversation happened to turn upon the delicacies of various Provinces, and we praised the wines of Bruttii and the cheese of the district around Mount Sila[832].

'The cheese, which retains in its pores the milk which has been collected there, recalls by its taste the fragrant herbs upon which the cattle have fed; by its texture it reminds us of the softness of oil, from which it differs in colour by its snowy whiteness. Having been carefully pressed into a wide cask and hardened therein, it retains permanently the beautiful round shape which has thus been given to it[833].

'The wine, to which Antiquity gave the name of praise, Palmatiana, must be selected not of a rough but sweet kind[834]. Though last [in geographical position] among the wines of Bruttii, it is by general opinion accounted the best, equal to that of Gaza, similar to the Sabine, moderately thick, strong, brisk, of conspicuous whiteness, distinguished by the fine aroma, of which a pleasant after-taste is perceived by the drinker[835]. It constrains loosened bowels, dries up moist wounds, and refreshes the weary breast.

'Let it be your care to provide as speedily as possible a stock of both these products of our country, and send them in ships to the Royal residence. For a temporary supply we have drawn on our own cellars, but we look to you to choose specimens of the genuine quality for the King. We cannot be deceived, who retain the true taste in our patriotic memory; and at your peril will you provide any inferior article to that which our cellars will have supplied[836].'

13. An Edict.

Frauds committed by the revenue officers on the Churches of Bruttii and Lucania.

'The generous gifts of Kings ought to be respected by their subjects.

'Long ago the constitutions of the Emperors enriched the holy Churches of Bruttii and Lucania with certain gifts. But since the sacrilegious mind is not afraid of sinning against the Divine reverence, the Canonicarii (officers of the Exchequer) have robbed these ecclesiastical positions of a certain portion of their revenue in the name of the Numerarii of the Praetorian Praefect's staff; but these latter, with righteous indignation, declare that they have received no part of the spoils thus impiously collected in their name.

'Thus have the Canonicarii turned the property of the clergy into a douceur for the laity[837]. Oh, audacity of man! what barriers can be erected against thee? Thou mightest have hoped to escape human observation, but why commit crimes which the Divinity cannot but notice?

'Therefore we ordain by this edict that anyone who shall hereafter commit this kind of fraud shall lose his own private gains, and shall forfeit his place in the public service[838].

'Let the poor keep the gifts which God has put it into the heart of Kings to bestow upon them. It is cruel above all other cruelty to wish to become rich by means of the scanty possessions of the mendicant.'

14. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Anastasius, Cancellarius of Lucania and Bruttii.

Plea for gentle treatment for citizens of Rhegium.

'The citizens of Rhegium (so called from the Greek word 'ρηγνυμι, to break, because their island has been broken off from Sicily by the violence of the waves) complain that they are being unfairly harassed by the tax-gatherers. I, as an eyewitness, can confirm the truth of their statement that their territory does not bring forth the produce which is claimed at their hands. It is a rocky and mountainous country, too dry for pasture, though sufficiently undulating for vineyards; bad for grain-crops, though well suited for olives. The shade has to be all provided by the industry of man, who has planted there the tree of Pallas [the olive], which prospers in even the driest soil, because it sends its roots down into the very depths of the earth.

'The corn has to be watered by hand, like pot-herbs in a garden. You seldom see the husbandman bending beneath his load as he returns from the threshing-floor. A few bushels full are all that he can boast of, even in an abundant harvest[839].

'Contrary to the opinion of Virgil [who speaks of the bitter roots of the endive[840]], the fibres of endive are here extremely sweet, and encircled by their twisting leaves are caked together with a certain callous tenderness[841].

'In the treasures of the deep that region is certainly rich; for the Upper and Lower Sea meet there. The exormiston[842], a sort of king among fishes, with bristly nostrils and a milky delicacy of flavour, is found in these waters. In stormy weather it is tossed about on the top of the waves, and seems to be too tired or too indolent to seek a refuge in the deeper water[843]. No other fish can be compared to it in sweetness[844].

'These are the products—I speak from my own knowledge—of the Rhegian shore. Therefore you must not seek to levy a tribute of wheat or lard from the inhabitants under the name of "coemptio."

'I may add that they are so troubled by the constant passage of travellers entering Italy or leaving it, that it would have been right to excuse them even if those products had been found there in abundance[845].'

15. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Maximus, Vir Clarissimus, Cancellarius of Lucania and Bruttii[846].

Praises of the author's birthplace, Scyllacium.

