Letter 11008: It was the custom of earlier ages to decree new laws, adding whatever seemed to have been overlooked for succeeding...

From: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect To: All the Provinces [published edict] Date: ~533-537 AD Context: Cassiodorus's inaugural edict as Praetorian Prefect — an extraordinary public promise of clean government, fair taxation, and accessible justice. It was the custom of earlier ages to decree new laws, adding whatever seemed to have been overlooked for succeeding generations. But now it is quite sufficient for our conscience to preserve the decrees of our predecessors. People once lived in anxiety under this constant novelty, realizing that the rules governing their lives hung on another's will. Today, however, everyone knows that what the ancients established with complete authority stands firm. The existing laws are enough for you, provided the will to follow them is not lacking. Why should you endure the criers' voices and the dangerous pronouncements of magistrates with ears straining in alarm? A man who understands he has been appointed judge over himself sets limits on his own life. All of you — devote yourselves to good conduct, and you need fear nothing. Do not kindle unlawful ambitions. Love living in peace. Spend your lives doing no harm. Why confuse what is honorable with lawsuits? Why do things you will immediately have to fear? If you want profits, avoid ruinous litigation. If some civil dispute does arise, be content with ancestral law. Let no one turn to sedition; let no one resort to violence. It is a form of madness, in a world at peace, to pursue a path of turmoil. But since — even if unjustified — a reasonable apprehension naturally arises regarding new judges, since untested power tends to inspire fear rather than trust: as far as my own principles are concerned, with God's help and under our reigning lords, you may expect from me everything just, everything moderate. First — and this is what most disgraces a judge — I will have nothing to do with the selling of influence. My words are not hung up for sale like garments. The only thing that may be expected from you is what genuine scarcity of supplies requires, not malicious profiteering. Where the season calls for a moderate order, I will not demand that things be purchased, nor will I attach official pricing to goods that are not actually needed. Concern yourselves only with what is customary; be at ease regarding innovation. I have judged that the only thing profitable for me is to keep you, with God's help, unharmed. No soldier will shake you down at his own whim. No collector will burden you with unauthorized surcharges. I will keep not only my own hands clean, but those of my staff as well — for it is a useless good if the judge himself takes nothing but grants many others the license to take. Nor do my subordinates go out in such a way that what they have suffered entitles them to do the same to others. The fees that until now grew at everyone's expense have been reduced out of care for you. I demonstrate self-restraint, with God's help, so that I may command it from my officials without hypocrisy. A command that is not supported by personal example carries no authority — for it would be unjust to prescribe good conduct while failing to practice it. My administration, therefore, will look only to public benefit, not to private plunder. I know what prayers you offered, what anxiety you endured. It would be disgraceful for me to act in ways that diminish your ability to rejoice. With God's favor, my ears will be open to receive the petitions of those who appeal. The plaintiff in a case will be able to appear before me freely, with his own eyes. He will speak in his own tongue, not one purchased through bribes. Under my authority, neither servility will give orders nor will the respect owed to the nobility be abused. No shameful transaction will enter my court. No one will leave my presence poorer than when he arrived. My private quarters will not differ from my judicial bench — whoever observes me will find a judge, wherever he looks. Mindful of propriety and with God's help, I intend to govern exactly as I was instructed by our sovereign lords. Be devoted in all just matters, so that you make me a father to the provinces rather than merely a judge — for again, the man who finds his misdeeds go unnoticed only grows bolder in wrongdoing. If you gave obedience to those who harmed you, what ought you to give to one who you know labors earnestly on your behalf? Do not refuse the customary provisions due to our office for the soldiers who serve under it — for the person who refuses to pay what is just opens the door to excess. Render obedience to my commands with even-handed moderation. Let your own conscience compel you reasonably, so that armed force need not press you. A man who resists just orders brings hatred upon himself. The one I am forced to compel, I will not love. I want everything that needs doing to be accomplished in such a way that no enforcer ever diminishes you. I wish to preserve for you the benefits our sovereigns have previously granted, undamaged by any abominable encroachment. I want you to experience my authority only through the joy of congratulation — and to pray for the welfare of rulers who have shown themselves willing to grant your desires. Live now, rejoicing in the security you have gained. The one it was not right to compel, you have been able to bind through voluntary pledges. For anyone who hesitates to make just promises under God's guidance wants to keep the freedom to change what he has not committed to. Hold, then, this bond of my intentions — this mirror of my heart, this image of my will — so that those who do not know me by face may come to recognize me by the quality of my character. Look at me rather in this light, where even those who stand before you remain hidden. My absence is no loss to you: it is more useful to know a judge by his mind than by his body.

