Part 71 (1/2)

'Delighting to receive from your Piety some of those treasures of which the heavenly bounty has made you partaker, we send the bearer of the present letter to receive those marbles and other necessaries which we formerly ordered Calogenitus to collect on our behalf. All our adornments, furnished by you, redound to your glory. For it is fitting that by your a.s.sistance should s.h.i.+ne resplendent that Roman world which the love of your Serenity renders ill.u.s.trious.'

9. KING THEODAHAD TO JUSTINIAN, AUGUSTUS.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

[On the same subject as the previous letter, and in nearly the same words. Calogenitus apparently is dead.]

'We have directed the bearer of this letter to exhibit (?) those things for which Calogenitus was previously destined; so that, although that person is withdrawn from this life, your benefits, by G.o.d's help, may still be brought unto us.'

10. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THEODORA, AUGUSTA[644].

[Footnote 644: There is something in the tone of this letter which suggests that Theodora was known to be pregnant when it was written.]

[Sidenote: Salutation to Theodora.]

'We approach you with the language of veneration, because it is agreed on all hands that your virtues increase more and more. Friends.h.i.+p exists not for those only who are in one another's presence, but also for the absent. Rendering you therefore the salutation of august reverence, I hope that our amba.s.sadors, whom we have directed to the most clement and most glorious Emperor, will bring me news of your welfare. Your prosperity is as dear to me as my own; and as I constantly pray for your safety, I cannot hear without pleasure that my prayers have been answered.'

11. KING THEODAHAD TO MAXIMUS[645], VIR ILl.u.s.tRIS AND DOMESTICUS.

[Footnote 645: This Maximus does not appear to be mentioned by Procopius. He may be the same Maximus who took refuge in one of the churches after Totila's capture of Rome in 546 (De Bello Gotthico iii.

20), and who was slain by order of Teias in 552 (Ibid. iv. 34); but that person was grandson of an Emperor, and it seems hardly probable that Ca.s.siodorus would have spared us such a detail in the pedigree of Theodahad's kinsman. We seem also to be entirely without information as to the Amal princess who was the bride of Maximus.]

[Sidenote: Maximus appointed to office of Primicerius (Domesticorum?)]

'It is the glory of a good Sovereign to confer office on the deserving descendants of ill.u.s.trious families. Such are the Anicii, an ancient family, almost on an equality with princes[646], from whom you are descended. Gladly would we decorate the descendants of the Marii and Corvini if time had permitted their progeny to survive to our own day.

But it were inconsistent to regret the impossibility of enjoying this privilege if we neglected the opportunity which we do possess in your case.

[Footnote 646: 'Anicios quidem pene principibus pares aetas prisca genuit.']

'Therefore we bestow upon you from this fourteenth Indiction[647] the office of Primicerius, which is also called Domesticatus. This office may appear somewhat less than you are ent.i.tled to by your pedigree, but you have received an honour which is greater than all the _fasces_ in being permitted to marry a wife of our royal race, a distinction which you could not have hoped for even when you sat in the curule chair. Comport yourself now with mildness, patience, and moderation, that you may show yourself worthy of your affinity with us. Your ancestors have hitherto been praised, but they were never dignified with such an alliance. Your n.o.bility has now reached a point beyond which it can climb no further. All that you do henceforward of a praiseworthy kind will but have the effect of rendering you more worthy of the matrimonial alliance which you have already achieved[648].'

[Footnote 647: 535 to 536.]

[Footnote 648: 'Laudati sunt hactenus parentes tui, sed tanta non sunt conjunctione decorati. n.o.bilitas tua non est ultra quod crescat.

Quicquid praeconialiter egeris, proprio matrimonio dignissimus aestimaris.']

12. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We do not think that the fact of a man's having received the Consuls.h.i.+p early in life should shut him out from holding office of lower rank in his maturer years[649]. As the Tiber receives the water of smaller rivers which merge their names in his, so a man of Consular rank can serve the State in less conspicuous ways, yet still be Consular. Therefore we have thought fit to bestow on the Ill.u.s.trious and Magnificent Patrician Maximus, the Primiceriatus which is also called Domesticatus, from this fourteenth Indiction, that the lowliness of the honour may be raised by the merit of the wearer. He is an Anicius, sprung from a family renowned throughout the whole world. He is also honoured with the affinity of our own ill.u.s.trious race. Receive him, welcome him, rejoice at these nuptials, which bind me closer to you, now that you have in your ranks one whom I can truly call a relation.'

[Footnote 649: Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul in 523.]

13. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.