'Scyllacium, the first city of Bruttii, which Ulysses the destroyer of Troy is believed to have founded, is said to be unreasonably vexed by the exorbitant demands of purveyors[847]. These injuries grieve us all the more on account of our patriotic love for the place.

'The city of Scyllacium, which is so placed as to look down upon the Hadriatic Gulf, hangs upon the hills like a cluster of grapes: not that it may pride itself upon their difficult ascent, but that it may voluptuously gaze on verdant plains and the blue back of the sea. The city beholds the rising sun from its very cradle, when the day that is about to be born sends forward no heralding Aurora; but as soon as it begins to rise, the quivering brightness displays its torch. It beholds Phoebus in his joy; it is bathed in the brightness of that luminary, so that it might be thought to be itself the native land of the sun, the claims of Rhodes to that honour being outdone.

'It enjoys a translucent air, but withal so temperate that its winters are sunny, and its summers cool; and life passes there without sorrow, since hostile seasons are feared by none. Hence, too, man himself is here freer of soul than elsewhere, for this temperateness of the climate prevails in all things.

'In sooth, a hot fatherland makes its children sharp and fickle, a cold one slow and sly; it is only a temperate climate which composes the characters of men by its own moderation. Hence was it that the ancients pronounced Athens to be the seat of sages, because, enriched with an air of the greatest purity, it prepared with glad liberality the lucid intellects of its sons for the contemplative part of life. Assuredly for the body to imbibe muddy waters is a different thing from sucking in the transparency of a sweet fountain. Even so the vigour of the mind is repressed when it is clogged by a heavy atmosphere. Nature herself hath made us subject to these influences. Clouds make us feel sad; and again a bright sky fills us with joy, because the heavenly substance of the soul delights in everything that is unstained and pure.

'Scyllacium has also an abundant share of the delicacies of the sea, possessing near it those gates of Neptune which we ourselves constructed. At the foot of the Moscian Mount we hollowed out the bowels of the rock, and tastefully[848] introduced therein the eddying waves of Nereus. Here a troop of fishes, sporting in free captivity, refreshes all minds with delight, and charms all eyes with admiration. They run greedily to the hand of man, and before they become his food seek dainties from him. Man feeds his own dainty morsels, and while he has that which can bring them into his power, it often happens that being already replete he lets them all go again.

'The spectacle moreover of men engaged in honourable labour is not denied to those who are sitting tranquilly in the city. Plenteous vineyards are beheld in abundance. The fruitful toil of the threshing-floor is seen. The face of the green olive is disclosed. No one need sigh for the pleasures of the country, when it is given him to see them all from the town.

'And inasmuch as it has now no walls, you believe Scyllacium to be a rural city, though you might judge it to be an urban villa; and thus placed between the two worlds of town and country, it is lavishly praised by both.

'This place wayfarers desire frequently to visit, and as they object to the toil of walking, the citizens, called upon to provide them with post-horses, and rations for their servants, have to pay heavily in purse for the pleasantness of their city. Therefore to prevent this, for the future we decide that all charges for providing post-horses and rations shall be debited to the public account. We cut up, root and branch, the system of paying Pulveratica[849] to the Judge; and we decide, according to ancient custom, that rations for three days only shall be given on their arrival to the great Dignitaries of the State, and that any more prolonged delay in their locomotion be provided for by themselves.

'To relieve your city of its heaviest burdens will be, according to our injunctions, an act of judicial impartiality, not of laxity. Live, by God's help, a mirror of the justice of the age, delighting in the security of all. Some people call the Isles of the Atlantic 'Fortunate:' I would rather give that name to the place where you do now dwell.'

16. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to a Revenue Officer[850].

[This interesting letter is one of the few written by Cassiodorus as Praetorian Praefect which we can date with certainty. It is written apparently at the beginning of the first Indiction, i.e. Sept. 1, 537. Witigis and the Goths have been for nearly six months besieging Rome, and are beginning to be discouraged as to its capture. Cassiodorus is probably at Ravenna, directing the machine of government from that capital.]

Payment of Trina Illatio.

'Time, which adapts itself incessantly to the course of human affairs, and reconciles us even to adversity[851], has brought round again the period for collecting the Trina Illatio from the taxpayer. Let the peasant (possessor) pay in your Diocese, for this first Indiction, his instalment of the tax freely, not being urged too soon nor allowed to postpone it too late, so that he may plead that he has been let off from payment[852]. Let none exceed the fair weight, but let him use a just pound: if once the true weight is allowed to be exceeded, there is no limit to extortion[853].

