Letter 1013: KING THEODERIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

King Theoderic to the Senate of the City of Rome. [1] A dignity, conscript fathers, when it comes to one not yet known, is a gift; when it comes to one already proven, it is a recompense of merits. Of these the one is a debtor to our judgment, the other is subject to our favor. For some we raise up by our esteem, others we advance by our goodwill, and our humanity relaxes itself toward every path of indulgence. But out of regard for your love we are admonished as often as one is led into your assembly who is esteemed for glorious virtues. For whatever there is of the flower of the human race, it is fitting that the senate-house possess it: just as the citadel is the glory of cities, so that body is the ornament of all the other orders. [2] And therefore we have raised Eugenites, an illustrious man resplendent in his reputation for literary learning, to the honor of the mastership [magisterium, a high office], so that he might bear in name the dignity which he possessed by his merits. For who could be ignorant of so many of his dutiful labors, which he discharged not with a cheapness of mind, but maintained with the honor of his patronage? We have therefore granted a person equal to such great honors, so that, shining with the one distinction and the other, they might adorn one another by the mutual grace of their quality. This is the man who not long ago clung to our side as a juridical quaestor [iuridicus quaestor, a legal-judicial office], whom no cloud of envy has darkened, nor did he, in his zeal for malice, seek out arts of harm with embittered feelings: with the sincere secret of his heart he obeyed our purity, and to the dutifulness of our commands he offered his own innocence. For a deceitful mind does not follow the will of the one who commands, but rather unfolds its own wishes. [3] You have, to be sure, clear evidence of our judgment in this matter, in that after the summit of that high office he ascended to another dignity. Nor did we suffer him to be idle, whom his merits did not permit to remain a private man: he is to be reckoned by the customs of the serene sun, which, although it completes the day it has taken up, nevertheless illuminates another day with the same grace of brightness. This man therefore, conscript fathers, so absolutely resplendent with so many merits, let your favor receive. For you owe it to those who govern well that the assent of your praise should accompany them. For if the course of horses is roused by the shouts of men and is driven on by the hands of those who make their noise, so that swiftness may be sought even from dumb animals, how much, do we believe, can men be spurred on thereby, whom we find to be born uniquely for an eagerness for praise!

XIII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX. [1] Dignitas, patres conscripti, dum ad incognitum venit, donum est, cum ad expertum, compensatio meritorum. quorum alter debitor iudicii, alter obnoxius est favori. hos enim aestimatione subvehimus, alios gratia promovemus et ad omnes indulgentiae vias nostra se relaxat humanitas. sed amoris vestri intuitu commonemur, quotiens in coetum vestrum ducitur, qui de gloriosis virtutibus aestimatur. quicquid enim humani generis floris est, habere curiam decet: quae sicut arx decus urbium, ita illa ornamentum est ordinum ceterorum. [2] Atque ideo Eugenitem illustrem virum litterati dogmatis opinione fulgentem magisterii honore subveximus, ut gereret nomine quam possidebat meritis dignitatem. quis enim tot eius officiosos labores ignoret, quos non vilitate mentis exercuit, sed patrocinii honore servavit? dedimus itaque personam tantis honoribus parem, ut alterutro decore fulgentes mutua se gratia qualitatis ornarent. hic est, qui pridem nostro lateri iuridicus quaestor adhaesit, quem livoris nebula nulla fuscavit, nec malivolentiae studio nocendi artes fellitis sensibus exquisivit: sincero pectoris arcano puritati nostrae paruit et ad pietatem iussionum innocentiam suam praebuit. animus enim dolosus non arbitrium sequitur imperantis, sed suas potius explicat voluntates. [3] Habetis certe evidens nostrum in hac parte iudicium, ut post illius apicis culmen ad alteram conscenderet dignitatem. nec passi sumus otiosum, quem merita non sinebant esse privatum: sereni solis consuetudinibus aestimandus, qui licet susceptum diem peragat, alterum tamen eadem gratia claritatis illuminat. hunc ergo, patres conscripti, tot meritis absolute relucentem favor vester excipiat. debetis enim bene gerentibus, ut eos laudis vestrae comitetur assensus. nam si equorum cursus hominum clamoribus incitatur et insonantium manibus agitur, ut a mutis animalibus velocitas appetatur, quantum inde homines stimulari posse credimus, quos ad laudis aviditatem natos singulariter invenimus!