VARIAE, BOOK 10, LETTER 12
From: King Theodahad, writing through Cassiodorus
To: The Senate of the City of Rome
Date: ~534-536 AD
Context: Theodahad explains why he has given the distinguished patrician Maximus a seemingly lesser office after the consulship — arguing that no office is truly lesser when held by a great man, and comparing small honors absorbed into great ones to tributaries merging into the Tiber.
[1] Let no one think, Senators, that we acted without reason in granting honors — that after the distinction of the consulship we now confer something seemingly lesser. On the contrary, the merits of the candidate persuaded us that a man already mature in achievement should not appear to receive nothing further, simply because he was known to have earned the highest honor while still young. It would be the mark of a miserly ruler to confine so long a life to a single honor and thereby give nothing more, because the recipient had already earned the greatest. Rather, let us grant everything freely: no office is lesser when it is well performed, since the reputation of the person often lends reverence to the position itself. Offices are arranged in grades only when they are distributed among different people — for whatever a man of consular rank performs well always retains its proper honor. So the names of lesser rivers are absorbed by a greater one, and although your Tiber receives the waters of many streams, it never loses its own name.
[2] Therefore — and may it be said with good fortune — we have granted the distinguished and magnificent patrician Maximus the office of primicerius, also known as domesticus, to be held from the fourteenth indiction, so that the modesty of the honor might grow through the merit of the man who holds it. For it is not fitting to call anything humble that an Anicius performs — a family celebrated throughout the entire world, one truly called noble because honorable conduct never departs from it.
[3] But to these good things we add, Senators, that the splendor of your distinguished family may be joined to our own exalted kinship. Yet this glory does not belong to one man alone — we have conferred it on the Roman name itself. Return to our affection your fullest love. He who has deigned to give a subject the name of parent deserves to be loved all the more by his lord.
[4] It is only right, Senators, that you should hold dear the man through whom such happy things have come to you. Rejoice together and celebrate these nuptials with overflowing joy. Where the name of all has profited, the prayers should be everyone's.
XII.
SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODAHADUS REX.
[1] Ne quis nos, patres conscripti, in honoribus dandis non aestimet habuisse rationem, quod post insignia consulatus minora magis posterius conferamus. quin immo suaserunt nobis merita candidati, ne iam maturus nulla videretur sumere, qui primaevus emerita cognoscitur accepisse. avari quippe principis erat in uno honore spatia vitae tam magna concludere et ideo magis nihil praestare, quia prius cognoscitur summa meruisse. quin potius omnia miscue concedamus: nulla dignitas minor est, cum bene geritur, quando reverentiam plerumque actio videtur accipere de claritate personae. haec autem tunc sunt gradibus distincta, cum diversis fuerint attributa. nam honorem suum semper aequaliter retinet quicquid probe gesserit consularis. sic minorum fluminum vocabula maior amnis absorbet et quamvis plurima fluenta Tiberis vester excipiat, tamen a proprio nomine non declinat. [2] Et ideo, quod feliciter dictum sit, illustri viro atque magnifico patricio Maximo primiceriatus, qui et domesticatus nominatur, a quarta decima indictione gerendam tribuimus dignitatem, ut mediocritas honoris merito cresceret praesidentis. neque enim fas est humile dici quod gerit Anicius: familia toto orbe praedicata, quae vere dicitur nobilis, quando ab ea actionis probitas non recedit. [3] Sed his bonis addimus, patres conscripti, ut nostrae affinitati praecelsae clara familiae vestrae gratia misceatur. verum hanc gloriam non sibi tantum potest unus assumere, quam nos probamur Romano nomini contulisse. reddite affectui meo plenissimam caritatem. plus est amandus a domino, qui parentis nomen dignatus est praestare subiecto. [4] Sed aequum est, patres conscripti, ut carus existat, per quem vobis tam felicia contigerunt. exultate generaliter et has nuptias laetitia profusa celebrate. unde profecit nomen omnium, vota debent esse cunctorum. quae preces a me exigere potuerunt, quod meus animus spontanea deliberatione concessit, ut vestri ordinis viros parentes vere appellare possimus, qui nobis affinitatis claritate iungendi sunt?
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VARIAE, BOOK 10, LETTER 12
From: King Theodahad, writing through Cassiodorus To: The Senate of the City of Rome Date: ~534-536 AD Context: Theodahad explains why he has given the distinguished patrician Maximus a seemingly lesser office after the consulship — arguing that no office is truly lesser when held by a great man, and comparing small honors absorbed into great ones to tributaries merging into the Tiber.
[1] Let no one think, Senators, that we acted without reason in granting honors — that after the distinction of the consulship we now confer something seemingly lesser. On the contrary, the merits of the candidate persuaded us that a man already mature in achievement should not appear to receive nothing further, simply because he was known to have earned the highest honor while still young. It would be the mark of a miserly ruler to confine so long a life to a single honor and thereby give nothing more, because the recipient had already earned the greatest. Rather, let us grant everything freely: no office is lesser when it is well performed, since the reputation of the person often lends reverence to the position itself. Offices are arranged in grades only when they are distributed among different people — for whatever a man of consular rank performs well always retains its proper honor. So the names of lesser rivers are absorbed by a greater one, and although your Tiber receives the waters of many streams, it never loses its own name.
[2] Therefore — and may it be said with good fortune — we have granted the distinguished and magnificent patrician Maximus the office of primicerius, also known as domesticus, to be held from the fourteenth indiction, so that the modesty of the honor might grow through the merit of the man who holds it. For it is not fitting to call anything humble that an Anicius performs — a family celebrated throughout the entire world, one truly called noble because honorable conduct never departs from it.
[3] But to these good things we add, Senators, that the splendor of your distinguished family may be joined to our own exalted kinship. Yet this glory does not belong to one man alone — we have conferred it on the Roman name itself. Return to our affection your fullest love. He who has deigned to give a subject the name of parent deserves to be loved all the more by his lord.
[4] It is only right, Senators, that you should hold dear the man through whom such happy things have come to you. Rejoice together and celebrate these nuptials with overflowing joy. Where the name of all has profited, the prayers should be everyone's.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.