'Let a faithful account of the expenses of collection be rendered every four months to our office[854], that, all error and obscurity being removed, truth may be manifest in the public accounts.

'That you may, with God's help, be the better able to fulfil our instructions, I have ordered A and B, servants of our tribunal, who are mindful of their own past responsibilities, to assist you and your staff[855]. Beware therefore, lest you incur the blame of corruptly discharging the taxpayer, or of sluggish idleness in the discharge of your duties, in which case your own fortunes will suffer from your neglect.'

17. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to John, Siliquatarius[856] of Ravenna.

Defence of Ravenna.

'In times of peace, by contact with foreigners who swarm in our cities, we learn what will be our best defence in war. Who can tell with what nation we may be next at war? Therefore, to be on the safe side, make such preparations as our future enemies, whosoever they may be, will dislike to hear of. Accordingly you are to order the peasants to dig a series of pits with wide mouths near the mountains of Caprarius and the parts round about the walls[857]; and let such a chasm yawn there that there shall be no possibility of entrance that way.

'If strangers want to enter the city, why do they not enter it in the right way—by the gates—instead of going skulking about these bye-paths? Henceforth, anyone trying to take any such short cut to our city will probably find that he loses his life in consequence[858].'

18. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Constantian, Vir Experientissimus.

Repair of Flaminian Way.

'Great is the reward of those who serve Kings efficiently; as severe is the punishment of those who neglect their duties towards them.

'How delightful is it to journey without obstacles over a well-made road[859], to pass doubtful places without fear, to ascend mountainous steeps by a gentle incline, to have no fear of the planking of a bridge when one crosses it[860], and in short to accomplish one's journey so that everything happens to one's liking!

'This is the pleasure which you can now prepare for your Sovereign. Therefore, as the Flaminian Way is furrowed by the action of torrents, join the yawning chasms by the broadest of bridges; clear away the rough woods which choke the sides of the highway; procure the stipulated number of post-horses, and see that they have all the points which are required in a good steed; collect the designated quantities of provisions without plundering the peasants. A failure in any one of these particulars will ruin your whole service.

Supply of delicacies for the King's table.

'Collect, too, with the utmost diligence the spices which are needed for the King's table. What avails it to have satisfied the army, if the King's own board lack proper care. Let all the Provincials attend to your admonitions: let the cities furnish the stores set forth in the accompanying letters. Then, when they have put the Sovereign in a good humour, they may ask him for benefits to some purpose.

'Think of me as present and as judging of all your deeds. I shall have to bear the blame of your failures at Court; so act rather as to set my mind at rest, to cover me and yourselves with glory, and to entitle me to receive on your behalf the thanks of the whole army.'

[This letter was probably written in the autumn of 535, when Theodahad was preparing to march to Rome. The mention of the delicacies for the royal table suggests that that King, in addition to the other excellencies of his character, was probably an epicure.]

19. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Maximus, Vicarius of the City of Rome.

Bridge of boats across the Tiber.

'As all great events in Nature have their heralding signs, so is the approaching visit of the King announced to you even by the concourse of wayfarers to your City. We, however, have to order you to clothe the waves of Tiber with a bridge [of boats]. The boat, thus used, is no longer moved by slowly hauled ropes, as it is wont to be. Fixed itself, it affords a means of transit to others. The joining of its planks gives the desired appearance of solidity; all the terror of the waves is removed by its likeness to the land, and the traveller passing over it unharmed only wishes that the bridge were longer.

'Let a safe bulwark of lattice-work shield the bridge on the right side and on the left. See that you give no cause for misadventure of any kind. You have a noble opportunity of distinguishing yourself in the presence of so many Senators and of the King himself, the rewarder of every well-done work. On the other hand, if you do it badly and put him out of humour, woe be unto you!

'We send A B, a servant of our Praefecture[861], to assist you and your staff and bring us report of the accomplishment of the work; for so heavy is our responsibility in this matter that we dare not leave anything to chance.'

[The King whose advent to Rome is here announced may be Witigis, after his election in the plains of Regeta (August, 536). But the fact that he is apparently approaching Rome by the northern bank of the Tiber, coupled with the directions in the preceding letter for the repair of the Flaminian Way, makes it more probable that some visit of Theodahad (probably in the year 535), when he would come from Ravenna to Rome, is here in prospect.]

20. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Thomas and Peter, Viri Clarissimi and Arcarii.

Sacred vessels mortgaged by Pope Agapetus to be restored to the stewards of the Papal See.

