From: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect
To: Lucinus, Chancellor of the Province of Campania
Date: ~533-537 AD
Context: A pay order for a retiring chief clerk — with a spirited defense of the praetorian bureaucracy as the real backbone of the state.
The wisdom of antiquity rightly provided that those who serve the public interest should receive the just rewards of their labor, so that no one who deserved praise for honorable service should be overlooked. For to what office would compensation be paid, if the rewards for praetorian service were delayed? Nearly everything accomplished in the state is completed through their energy. And — what is the most difficult form of service — they are compelled to carry out every task while never being allowed to overstep their bounds. They obey the armies; they comply with armed men; and they earn gratitude in situations where another person would find only offense.
Need I mention that public revenues are collected through painstaking detail — taxes compiled with great precision, demanded from people they dare not offend? It is also to their labors that we must attribute the fact that food supplies, though originating far away, are gathered as though produced in the royal capital itself, without complaint from the provincials — because when something is requested at the right time and in the right way, the giver does not consider it a loss.
Their work is my glory, the reputation of the age, the effective force behind my orders. Whatever gratitude I receive for keeping everything in order, I justly attribute to their foresight. They are polished by the very exercise of the labors assigned to them — labors that produce ever more capable men. These labors, I say, are severe teachers, anxious tutors — through which a person becomes more cautious, because the dangers of misstep are feared. Let one man be trained in the learning of the courts; let another be taught in any discipline he likes — still, the one who is educated through the practice of continuous devoted service will emerge the most accomplished.
Therefore, what such men deserve must be paid with honor — so that the man who was always earning for the public good may finally receive something for himself. Accordingly, I order you to pay in the customary manner to the aforesaid primiscrinius [chief clerk], who has now completed the labor of his service, the designated number of solidi from the revenues of the province of Campania, from the third installment — so that he may enjoy the fruits of his honest labor and his successors may take from his example a model of faithful service, knowing that he was well treated for his loyalty.
XXXVII.
LUCINO V. C. CANCELLARIO CAMPANIAE SENATOR PPO.
[1] Bene antiqua moderatione provisum est, ut laboris sui pretia recipiant qui publicis utilitatibus obsecundant, ne quis haberetur praeteritus, qui probabili fuerat actione laudandus. nam cui officio remuneratio solveretur, si praetorianis laboribus praemia tardarentur? quicquid enim paene in re publica geritur, eorum strenuitate completur et, quod difficillimum serviendi genus est sic enim omnia cogitur implere, ut non permittatur excedere , exercitibus paret, armatis obtemperat et inde reportat gratiam, ubi invenire potest alter offensam. [2] Quid publicas illationes per difficiles minutias referamus esse collectas, quas magna subtilitate compositas et ab illis exigunt, quos offendere non praesumunt? eorum est etiam sudoribus applicandum, quod victuales expensae longe quidem positae, sed tamquam in urbe regia natae sine querela provincialium congregantur, quia dum suis temporibus aliquid apte quaeritur, danti dispendium non putatur. [3] Actus ipsorum nostra gloria est, opinio temporum, virtus explicabilis iussionum, et quicquid pro continendis omnibus gratificationis accipimus, eorum iuste provisionibus applicamus. splendescunt usu ipso laboribus attributi, qui reddunt homines semper instructos: labores, inquam, violenti magistri, solliciti paedagogi, per quos cautior quis efficitur, dum incurri pericula formidantur. erudiatur quis forensibus litteris: alter qualibet disciplina doceatur: ille tamen instructior redditur, qui actu continuae devotionis eruditur. [4] Et ideo talibus cum honore solvendum est quod merentur, ut et sibi aliquando accipiat, qui semper rei publicae utilitatibus adquirebat. quocirca illi primiscrinio iam militiae labore perfuncto ex canone provinciae Campaniae tertiae illationis tot solidos sollemniter te dare censemus, ut et ille iustis laboribus perfruatur et posteri eius exemplum liberae famulationis accipiant, cum eum pro sua fide bene habitum fuisse cognoscunt.
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From:Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect
To:Lucinus, Chancellor of the Province of Campania
Date:~533-537 AD
Context:A pay order for a retiring chief clerk — with a spirited defense of the praetorian bureaucracy as the real backbone of the state.
The wisdom of antiquity rightly provided that those who serve the public interest should receive the just rewards of their labor, so that no one who deserved praise for honorable service should be overlooked. For to what office would compensation be paid, if the rewards for praetorian service were delayed? Nearly everything accomplished in the state is completed through their energy. And — what is the most difficult form of service — they are compelled to carry out every task while never being allowed to overstep their bounds. They obey the armies; they comply with armed men; and they earn gratitude in situations where another person would find only offense.
Need I mention that public revenues are collected through painstaking detail — taxes compiled with great precision, demanded from people they dare not offend? It is also to their labors that we must attribute the fact that food supplies, though originating far away, are gathered as though produced in the royal capital itself, without complaint from the provincials — because when something is requested at the right time and in the right way, the giver does not consider it a loss.
Their work is my glory, the reputation of the age, the effective force behind my orders. Whatever gratitude I receive for keeping everything in order, I justly attribute to their foresight. They are polished by the very exercise of the labors assigned to them — labors that produce ever more capable men. These labors, I say, are severe teachers, anxious tutors — through which a person becomes more cautious, because the dangers of misstep are feared. Let one man be trained in the learning of the courts; let another be taught in any discipline he likes — still, the one who is educated through the practice of continuous devoted service will emerge the most accomplished.
Therefore, what such men deserve must be paid with honor — so that the man who was always earning for the public good may finally receive something for himself. Accordingly, I order you to pay in the customary manner to the aforesaid primiscrinius [chief clerk], who has now completed the labor of his service, the designated number of solidi from the revenues of the province of Campania, from the third installment — so that he may enjoy the fruits of his honest labor and his successors may take from his example a model of faithful service, knowing that he was well treated for his loyalty.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.