Letter 11015: A royal gift that has been obtained should bring joy to all, so that you may be encouraged to do better when you see...

From: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect To: The People of Liguria Date: ~533-537 AD Context: Cassiodorus announces a grant of 100 pounds of gold from the royal treasury for tax relief in war-ravaged Liguria. A royal gift that has been obtained should bring joy to all, so that you may be encouraged to do better when you see that what was granted on your behalf has been received with gratitude. For if it is always the mark of a loving ruler to provide relief, consider how well he must regard you when you find yourselves receiving his help. But let me not delay your happiness with a long preamble — for the swift announcement of good news is always desired. Our most glorious lords, attending to the needs of loyal Liguria, have dispatched from their personal treasury one hundred pounds of gold through [names], with their customary piety. This is to be distributed at your judgment — since you know the circumstances best — so that each person may share in this gift in proportion to the severity of the need he is known to bear. What was given for the afflicted must not be seized by those unharmed; rather, let those who had collapsed under the weight of losses rise again with their strength restored. The city of Hasta [Asti], which is reported to be burdened beyond all others, should receive the greatest relief through the justice of your distribution, enjoying the benefit in proportion to the extent of its losses. Receive this payment of royal compassion, taxpayers, and appreciate the clemency of your rulers — who, in a reversal of the usual order, now let you receive from the treasury what you were accustomed to paying in. And so that the lords' generosity may be increased by the removal of collection burdens, send me your report quickly on how much you judge should be remitted to each person from this sum — so that I may suspend from the first installment whatever amount your notification specifies. Therefore render to our most pious lords the grateful prayers you owe, so that your petition may accomplish through supplication what the whole community recognizes it has received.

XV. LIGURIBUS SENATOR PPO. [1] Regale munus impetratum gaudium debet esse cunctorum, ut provocetis ad meliora, cum de vobis concessa probaveritis esse gratissima. nam si subvenire semper amantis est, cuiusmodi vos aestimatos intellegitis, quos relevatos esse sentitis? sed ne vestram laetitiam longis praelocutionibus differamus, quia bonarum rerum celerrima semper desideratur agnitio, gloriosissimi domini devotae Liguriae necessitatibus consulentes centum libras auri per illum atque illum de cubiculo suo pietate solita destinarunt, ut, iudicio vestro quibus est causa notissima, tanta unusquisque huius muneris participatione laetetur, quanta necessitate gravatus esse cognoscitur, ne quod afflictis datum est usurpet inlaesus, sed illi reparatis viribus consurgant, qui damnorum sarcina premente corruerant. [2] Hastensis autem civitas, quae supra ceteras suggeritur ingravata, dispositionis vestrae iustitia maxime sublevetur, ut secundum modum dispendii commoditate beneficii perfruatur. sumite pietatis stipendium, tributarii, et dominorum aestimate clementiam, qui condicione mutata hoc vos ab aerario videtis accipere, quod consueveratis inferre. sed ut beneficia dominorum subtractis exactionum incommodis augeantur, celerius relatio vestra nos instruat, quid unicuique de hac summa relaxandum esse iudicatis, ut tantum de prima illatione faciamus suspendi, quantum ad nos notitia directa vulgaverit. quapropter piissimis dominis votis salutaribus reddite quae debetis, ut ratio vestra supplicando peragat, quod se in ipso universitas recepisse cognoscat.