'You will remember, most faithful Sirs, that when the holy Agapetus, Pope of the City of Rome, was sent as ambassador to the Sovereign of the East[862], he received so many pounds of gold from you for the expenses of the journey, for which he gave his bond[863] and deposited some of the Church plate as security[864]. The provident ruler thus lent him money in his necessity, and now, far more gloriously, returns as a free gift those pledges which the Pope might well have thanked him for taking.

'Therefore, in obedience to these instructions of ours, and fortified by the Royal order, do you return without any delay to the stewards[865] of the holy Apostle Peter the vessels of the saints together with the written obligation, that these things may be felt to be profitably restored and speedily granted, that the longed-for means of performing their world-famous ministrations may be replaced in the hands of the Levites. Let that be given back which was their own, since that is justly received back by way of largesse which the Priest had legally mortgaged.

'Herein is the great example of King Alaric surpassed. He, when glutted with the spoil of Rome, having received the vessels of the Apostle Peter from his men, when he heard the story of their seizure, ordered them to be carried back across the sacred threshold, that so the remembrance of the cupidity of their capture might be effaced by the generosity of their restoration.

'But our King, with religious purpose, has restored the vessels which had become his own by the law of mortgage. In recompense for such deeds frequent prayer ought to ascend, and Heaven will surely gladly grant the required return for such good actions[866].'

[There are in this letter several extremely obscure sentences as to the generosity of Theodahad. As the Papal journey was undertaken by Theodahad's orders, it was a piece of meanness, quite in keeping with that King's character, to treat the advance of money for the journey as a loan, and to insist on a bond and the deposit of the Church plate as a security for repayment. Cassiodorus evidently feels this; and very probably the restoration of the vessels and the quittance of the debt had been insisted on by him. But the more he despises his master's shabbiness, the more he struggles through a maze of almost nonsensical sentences, to prove that he has committed some very glorious action in lending the money and then forgiving the debt.]

21. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Deusdedit, a Scribe of Ravenna.

Duties of a Scribe.

'The Scribe's office is the great safeguard of the rights of all men. The evidence of ownership may be destroyed by fire or purloined by dishonest men, but the State by making use of the Scribe's labours is able to make good the loss so sustained. The Scribe is more diligent in other men's business than they are in their own. His muniment-chest is the refuge of all the oppressed, and the repository of the fortunes of all men[867].

'In testimony of your past integrity, and in the hope that no change will mar this fair picture, we appoint you to this honourable office. Remember that ancient Truth is committed to your keeping, and that it often really rests with you, rather than with the Judge, to decide the disputes of litigants. When your indisputable testimony is given, and when the ancient voice of charters proceeds from your sanctum, Advocates receive it with reverence, and suitors, even evil-intentioned men, are constrained into obedience.

'Banish, therefore, all thoughts of venality from your mind. The worst moth that gets into papers and destroys them is the gold of the dishonest litigant, who bribes the Scribes to make away with evidence which he knows to be hostile. Thus, then, be ready always to produce to suitors genuine old documents; and, on the other hand, transcribe only, do not compose ancient proceedings[868]. Let the copy correspond to the original as the wax to the signet-ring, that as the face is the index of the emotions[869] so your handwriting may not err from the authentic original in anything.

'If a claimant succeed in enticing you even once from the paths of honesty, vainly will you in any subsequent case seek to obtain his credence for any document that you may produce; for he will always believe that the trick which has been played once may be played again. Keep to the line of justice, and even his angry exclamations at the impossibility of inducing you to deviate therefrom, will be your highest testimonial. Your whole career is public, and the favour or disgrace which awaits you must be public also.'

22. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to the Provincials of Istria.

[This letter was written Sept. 1, 537, probably in consequence of the scarcity which the operations of Belisarius were already causing at Ravenna. Apparently the whole taxes levied from a Province at an Indiction were divided into two heads: so much for the central authority, and so much for the Province. Cassiodorus in this and the following letter says in effect: 'All the State's share of the taxes we will take not in money, but in your staple products, corn, wine, and oil. The rest goes as usual to the Province; but owing to the scarcity at Ravenna we shall be glad to buy all that can be spared either by the authorities of the Province or by individuals, whether farmers or merchants.']

'The true way to prevent the requirements of the public revenue from becoming oppressive, is to order each Province to supply those products in which it is naturally most fertile.

Requisition from Province of Istria.

