Letter 10002: KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN
Cassiodorus→Justinian I|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
diplomaticimperial politics
KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN
[1] It is the custom of new kings to announce the joy of their accession to peoples of every nation, so that they may win the goodwill of a foreign sovereign through that very fellowship of ruling. In doing this, most pious Emperor, divine favor has blessed me far more abundantly, since I seek your grace with full confidence, knowing that my most illustrious royal sister has already reached agreement with you. [2] For it is absolutely certain that I will not depart in the slightest from her judgment — she who shines with such a light of wisdom that she both orders her own kingdom with admirable care and maintains the grace she has promised to all with firm resolve. She has made me a partner in her responsibilities precisely so that I too might desire to honor those with whom she herself has made peace, following her wise custom of choosing friends who have no equal anywhere in the world. [3] Nor is this affection something new: for if you recall the deeds of your predecessors, you will recognize that it has long been a rule of custom that the Amal house has always maintained friendship with the imperial court. Such friendship is all the more reliable for being all the more ancient, since what has been preserved through long centuries cannot easily be changed. Receive, therefore, with generous hearts both our own new beginning and the judgment of our royal sister, to whom you are especially devoted; for if you love me in like measure, you thereby in a sense also make me a king. [4] But since the desire of novelty compels us to say more, while the brevity of a letter does not permit it, we have therefore paid you the honor due such great merit in our salutation, and have entrusted to the bearers of this letter — our ambassadors — certain matters to convey to Your Piety, since no one handles affairs more usefully than one who deliberately entrusts his purposes to your clemency.
II.
IUSTINIANO IMPERATORI THEODAHADUS REX.
[1] Novis regibus mos est per diversas gentes provectus sui gaudia nuntiare, ut adquirant affectum principis externi de ipsa communione regnandi. quod facienti mihi, piissime imperator, multo melius divina tribuerunt, quando vestram gratiam securus expeto, quam praecellentissimam domnam sororem meam vobiscum, pepigisse cognosco. [2] Ab eius enim iudicio me nullatenus deviare certissimum est, quae tanta sapientiae luce resplendet, ut et propria regna mirabili dispositione componat et promissam cunctis gratiam robusta firmitate custodiat. ideo enim me curarum suarum fecit esse socium, quatenus et ego illos desiderem habere reverendos, quos sibi ipsa fecit esse pacificos, prudentiae suae more diiudicans, ut talium amicitias eligeret, qui in toto orbe simile nil haberent. [3] Neque enim nova est ista dilectio: nam si decessorum vestrorum facta recolatis, agnoscitis quandam esse consuetudinis legem cum illo imperio amicitiam Hamalos semper habuisse. quae tantum certior quantum vetustior, quia facile mutari non potest quod per longa saecula custoditur. suscipite itaque affectiosis mentibus et nostra primordia et domnae sororis nostrae, cui singulariter studetis, favete iudicio. nam si me similiter diligitis, regem quodammodo pariter efficitis. [4] Sed quoniam nos amplius loqui desideria novitatis exposcunt et litterarius sermo narrare plura non patitur, ideo tantis meritis, sicut dignum est, salutationis honore completo, harum portitoribus legatis nostris aliqua pietati vestrae delegavimus intimanda, quia nemo utilius tractat quam qui vestrae mansuetudini committere sua vota deliberat.
◆
KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN
[1] It is the custom of new kings to announce the joy of their accession to peoples of every nation, so that they may win the goodwill of a foreign sovereign through that very fellowship of ruling. In doing this, most pious Emperor, divine favor has blessed me far more abundantly, since I seek your grace with full confidence, knowing that my most illustrious royal sister has already reached agreement with you. [2] For it is absolutely certain that I will not depart in the slightest from her judgment — she who shines with such a light of wisdom that she both orders her own kingdom with admirable care and maintains the grace she has promised to all with firm resolve. She has made me a partner in her responsibilities precisely so that I too might desire to honor those with whom she herself has made peace, following her wise custom of choosing friends who have no equal anywhere in the world. [3] Nor is this affection something new: for if you recall the deeds of your predecessors, you will recognize that it has long been a rule of custom that the Amal house has always maintained friendship with the imperial court. Such friendship is all the more reliable for being all the more ancient, since what has been preserved through long centuries cannot easily be changed. Receive, therefore, with generous hearts both our own new beginning and the judgment of our royal sister, to whom you are especially devoted; for if you love me in like measure, you thereby in a sense also make me a king. [4] But since the desire of novelty compels us to say more, while the brevity of a letter does not permit it, we have therefore paid you the honor due such great merit in our salutation, and have entrusted to the bearers of this letter — our ambassadors — certain matters to convey to Your Piety, since no one handles affairs more usefully than one who deliberately entrusts his purposes to your clemency.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.