Letter 12019: You can detect a royal arrival from the very frequency of the travelers preceding it, for a great event must always...
Cassiodorus→Moyses and Maximus, and Rest of Confessors|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
travel mobility
From: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect
To: Maximus, Vicar of the City of Rome
Date: ~533-537 AD
Context: Cassiodorus orders the construction of a pontoon bridge over the Tiber for a royal visit — a rare glimpse of late Roman military engineering put to ceremonial use.
You can detect a royal arrival from the very frequency of the travelers preceding it, for a great event must always send appropriate signals ahead. The Morning Star announces the coming day; a favorable wind signals fair weather to follow. We sense approaching good fortune through a kind of premonition of the spirit, and rarely is a great event accomplished that is not first heralded by its signs.
Nevertheless, I too must necessarily advise you to dress the Tiber's waters in the customary fashion with a bridge of boats — so that a vessel fixed in linked chains may provide a steady crossing, granting us swift passage from its stationary position. Let it not be moved by sluggish cables as it used to be; let such a mass not creep along pulled by human hands. Rather, let it offer, fixed in place, the speed it formerly could not provide while moving. Let the crowds of travelers walk across it — not sail. Let the parted water carry us. This is how a sovereign deserves to be received — with something novel to celebrate.
The joints of the planking must be firmly fastened together to provide the necessary solidity, so that the appearance of solid ground may banish the fear of waves from the hesitant. Indeed, let them wish the crossing had been longer, when they pass over it harmlessly. Safety railings should be neatly fitted on right and left — for the crossing is given fair success when the danger of a harsh fall has been excluded.
See to it that you prepare the remaining details that fall to you, since you know you will be the one to greet the sovereign. What an achievement it would be, in so great a throng, to escape all blame! The man who deprives the king of anything necessary afflicts everyone — for since everyone hopes for a happy ruler, everyone is saddened if he is found displeased.
Consider too how glorious it is to be praised in the presence of so many senators — to receive the sovereign in such a way that everyone perceives nothing is lacking, and the lord himself arrives happy rather than troubled by any anxiety. It is an unexpected good when the man who bears the risk of failure instead procures an increase of favor. Know that I have dispatched a soldier of our office to oversee you and your staff — so that he may report to me that everything is ready, since what is charged to my responsibility cannot be left to chance.
XVIIII.
MAXIMO VICARIO URBIS ROMAE SENATOR PPO.
[1] Adventum quidem regium ex ipsa potestis cognoscere frequentia commeantum, quia necesse est ut res magna competentia praemittat semper indicia. venturum diem Lucifer demonstrat exortus: serena secutura favens ventus ostendit: imminentia bona quadam animi praesagatione dinoscimus et difficile magna res geritur, quae signorum praecursione minime declaretur. [2] Verumtamen et nos necessario commonemus, ut pontis iunctione Tiberinos fluctus sollemniter vestiatis, quatenus transitum praebeat intremulum fixum concatenatione navigium et de suo situ celerem nobis praestet excursum. non moveatur pigris funibus, ut solebat: non manibus trahentium moles tanta torpescat: celeritatem potius fixa conferat, quam se movens antea non praebebat. ambulent commeantium greges profecto, non navigent: incisa nos unda deportet. sic decet dominum suscipi, ut aliqua debeat novitate gratulari. [3] Tabularum fortiter iunctura constricta soliditatem debet praebere necessariam, ut pavorem undas dubitantium terrena similitudine possit auferre. optetur quin immo longior fuisse, cum transitur innocue. cancellorum tutamen dextra laevaque decenter aptetur: prosper datur transitus, cum fuerit casus asper exclusus. vide quemadmodum reliqua ad te pertinentia praepares, qui te occursurum esse cognoscis. quale est enim in tanta frequentia non potuisse culpari! universos affligit, qui regi aliquid necessarium subtrahit, quia, dum laetus optatur ab omnibus, cunctos contristat, si probetur offensus. [4] Adde quod sic praeclarum est sub tanta senatorum occursione laudari, principem sic suscipere, ut omnes intellegant nil deesse, ante ipsum quoque dominum venire laetum quam aliqua trepidatione confusum. insperatum bonum est, si is ad quem deceptionis pertinet periculum sibi gratiae procuret augmentum. in quam rem illum sedis nostrae militem nos direxisse cognosce, qui tibi officioque tuo debeat imminere, quatenus nobis omnia parata renuntiet, quia committi non potest casui, quod nostro periculo constat adscribi.
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From:Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect
To:Maximus, Vicar of the City of Rome
Date:~533-537 AD
Context:Cassiodorus orders the construction of a pontoon bridge over the Tiber for a royal visit — a rare glimpse of late Roman military engineering put to ceremonial use.
You can detect a royal arrival from the very frequency of the travelers preceding it, for a great event must always send appropriate signals ahead. The Morning Star announces the coming day; a favorable wind signals fair weather to follow. We sense approaching good fortune through a kind of premonition of the spirit, and rarely is a great event accomplished that is not first heralded by its signs.
Nevertheless, I too must necessarily advise you to dress the Tiber's waters in the customary fashion with a bridge of boats — so that a vessel fixed in linked chains may provide a steady crossing, granting us swift passage from its stationary position. Let it not be moved by sluggish cables as it used to be; let such a mass not creep along pulled by human hands. Rather, let it offer, fixed in place, the speed it formerly could not provide while moving. Let the crowds of travelers walk across it — not sail. Let the parted water carry us. This is how a sovereign deserves to be received — with something novel to celebrate.
The joints of the planking must be firmly fastened together to provide the necessary solidity, so that the appearance of solid ground may banish the fear of waves from the hesitant. Indeed, let them wish the crossing had been longer, when they pass over it harmlessly. Safety railings should be neatly fitted on right and left — for the crossing is given fair success when the danger of a harsh fall has been excluded.
See to it that you prepare the remaining details that fall to you, since you know you will be the one to greet the sovereign. What an achievement it would be, in so great a throng, to escape all blame! The man who deprives the king of anything necessary afflicts everyone — for since everyone hopes for a happy ruler, everyone is saddened if he is found displeased.
Consider too how glorious it is to be praised in the presence of so many senators — to receive the sovereign in such a way that everyone perceives nothing is lacking, and the lord himself arrives happy rather than troubled by any anxiety. It is an unexpected good when the man who bears the risk of failure instead procures an increase of favor. Know that I have dispatched a soldier of our office to oversee you and your staff — so that he may report to me that everything is ready, since what is charged to my responsibility cannot be left to chance.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.