'Now I have learned by conversation with travellers that the Province of Istria is this year especially blessed in three of its crops—wine, oil, and corn. Therefore let her give of these products the equivalent of ... solidi, which are due from you in payment of tribute for this first Indiction[870]: while the remainder we leave to that loyal Province for her own regular expenses. But since we require a larger quantity of the above-mentioned products, we send ... solidi from our state chest for the purchase of them, that these necessaries may be collected for us with as little delay as possible. Often when you are desirous to sell you cannot find a purchaser, and suffer loss accordingly. How much better is it to obey the requirements of your Lords than to supply foreigners; and to pay your debts in the fruits of the soil, rather than to wait on the caprices of a buyer!

'We will ourselves out of our love of justice state a fact of which you might otherwise remind us, that we can afford to be liberal in price because we are not burdened by the payment of freights [on account of your nearness to the seat of government]. For what Campania is to Rome, Istria is to Ravenna—a fruitful Province abounding in corn, wine, and oil; so to speak, the cupboard of the capital. I might carry the comparison further, and say that Istria can show her own Baiae in the lagunes with which her shores are indented[871], her own Averni in the pools abounding in oysters and fish. The palaces, strung like pearls along the shores of Istria, show how highly our ancestors appreciated its delights[872]. The beautiful chain of islands with which it is begirt, shelter the sailor from danger and enrich the cultivator. The residence of the Court in this district delights the nobles and enriches the lower orders; and it may be said that all its products find their way to the Royal city. Now let the loyal Province, which has often tendered her services when they were less required, send forward her stores freely.

'To guard against any misunderstanding of our orders, we send Laurentius, a man of great experience, whose instructions are contained in the annexed letter.

'We will publish a tariff of moderate prices when we next address you, and when we have ascertained what is the yield of the present crops; for we should be deciding quite at random before we have received that information.'

23. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Laurentius, Vir Experientissimus[873].

The same subject.

'Anyone can discharge the duties of the Commissariat in a time of abundance. It is a mark of our high appreciation of your experience and efficiency, that we select you for this service in a time of scarcity. We therefore direct you to repair to the Province of Istria, there to collect stores of wine, oil, and corn, equivalent to ... solidi, due from the Province for land-tax[874], and with ... solidi which you have received from our Treasurer to buy these products either from the merchants or from the peasants directly, according to the information prepared for you by the Cashiers[875]. Raise your spirits for this duty, and discharge it in a manner worthy of your past reputation. Make to us a faithful report of the yield of the coming harvest, under these three heads[876], that we may fix a tariff of prices which shall be neither burdensome to the Provincials nor injurious to the public service.'

24. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to the Tribunes of the Maritime Population[877].

First historical notice of Venice.

'We have previously given orders that Istria should send wine and oil, of which there are abundant crops this year, to the Royal residence at Ravenna. Do you, who possess numerous ships on the borders of the Province, show the same devotion in forwarding the stores which they do in supplying them.

'Be therefore active in fulfilling this commission in your own neighbourhood, you who often cross boundless distances. It may be said that [in visiting Ravenna] you are going through your own guest-chambers, you who in your voyages traverse your own home[878]. This is also added to your other advantages, that to you another route is open, marked by perpetual safety and tranquillity. For when by raging winds the sea is closed, a way is opened to you through the most charming river scenery[879]. Your keels fear no rough blasts; they touch the earth with the greatest pleasure, and cannot perish however frequently they may come in contact with it. Beholders from a distance, not seeing the channel of the stream, might fancy them moving through the meadows. Cables have been used to keep them at rest: now drawn by ropes they move, and by a changed order of things men help their ships with their feet. They draw their drawers without labour, and instead of the capricious favour of sails they use the more satisfactory steps of the sailor.

'It is a pleasure to recall the situation of your dwellings as I myself have seen them. Venetia the praiseworthy[880], formerly full of the dwellings of the nobility, touches on the south Ravenna and the Po, while on the east it enjoys the delightsomeness of the Ionian shore, where the alternating tide now discovers and now conceals the face of the fields by the ebb and flow of its inundation. Here after the manner of water-fowl have you fixed your home. He who was just now on the mainland finds himself on an island, so that you might fancy yourself in the Cyclades[881], from the sudden alterations in the appearance of the shore.

'Like them[882] there are seen amid the wide expanse of the waters your scattered homes, not the product of Nature, but cemented by the care of man into a firm foundation[883]. For by a twisted and knotted osier-work the earth there collected is turned into a solid mass, and you oppose without fear to the waves of the sea so fragile a bulwark, since forsooth the mass of waters is unable to sweep away the shallow shore, the deficiency in depth depriving the waves of the necessary power.

