Part 75 (1/2)
'If vengeance on King Theodahad be the thing required, I [who have put him to death] merit your love. If you desire to honour the blessed memory of Queen Amalasuentha, think of her daughter[705], who has reached [by our means] that royal station to which your soldiers might well have striven to exalt her, in order that all the nations might see how faithful you remained to the old friends.h.i.+p.
[Footnote 705: Matasuentha, now wife of Witigis.]
'This fact too ought to influence you, that by the ordering of Providence we were permitted to make your acquaintance before our accession to the throne, that the remembrance of our favourable reception at your Court, and the sight of your person in that splendid position, might move us to love and reverence.
'Even now you can undo all that has been misdone, since the continual expectation of favours to come, makes perseverance in affection easy[706]. Therefore, soliciting your Clemency with all due respect, we inform you that we have appointed A and B our amba.s.sadors to the Wisdom of your Serenity, that you may, according to your custom, duly weigh all these considerations, that the two Republics may persevere in restored harmony, and that all which hath been settled in past times by Sovereigns of blessed memory may, by G.o.d's help, be increased and made more prosperous under your dominion.
[Footnote 706: 'Quando non est difficile illum in affectu retinere, qui gratiam constat desideranter expetere.' Very nearly, but not quite, the modern proverb which says that grat.i.tude is 'a lively sense of favours to come.']
'The rest of their commission will be more fully explained to your Serenity by the aforesaid amba.s.sadors.'
33. KING WITIGIS TO THE MASTER OF THE OFFICES [AT CONSTANTINOPLE].
[Sidenote: Emba.s.sy to Constantinople.]
'In sending our two amba.s.sadors to the most serene Emperor, it is fitting also to send letters of salutation[707] to your Greatness. May your prudence support our reasonable requests with the Emperor. You can easily correct those things [the war against the Gothic people]
which you ought never to have allowed to take place; and all things can now be arranged in the most friendly manner, since a reconciliation between men who have fought out their quarrel is often the surest ground of friends.h.i.+p. An unknown man might possibly have been shunned by you; but I, who have seen the magnificence of your Republic, who have known the hearts of so many of your n.o.ble statesmen, have no desire to quarrel with your most pious Emperor, if he will only cherish thoughts of justice towards me. If another [Theodahad] deserved the anger of the Emperor, I ought to be looked upon with the highest favour, who have executed vengeance on that hateful predecessor. I have carried your intentions into effect, and therefore I deserve reward, not punishment. Let all hatred be buried in the grave of the sinner; and even if you think nothing of our deservings, think of the liberty of the Romans, which is everywhere suffering amid the clash of arms. A few words to a man of your wisdom are sufficient.'
[Footnote 707: 'Salutiferos apices.' See x. 15.]
34. KING WITIGIS TO HIS BISHOPS.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'If we owe honour to Priests even when unknown to us, how much more so to you whom we have seen and spoken to, and with whom we have had frequent and familiar intercourse.
'By the amba.s.sadors who are bearing our letters to the most serene Emperor we send a message of reverence to your Holiness, hoping that you will pray for us and set them forward on their journey with all necessary a.s.sistance, since you are bound to wish well to those whom you know to be united to you by the ties of religion.'
35. KING WITIGIS TO THE PRAEFECT OF THESSALONICA.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'We are sending two amba.s.sadors to the most serene Emperor, who will salute your Greatness. We earnestly hope that your Excellency will speed them on their journey.'
BOOK XI.
PREFACE.
'The necessity for a Preface often arises from some contrariety in an Author's position which prevents him from writing as he would wish to write. It is admitted that it is not fair to expect the same degree of excellence from a busy man which we may reasonably look for in a man of leisure. But a man in high official position cannot be a man of leisure. It would be the highest disgrace to him if he were, since even his so-called privy-chamber[708] resounds with the noise of clamorous litigants.
[Footnote 708: 'Secretum.']
'I can well understand that a man of few occupations will object against me, here that a word has been thrown out with ill-considered haste, there that a commonplace sentiment has not been dressed up in sufficiently ornamental language, or there that I have not complied with the rules of the Ancients by making my persons speak ”in character.” But the busy man, hurried from one cause to another, and constantly under the necessity of dictating to one man and replying to another, will not make these objections, because the consciousness of his own literary perils will make him tender in his judgments. And yet there is something even in the pressure of business which sometimes promotes briskness of mind, since the art of speaking is one which is placed very much in our own power[709].
[Footnote 709: Here follows a sentence which I do not understand: 'Remanet itaque ad excusandum brevitas insperata librorum, quam nemo purgat diutius, nisi qui bene creditur esse dicturus.']