Letter 12011: The man appointed to distribute the Emperor's generosity must be of proven conscience, so that no stain of greed may...

From: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect To: Petrus, Distributor of Provisions [opsonia] for Rome Date: ~533-537 AD Context: Cassiodorus appoints a distributor of the food dole for the Roman people — and paints a surprisingly warm portrait of the Roman populace as honest, contented, and deserving of protection. The man appointed to distribute the Emperor's generosity must be of proven conscience, so that no stain of greed may dry up what flows from such great liberality. Grasping hands alter any gift — and just as a spring's purity is corrupted by flowing through mud, so a good king's abundance is debased by greedy distributors. Gold itself, when melted into liquid, is contaminated unless received in the purest crucible — since only vessels untouched by any mixture of impurity preserve its purity. How pleasant it is to see streams running through snow-white channels, and to delight in nature's own unblemished purity, unspoiled by any stain! So the gifts of our sovereign must suffer no contamination, but just as they issue from him in abundance, so they must reach the Romans in the purest form. For though every fraud is grave, the kind that preys upon the Roman people is utterly intolerable. This is a crowd that lives quietly — a people noticed only when they are happy. Their clamor holds no sedition; their noise knows no frenzy. Their only competition is to escape poverty, not to pursue riches. They do not know how to be profiteers, nor do they torment themselves with any trader's cunning. They live with the fortune of the middle class and the conscience of the wealthy. Is it not a sacrilege to steal from people who do not know how to defraud others? Therefore, I grant you, with God's blessing, the distribution of provisions [opsonia] to the Roman people from the stated indiction — so that they may receive without any diminution what they have earned through royal generosity. Beware lest what they have deserved be taken by another — and beware that you yourself become a stranger to my favor if you depart from civic devotion. No one should become a Roman citizen by purchase who does not hold the rights of that city by birth. What gave its name to the nations must always be honored, since in human affairs, the thing from whose distinction some benefit is derived stands highest. These provisions belong to the Quirites [Roman citizens]. Let no servile fortune usurp the place of the freeborn. Anyone who contaminates the purity of the Roman bloodline through the company of slaves commits an offense against the majesty of the Roman people.

XI. PETRO V. C. EROGATORI OPSONIORUM SENATOR PPO. [1] Probatae debet esse conscientiae, qui principalia beneficia praeponitur erogare, ne aliqua cupiditatis sorde desiccetur quod a tanta liberalitate profunditur. mutant enim quaslibet largitates rapientium manus et sicut fontis puritas per limosa corrumpitur, sic affluentia boni regis avaris distributoribus immutatur. aurum ipsum cum solvitur in liquorem, nisi mundissimo caliculo suscipiatur, inficitur, quando puritatem sui illa sola custodiunt, quae nulla sordium ammixtione fuscantur. quam gratum per niveos calculos rivulos videre currentes et ipsam quodammodo naturae liberam ridere puritatem, quando nullis maculis iniuriata turpatur! sic dona rerum domini nulla debent pollutione fuscari, sed sicut ab ipso exeunt copiosa, ita debent ad Romanos pervenire purissima. [2] Nam licet omnis fraus gravis esse videatur, illa tamen importabilis redditur, quae in Romulea plebe grassatur: turba quae vivit quieta: populus qui nescitur, nisi cum laetus est: clamor sine seditione: strepitus furoris nescius, quibus sola contentio est paupertatem fugere et divitias non amare. nesciunt enim esse lucripetes nec aliqua se negotiationis calliditate discruciant: vivunt fortuna mediocrium et conscientia divitum. nonne piaculum est talibus rapere, qui nesciunt aliena fraudare? [3] Quapropter opsonia Romano populo distribuenda ab illa indictione propitia tibi divinitate concedimus, ut sine aliqua imminutione percipere possit quod regia largitate promeruit. cave ne quod illi meruerunt, alter accipiat et tu a gratia nostra peregrinus reddaris, si a civico amore discesseris. non fiat Latialis pretio, qui civitatis illius non habet iura nascendo. honorandum semper est quod nomen gentibus dedit, quando potior in humanis rebus redditur, de cuius aliquid claritate praestatur. munera ista Quiritium sunt. non subripiat locum liberi fortuna servilis. in maiestatem populi Romani peccat, qui sanguinis illius puritatem famulorum societate commaculat.