'The inhabitants have one notion of plenty, that of gorging themselves with fish. Poverty therefore may associate itself with wealth on equal terms. One kind of food refreshes all; the same sort of dwelling shelters all; no one can envy his neighbour's home; and living in this moderate style they escape that vice [of envy] to which all the rest of the world is liable.

'Your whole attention is concentrated on your salt-works. Instead of driving the plough or wielding the sickle, you roll your cylinders. Thence arises your whole crop, when you find in them that product which you have not manufactured[884]. There it may be said is your subsistence-money coined[885]. Of this art of yours every wave is a bondservant. In the quest for gold a man may be lukewarm: but salt every one desires to find; and deservedly so, since to it every kind of meat owes its savour.

'Therefore let your ships, which you have tethered, like so many beasts of burden, to your walls, be repaired with diligent care: so that when the most experienced Laurentius attempts to bring you his instructions, you may hasten forth to greet him. Do not by any hindrance on your part delay the necessary purchases which he has to make; since you, on account of the character of your winds, are able to choose the shortest sea-track[886].'

25. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, To His Deputy[887] Ambrosius, an Illustris.

[This letter appears to have been written in the early autumn of 538, about a year after the three last letters, and also after Letters 27 and 28, which precede it in order of date, though they follow it in this collection. For an account of the terrible famine in Italy, the beginning of which is here described, see Procopius, De Bello Gotthico ii. 20.]

Famine in Italy.

'Since the world is not governed by chance, but by a Divine Ruler who does not change His purposes at random, men are alarmed, and naturally alarmed, at the extraordinary signs in the heavens, and ask with anxious hearts what events these may portend. The Sun, first of stars, seems to have lost his wonted light, and appears of a bluish colour. We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty vigour of his heat wasted into feebleness, and the phenomena which accompany a transitory eclipse prolonged through a whole year.

'The Moon too, even when her orb is full, is empty of her natural splendour. Strange has been the course of the year thus far. We have had a winter without storms, a spring without mildness, and a summer without heat. Whence can we look for harvest, since the months which should have been maturing the corn have been chilled by Boreas? How can the blade open if rain, the mother of all fertility, is denied to it? These two influences, prolonged frost and unseasonable drought, must be adverse to all things that grow. The seasons seem to be all jumbled up together, and the fruits, which were wont to be formed by gentle showers, cannot be looked for from the parched earth. But as last year was one that boasted of an exceptionally abundant harvest, you are to collect all of its fruits that you can, and store them up for the coming months of scarcity, for which it is well able to provide. And that you may not be too much distressed by the signs in the heavens of which I have spoken, return to the consideration of Nature, and apprehend the reason of that which makes the vulgar gape with wonder.

'The middle air is thickened by the rigour of snow and rarefied by the beams of the Sun. This is the great Inane, roaming between the heavens and the earth. When it happens to be pure and lighted up by the rays of the sun it opens out its true aspect[888]; but when alien elements are blended with it, it is stretched like a hide across the sky, and suffers neither the true colours of the heavenly bodies to appear nor their proper warmth to penetrate. This often happens in cloudy weather for a time; it is only its extraordinary prolongation which has produced these disastrous effects, causing the reaper to fear a new frost in harvest, making the apples to harden when they should grow ripe, souring the old age of the grape-cluster.

'All this, however, though it would be wrong to construe it as an omen of Divine wrath, cannot but have an injurious effect on the fruits of the earth. Let it be your care to see that the scarcity of this one year does not bring ruin on us all. Even thus was it ordained by the first occupant of our present dignity[889], that the preceding plenty should avail to mitigate the present penury.'

26. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Paulus, Vir Strenuus[890].

Remission of taxes for Province of Venetia in consequence of the famine.

'We are glad when we can reconcile the claims of the public service with the suggestions of pity. The Venerable Augustin, a man illustrious by his life and name, has brought under our notice the lamentable petition of the Venetians, to the effect that there have been in their Province no crops of wine, wheat, or millet, and that they must be ruined unless the Royal pity succours them.

'In these circumstances it would be cruel to exact the customary supplies from them, and we therefore remit the contributions of wine and wheat for the use of the army which we had ordered from the cities of Concordia, Aquileia, and Forojulii[891], exacting only the meat, as shown by the accompanying letter[892].

'We shall send from hence a sufficient supply of wheat when the time comes; and as we are told that there is a plentiful crop of wine in Istria, you can buy there the wine that would have been furnished by the three cities. Be sure that you ask for no fee in this matter. This remission of taxes is absolutely gratuitous on our part.'

27. Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to Datius[893], Bishop of Milan.

