Part 85 (2/2)
[Footnote 860: 'In pontibus contrabium non tremere.']
'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 quant.i.ties of provisions without plundering the peasants. A failure in any one of these particulars will ruin your whole service.
[Sidenote: 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 ent.i.tle 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.
[Sidenote: 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 pa.s.sing over it unharmed only wishes that the bridge were longer.
'Let a safe bulwark of lattice-work s.h.i.+eld the bridge on the right side and on the left. See that you give no cause for misadventure of any kind. You have a n.o.ble opportunity of distinguis.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.sist 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.'
[Footnote 861: 'Illum sedis nostrae militem.']
[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.
[Sidenote: 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 amba.s.sador 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.
[Footnote 862: He was sent by Theodahad; entered Constantinople February 20, 536, and died there 21st April of the same year.]
[Footnote 863: 'Facto pictacio.']
[Footnote 864: 'Vasa sanctorum.' One would think this must refer to the vessels used in celebrating ma.s.s; but I do not quite see how the meaning is to be got out of the words.]
'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.
[Footnote 865: 'Actoribus.']
'Herein is the great example of King Alaric surpa.s.sed. 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.
<script>