Cassiodorus→Rechared, of Visigoths|c. 522 AD|cassiodorus
barbarian invasionfamine plagueillness
XVII. KING THEODERIC TO ALL GOTHS AND ROMANS RESIDING AT DERTONA.
[1] Prompted by considerations of public utility -- a care that has always been a willing burden to us -- we command that the fortress situated near you be fortified, because the business of war is well arranged whenever it is planned in time of peace. A fortification becomes truly strong when it has been strengthened by long deliberation. All sudden measures prove ill-considered, and the building of a stronghold is sought too late when dangers are already feared. [2] Consider also that the mind itself cannot be inclined to boldness when it is distracted by various cares. Our ancestors rightly named this preparation an expedition, because a mind devoted to battle must not be occupied with other concerns. Wherefore what is ordered out of regard for the common good must be embraced, and it is wrong to delay a command that is known to benefit above all those who are loyal. [3] We therefore decree by the present authority that you cheerfully build yourselves houses in the aforesaid fortress, rendering to our mind a fair return: that just as we ordain what is beneficial for your interests, so may you in turn adorn our times with the most splendid constructions. For it will then come about that you will wish to gather suitable provisions within your own walls, and that your dwelling will not be unpleasing to you when your own labor of building commends it. [4] How fine a thing it is, I ask you, to be within your own fortified homes while the enemy must endure the harshest exposure! Let him lie open to the rains while roofs protect you; let hunger consume him while stores laid up in advance sustain you. Thus, with you most securely established, your enemy will suffer the fate of a doomed man before the battle has even been joined. For it is established that in time of necessity the man who does not scatter his attention among many things proves the strongest. For who would think him prudent if he begins to attend to building and to storing provisions at the very moment when he ought to be waging war?
XVII. UNIVERSIS GOTHIS ET ROMANIS DERTONA CONSISTENTIBUS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Publicae utilitatis ratione commoniti, quae nos cura semper libenter oneravit, castrum iuxta vos positum praecipimus communiri, quia res proeliorum bene disponitur, quotiens in pace tractatur. munitio quippe tunc efficitur praevalida, si diutina fuerit excogitatione roborata. omnia subita probantur incauta et male constructio loci tunc quaeritur, quando iam pericula formidantur. [2] Adde quod animus ipse in audaciam non potest esse pronus, qui diversa cura fuerit sollicitus. hanc merito expeditionem nominavere maiores, quia mens devota proeliis non debet aliis cogitationibus occupari. quapropter amplectenda res est, quae generalitatis consideratione praecipitur, nec moram fas est incurrere iussionem, quae devotos maxime noscitur adiuvare. [3] Et ideo praesenti auctoritate decernimus, ut domos vobis in praedicto castello alacriter construatis, reddentes animo nostro vicissitudinem rerum, ut, sicut nos vestris utilitatibus profutura censemus, ita tempora nostra ornare vos pulcherrimis fabricis sentianius. tunc enim accidit, ut et sumptus competentes vestris iam penatibus congregare velitis et habitatio vobis non sit ingrata, quam propria potest commendare constructio. [4] Quale est, rogo, in laribus propriis esse, cum durissimas mansiones hostis cogitur sustinere? ille imbribus pateat, vos tecta defendant: illum inedia consumat, vos copia provisa reficiat. sic vobis tutissime constitutis hostis vester ante eventum certaminis fata patiebitur perditoris. constat enim tempore necessitatis illum probari fortissimum virum, qui se per multa non distrahit. nam quis eum habuisse prudentiam putet, si tunc coeperit fabricis operam dare aut penum condere, cum oporteat bella tractare?
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XVII. KING THEODERIC TO ALL GOTHS AND ROMANS RESIDING AT DERTONA.
[1] Prompted by considerations of public utility -- a care that has always been a willing burden to us -- we command that the fortress situated near you be fortified, because the business of war is well arranged whenever it is planned in time of peace. A fortification becomes truly strong when it has been strengthened by long deliberation. All sudden measures prove ill-considered, and the building of a stronghold is sought too late when dangers are already feared. [2] Consider also that the mind itself cannot be inclined to boldness when it is distracted by various cares. Our ancestors rightly named this preparation an expedition, because a mind devoted to battle must not be occupied with other concerns. