Part 58 (2/2)

'It is the hard lot of human nature often to be injured by the very things which were intended as remedies. The prohibition against the sale of the property of a Curialis was intended for his protection, and to enable him fearlessly to discharge his share of the public burdens. In some cases, however, where he has contracted large debts, this prohibition simply prevents him from saving anything out of the gulf of indebtedness. You have the power, after making due enquiry into the circ.u.mstances, to authorise the sale of such a property. You have the power; but as the proceeding is an unusual one, to guard you against any odium to which it may expose you, we fortify your Eminence by this our present command. Let the Curialis who pet.i.tions for this relief satisfy you as to the cause of his losses, that it may be shown that they are really the result of circ.u.mstances beyond his own control, not due to his own bad character.

'Wisely has Antiquity laid upon _you_ the responsibility of deciding cases of this kind, you whose advantage lies in the maintenance of the Curia. For by whom could its burdens be borne, if the nerves of the communities should everywhere be seen to be severed[500]?'

[Footnote 500: 'Quapropter provide vobis permisit antiquitas de illa causa decernere, cui est utile Curiam custodire. A quibus enim munia petuerunt sustineri, si civitatum nervi pa.s.sim videantur abscidi.']

BOOK VIII.

CONTAINING THIRTY-THREE LETTERS, ALL WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF ATHALARIC THE KING, EXCEPT THE ELEVENTH, WHICH IS WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF TULUM.

1. KING ATHALARIC TO THE EMPEROR JUSTIN (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: The accession of Athalaric announced to the Emperor Justin.]

[Some MSS. read Justiniano, but there can be no doubt that Justino is the right reading. Athalaric's accession took place August 30, 526; the death of Justin, August 1, 527. Justinian was a.s.sociated with his uncle in the Empire, April 1, 527.]

'Most earnestly do I seek your friends.h.i.+p, oh most clement of Princes, who are made even more ill.u.s.trious by the wide extension of your favours than by the purple robe and the kingly throne. On this friends.h.i.+p I have an hereditary claim. My father was adorned by you with the palm-enwoven robe of the Consul [Eutharic, Consul 519] and adopted as a son in arms, a name which I, as one of a younger generation, could more fittingly receive[501]. My grandfather also received curule honours from you[502] in your city. Love and friends.h.i.+p should pa.s.s from parents to their offspring, while hatred should be buried in the tomb; and therefore with confidence, as one who by reason of my tender years cannot be an object of suspicion to you, and as one whose ancestors you have already known and cherished, I claim from you your friends.h.i.+p on the same compacts and conditions on which your renowned predecessors granted it to my lord and grandfather of Divine memory[503]. It will be to me something better than dominion to have the friends.h.i.+p of so excellent and so mighty a ruler. My amba.s.sadors (A and B) will open the purport of their commission more fully to your Serenity.'

[Footnote 501: The text is evidently corrupt here: 'Genitor meus desiderio quoque concordiae factus est per arma filius, quia unis n.o.bis pene videbatur aequaevus.' The suggested reading, 'quamvis vobis,' does not entirely remove the difficulty.]

[Footnote 502: That is, of course, not from Justin himself but from his predecessors.]

[Footnote 503: 'Ut amicitiam n.o.bis illis pactis, illis conditionibus concedatis, quas c.u.m divae memoriae domino avo nostro inclytos decessores vestros constat habuisse.']

2. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME ON HIS ACCESSION (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the Senate.]

'Great must be the joy of all orders of the State at hearing of the accession of a new ruler, above all of a peaceful succession, without war, without sedition, without loss of any kind to the Republic.

'Such has been our succession to our grandfather. On account of the glory of the Amal race, which yields to none[504], the hope of our youth has been preferred to the merits of all others. The chiefs, glorious in council and in war, have flocked to recognise us as King so gladly, so unmurmuringly, that it seems like a Divine inspiration, and the kingdom has been changed as one changes a garment.

[Footnote 504: 'Quoniam quaevis claritas generis Amalis cedit.']

'The inst.i.tution of royalty is consolidated when power thus pa.s.ses from one generation to another, and when a good prince lives again, not in statues of bra.s.s but in the lineaments and the character of his descendants.

'The general consent of Goths and Romans [at Ravenna] has crowned us King, and they have confirmed their allegiance by an oath. You, though separated from us by s.p.a.ce, are, we know, as near to us in heart as they; and we call upon you therefore to follow their example. We all know that the most excellent fathers of the Senate love their King more fervently than other ranks of the State, in proportion to the greater benefits which they have received at his hand.

'And since one should never enter your Curia empty-handed, we have sent our Count, the Ill.u.s.trious Sigismer, with certain persons to administer the oath to you. If you have any requests to make to us which shall be for the common benefit of the Republic, make them through him, and they are granted beforehand.'

3. KING ATHALARIC TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the citizens of Rome.]

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