The Letters of Cassiodorus Part 28

30. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sequel to last letter.]

[Sidenote: Freedom from taxation granted to Church of Milan.]

'Our generosity to an individual does not harm the public, and there is no reason for putting any bounds to its exercise.

'The Defensores of the Holy Church of Milan want to be enabled to buy as cheap as possible the things which they need for the relief of the poor; and they say that we have bestowed this favour on the Church of Ravenna.

'Your Magnificence will therefore allow them to single out some one merchant who shall buy for them in the market, without being subject to monopoly, siliquatic.u.m, or the payment of gold-fee[268].'

[Footnote 268: Auraria pensio. See note on ii. 26.]

[It is easy to see how liable to abuse such an exception was. Who was to decide when this merchant was buying for the Church and when for himself; when the Church was buying for the poor and when for her own enrichment?]

31. KING THEODORIC TO THE DROMONARII [ROWERS IN EXPRESS-BOATS].

[Sidenote: State Galleys on the Po.]

'Those who claim the t.i.tle of "militia" ought to serve the public advantage. We have therefore told the Count of Sacred Largesses that you are to a.s.semble at Hostilia [on the Padus, about fifteen miles east of Mantua], there to receive pay from our Treasury, and then to relieve the land postal-service (veredarii) by excursions up and down the channel of the Padus. There is no fear of _your_ limping; you walk with your hands. No fear of _your_ carriages wearing out; they travel over liquid roads, and suffer no wear and tear because they are borne along upon the wave which itself runs with them.'

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

[Sidenote: Drainage of marshes of Decennonium.]

'We always enjoy rewarding public spirit. Decius, Magnificus and Patrician, has most n.o.bly volunteered to drain the marsh of Decennonium, where the sea-like swamp, accustomed to impunity through long licence, rushes in and spoils all the surrounding lands.

'We, in consideration of so great an undertaking, determine to secure to him the fruits of his labour, and we therefore wish that you, Conscript Fathers, should appoint a commission of two to visit the spot and mark out the ground, which is at present wasted by the inundations, that this land may be secured to Decius as a permanent possession when he has drained it.'

[The Palus Decennonii is undoubtedly connected with the Decennovial Ca.n.a.l mentioned by Procopius ('De Bello Gotth.' i. 11), and so called because it flowed for nineteen miles alongside the Appian Way. In the Piazza at Terracina there is a very interesting inscription, recording the fact that Theodoric had ordered that nineteen miles of the Appian Way should be cleared of the waters which had acc.u.mulated round it, and had committed the work to Caecina Maurus Basilius Decius, 'Vir Clarissimus et Ill.u.s.tris, Ex-Praefectus Urbi, Ex-Praefectus Praetori, Ex-Consul Ordinarius et Patricius.' See 'Italy and her Invaders' iii.

348.]

33. KING THEODORIC TO DECIUS, ILl.u.s.tRIS AND PATRICIAN.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

The complement of the foregoing letter, about the drainage of the marshes of Decennonium, which are hereby granted to him, apparently 'sine fisco,' tax-free.

[But the meaning may be, 'the marshes which you drain _sine fisco_'--without help from the Treasury.]

The chief point of difference between this and the previous letter is that here Decius is allowed and encouraged to a.s.sociate partners with him in the drainage-scheme, whom he is to reward according to their share of the work. Thus will he be less likely to sink under the enterprise, and he will also lessen men's envy of his success.

34. KING THEODORIC TO ARTEMIDORUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.

[Sidenote: Embezzlement of City building funds.]

'The persons to whom money was entrusted for the rebuilding of the walls of Rome have been embezzling it, as was proved by your examination of their accounts (discussio). We are very glad that you have not hidden their misconduct from us (inclined as a generous mind is to cover up offences), since you would thereby have made yourself partaker of their evil deeds. They must restore that which they have dishonestly appropriated, but we shall not (as we might fairly do) inflict upon them any further fine. We are naturally inclined to clemency, and they will groan at having to give up plunder which they had already calculated upon as their own.'

35. KING THEODORIC TO TANCILA, SENATOR.

[We have here another Senator with a Gothic name].

[Sidenote: Theft of brazen statue at Como.]

'We are much displeased at hearing that a brazen statue has been stolen from the City of Como. It is vexatious that while we are labouring to increase the ornaments of our cities, those which Antiquity has bequeathed to us should by such deeds be diminished.

Offer a reward of 100 aurei (60) to anyone who will reveal the author of this crime; promise pardon [to an accomplice], and if this does not suffice, call all the workmen together "post diem venerabilem" [Does this mean on the day after Sunday?], and enquire of them "sub terrore"

[by torture?] by whose help this has been done. For such a piece of work as moving this statue could only have been undertaken by some handicraftsman.'

36. EDICT ABOUT THE STATUE AT COMO.

[Refers to previous letter.]

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'Though impunity for the crime should be sufficient reward, we promise 100 aurei, as well as forgiveness for his share in the offence, to anyone who will reveal the author of the theft of the statue at Como.

A golden reward for a brazen theft. Anyone not accepting this offer and afterwards convicted will suffer the extreme penalty of the law.'

37. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Largesse to citizens of Spoleto.]

'As our Kingdom and revenues prosper, we wish to increase our liberality. Let your Magnificence therefore give to the citizens of Spoletium another "millena" for extraordinary gratuitous admissions to the baths[269]. We wish to pay freely for anything that tends to the health of our citizens, because the praise of our times is the celebration of the joys of the people.'

[Footnote 269: 'Ad exhibitionem thermarum supra consuetudinem.']

[The 'millena' probably means 1,000 solidi, or 600.]

38. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Immunity from taxation. Hostile ravages.]

'We have no pleasure in gains which are acquired by the misery of our subjects. We are informed that the merchants of the city of Sipontum [in Apulia] have been grievously despoiled by hostile incursions [probably by the Byzantine fleet in 508]. Let your Magnificence therefore see to it that they are for two years not vexed by any claims for purveyance (coemptio) on the part of our Treasury. But their other creditors must give them the same indulgence.'

39. KING THEODORIC TO ALOISIUS THE ARCHITECT.

[Sidenote: Hot springs of Aponum.]

'The fountain of Aponus--so called originally in the Greek language as being the remover of pain[270]--has many marvellous and beneficial properties, for the sake of which the buildings round it ought to be kept in good repair. One may see it welling up from the bowels of the earth in spherical form, under a canopy of steam. From this parent spring the waters, gla.s.sy-clear and having lost their first impetuosity, flow by various channels into chambers prepared for them by nature but made longer by art. In the first, when the boiling element dashes against the rock, it is hot enough to make a natural sudatorium; then it cools sufficiently for the tepidarium; and at last, quite cold, flows out into a fish-pond like that of Nero.