VIII. EDICTUM PER PROVINCIAS. SENATOR PPO. [1] Priscorum mos fuit nova iura decernere, ut succedenti populo aliquid quod omissum videbatur adiungerent: nunc autem sufficiens satis conscientiae veterum decreta servare. erat ante genus hominum sub hac novitate sollicitum, dum regulam vitae suae in aliena cognoscerent voluntate pendere: modo vero unusquisque novit fixum, quod ab antiquis plenissime non dubitat constitutum. sufficiunt ergo vobis iura, si non desit voluntas eximia. quid praeconum voces, quid periculosas sententias praesulum erectis auribus sustinetis? [2] Propriae vitae imponit modum, qui sibi se iudicem intellegit constitutum. studete cuncti actibus bonis et formidanda nescitis. nolite inardescere ad praesumptiones illicitas: amate vivere quieti: transigite semper innoxii. quid litibus honesta confunditis? cur facitis quae mox timere possitis? si quaeritis lucra, vitate potius damnosa litigia. si quod tamen emerserit civile certamen, legibus patriis estote contenti: nullus ad seditiosa consurgat, nullus ad violenta confugiat. furoris genus est in saeculo pacato turbulento studere proposito. [3] Sed quia de nobis iudicibus etsi non verus, tamen oritur rationabilis metus, dum inexperta potestas trahit potius ad timorem, quantum ad meum propositum pertinet, iuvante deo rerumque dominis regnantibus omnia vobis iusta, omnia moderata promittite. primum, quod maxime iudicem dehonestat, nundinatio a me foeda nescibitur. non enim mea verba more vestium suspensa venduntur. sperari a vobis aliquid sola specierum indigentia faciet, non malitiosa venalitas. ubi tamen erit quae tempus mitigat moderata praeceptio, non indicimus quod ematur nec ad taxationem trahimus quae necessaria non habentur. [4] Estote tantum ad consueta solliciti, de novitate securi, quia illud solum nobis iudicavimus esse commodum, si vos iuvante domino servemus illaesos. non vos quisquam militum pro sua voluntate concutiet: non exactor adiecticiis gravabit incommodis: non solum nostras, sed et officii innoxias custodibimus manus. alioquin inutile bonum est iudicem non accipere et multis accipiendi licentiam praebuisse. neque enim sic a nobis egrediuntur, ut ea quae passi fuerint aliis merito fecisse videantur. imminuta sunt enim vestro amore suffragia, quae hactenus omnium detrimento crescebant. [5] Ostendimus in nobis deo iuvante continentiam, ut eam militibus sine pudore imperare possimus. non enim potest auctoritatem habere sermo qui non iuvatur exemplo, dum iniquum sit bona praecipere et talia non fecisse. ordinatio igitur nostra utilitatem publicam tantummodo respiciet, non furta privata. scimus quae pro nobis vota fuderitis, qua fuistis anxietate suspensi. deforme nobis est talia facere, ut minus possitis in vestra exultatione gaudere. [6] Patebunt deo propitio aures nostrae ad suscipienda desideria supplicantum: actor causae suis nos oculis sub libertate visurus est: non redempta, sed propria lingua loquebitur. nobis enim nec servitus imperabit nec a nobis nobilitas veneranda fatigabitur. praetoria denique nostra nullus turpis actus intrabit, nemo a nobis quam venerat minus locupletior redit. nescivit domesticum penetrale a subselliis discrepare. iudicem me observans inveniet, quocumque respexerit. [7] Verecundiae memores iuvante deo sic agere nos optamus, quemadmodum a rerum dominis mandata suscepimus. vos ad omnia iusta estote devoti, ut me provinciarum patrem faciatis esse quam iudicem, quia iterum gravius irascitur, qui minime de pravitatum actione pensatur. nam si praebuistis laesionibus obsequium, quid illi impendere debetis, quem vobis magnopere studere cognoscitis? sollemnia commoda sedis nostrae laborantibus militibus non negentur, quia ipse praebet viam excedendi, qui non patitur iusta persolvi. [8] Praeceptis etiam nostris oboedientiam aequabili moderatione praestate. compellat rationabiliter proprius animus, ne vos urgeat terror armatus. odium sibi excitat, qui iustis resultat imperiis. quem iam coegero, non amabo. sic enim cuncta quae agenda sunt volumus explicari, ut vos nullo compulsore faciamus imminui. servari vobis cupimus concessa pridem dominorum beneficia nulla abominabili praesumptione distracta. honorem nostrum sola vos optamus gratulatione sentire et regnantibus bona petere, qui vestra desideria visi sunt praestitisse. [9] Vivite nunc adepta securitate gaudentes. quem fas non fuit cogere, potuistis voluntariis sponsionibus obligare. nam qui dubitat sub dei confidentia iusta promittere, vult habere liberum, quod non est pollicitus, immutare. tenete igitur arbitrii mei idoneum vadem, speculum cordis, imaginem voluntatis, ut quibus non sum facie notus, fiam morum qualitate recognitus. in hac me potius parte conspicite, qua latent praesentes. non est vobis damnum absentiae meae: utilius est iudicem mente nosse quam corpore.