Relief of famine-stricken citizens of Ticinum and Dertona.

'It is most fitting that good and holy men should be made the stewards of the Royal bounty. We therefore request your Holiness, in accordance with the King's commands, to open the granaries at Ticinum[894], and Dertona[895], and sell millet thereat to the starving people at the rate of 20 modii per solidum[896]. We are anxious that you should do this, lest the work should fall into venal hands which would sell the King's bounty to those who are able to provide for themselves. It is the poor, not the rich, that we wish to help: we would pour our bounty into empty vessels. Let not then your Holiness think this work of compassion, unworthy of your sacred office. In order to assist you we have sent A and B, who will simply obey the orders of your Holiness, doing nothing of their own motion.

'Send us an account of the solidi received in payment for the said millet, that they may be stored up with our Treasurer[897], in order to replace the before-mentioned grain, and thus provide a reserve for future times of scarcity; like a garment taken to pieces that it may be made up again as good as new.'

[It is not very easy to assign a date to this letter. The mention of the famine would incline us to assign it to 538, as that seems to have been the year when the full force of the famine was felt in Italy (see Procopius, De Bello Gotthico ii. 20, where 538 and 539 seem to be marked as the two great famine years). But very early in 538 the Bishop of Milan, the same Datius to whom this letter is addressed, visited Rome to entreat Belisarius to send a small garrison to occupy Milan, which had already revolted, or was on the verge of revolting, from the Gothic King. As soon as the siege of Rome was raised Belisarius complied with this request, and sent 1,000 men, under Mundilas, to escort Datius back to Milan. This expedition set forth probably in April 538, and as soon as it arrived at Milan that city openly proclaimed its defection from Witigis and its allegiance to the Emperor. It was soon besieged by Uraias, nephew of Witigis, by whom in the following year (539) it was taken. The city, we are informed, was rased to the ground, and Bishop Datius escaped to Constantinople. Evidently we have here a continuous chain of events, which makes it impossible for us to date this letter in 538 or any subsequent year.

We ought probably therefore to assign it to the autumn of 537, and to look upon it as an attempt (unsuccessful, as it proved) to retain Datius and the citizens of Milan on the side of the Goths. We know from the Twenty-second Letter of this book that signs of scarcity had already shown themselves in Italy by the 1st September, 537; and in an interesting passage of the 'Historia Miscella' (Book xvi.), famine in Liguria, the year 537, and the name of Datius are all combined. 'Praeter belli instantiam angebatur insuper Roma famis penuriâ: tanta siquidem per universum mundum eo anno [the year of the siege of Rome], maxime apud Liguriam fames excreverat, ut sicut vir sanctissimus Datius Mediolanensis antistes retulit, pleraeque matres infelicium natorum membra comederent.' I owe this reference to Baronius.]

28. An Edict [addressed to the Ligurians].

Relief of inhabitants of Liguria.

'Divine Providence uses adversity as a means of testing our characters. Famine has afflicted the Provinces, but the result of it has been that they have proved more fully than before the bounty of their King. Rejoice herein, oh ye Ligurians! For when, as you will remember, on a previous occasion the savage temper of your neighbours was aroused, and Aemilia and your Liguria were shaken by an incursion of the Burgundians, who waged a sneaking campaign by reason of their nearness to your territory, suddenly the renown of the insulted Empire[898] arose like the sun in his strength. The enemy mourned the ruin which was caused by his own presumption, when he learned that that man was Ruler of the Gothic race whose rare valour he had experienced when he was still a private soldier[899]. How often did the Burgundian wish that he had never left his own frontiers to be compelled to fight with such an adversary as our Sovereign; for though he found with relief that he escaped his actual presence in the field, none the less did his rashness bring him in contact with the good fortune of his arms. For when with redoubled fortitude[900] the Goths turned to the prosecution of the war, with such successfully combined operations did they strike the bands of the rebels, that you would have thought those were all armed men, these were all defenceless[901]. Such was the just judgment of God, that the robber should perish in those very plains which he had presumed to desolate. Exult now, oh Province, adorned with the carcases of thine adversaries! rejoice, oh Liguria, at the heap of dead bodies! If the harvest of corn is denied thee, the harvest of dead enemies shall not be wanting. Tribute thou mayest not be able to offer to thy King, but the triumphs which are won in thy land thou canst offer with pride.

'[902]To these triumphs must be added the lately foiled plunder-raid of the Alamanni, so checked in its very first attempts that their entrance and exit were almost one event, like a wound well and opportunely cauterised. Thus were the excesses of the presumptuous invader punished, and the subjects of our King were saved from absolute ruin. I might indeed enumerate to you what crowds of the enemy fell in other places, but I turn rather—such is human nature—to more joyful themes, and revert to the point with which I at first commenced, namely that the Sovereign who has saved you from the hostile sword is determined now to avert from your Province the perils of famine.

'In this new war the citadels are well-stored granaries; Starvation is the dreaded foe: if they are closed she enters; by opening them wide she is put to flight. I know not what the world in general may think of the relative merit of these two campaigns of our King. For my part, though I recognise it as the mark of a brave man to have fought a winning battle, I think it is something above mere human valour to have conquered penury.

'In addition to these benefits the King has remitted one-half of the taxes of the Province, that he might not sadden with the one hand those whom he was gladdening with the other. Herein he compares favourably with Joseph, who sold corn to the Egyptians, but on such terms that they lost their personal freedom. Doubtless that holy man was placed in a dilemma between the necessity of satisfying a covetous King on the one hand, and that of rescuing a starving people on the other. Still I must think that the Egyptian, whose life was preserved, groaned over the loss of his liberty; and if I may say so, with all respect to so great a patriarch[903], far nobler is it to sell corn to freemen who remain freemen, and to lighten their taxes on account of poverty. This is really a gratuitous distribution, when both the money with which to buy is handed over to you [by the abatement of tribute], and a price is fixed on purpose to please you.

'The generosity of the State therefore will sell 25 modii, when the peasant has lost his crops, at the price at which 10 are usually sold[904]. Humanity has altered the usual course of affairs, and by a strange kind of chaffering, but one which truly becomes a King, just when the famished peasant is willing to offer us an enhanced price for food, we are directed to offer it to him for a smaller one.

'The King himself had seen your calamity, and thereupon bestowed on you previously one favour. Now, on hearing of its continuance, he adds to it a second. Happy calamity, which forced itself on the notice of such an eye-witness!

'Now, oh Ligurian, rejoice in the good fortune which has come to thee. Compare thy lot with the Egyptian's and be happy. He was fed, but lost his freedom; thou art fed, and at the same time defended from thy enemies. Joseph gave back the purchase-money to his brethren in their sacks, showing a greater kindness to his kindred than to his subjects. Our King shows no such partiality, but bestows on all the taxpayers larger benefits than he did on his brethren. Happy age! in which Kings may be likened, not to Kings, but to Prophets, and yet bear away the palm.

'But that we may not longer detain you from the desired enjoyment of the Royal benefits, know that our commands have been given to those whose business it is to attend to this affair, that, according to the tenour of this edict, the generosity of the Sovereign may penetrate into your homes.'

[The same considerations which were applied to the date of the preceding letter seem to require that this also be dated in 537. After the raising of the siege of Rome (March, 538), by the despatch of Imperial troops into Liguria, and the enthusiastic adherence of that Province to the Imperial cause, a new state of things was established, and one to which the language of this letter would have been utterly inapplicable.

There are two events of which we have no other knowledge than that furnished by this letter: the invasion of the Burgundians, and the ravages of the Alamanni in the Province of Liguria.

(1) The invasion of the Burgundians seems, as stated in a previous note, to have occurred in the spring or early summer of 536; so that Cassiodorus could represent the invaders as surprised and disheartened by learning of the elevation of Witigis. It no doubt formed part of those hostile operations of the Frankish Kings described by Procopius (De Bello Gotthico i. 13), the termination of which was purchased by Witigis by the cession of Provence and the payment of a subsidy. It is interesting to observe, however, that the Burgundians, notwithstanding their subjugation in 534, and their incorporation in the Frankish monarchy, are still spoken of as conducting an invasion on their own account. This is just like the invasion of Italy in 553 by the Alamannic brethren, and is quite in keeping with the loosely compacted character of the Merovingian monarchy, in which it was copied by the Anglian and Saxon Kingdoms.

(2) For the ravages of the Alamanni consult, as before stated, von Schubert's monograph. This passage quite confirms his view of the events connected with the overthrow of the Alamannic Kingdom by Clovis. A remnant of the people, settled as refugees in Raetia under Theodoric's protection, now, in the decline of the Ostrogothic monarchy throw off their allegiance to his successors, and press forward over the Alps to share the spoil of Italy. Witigis, however, notwithstanding his struggle with Belisarius, is still able promptly to repel this incursion; but it co-operates with the Burgundian invasion and the inclement spring and summer of 537 to bring about the famine in Liguria in the autumn of that year.]

THE END.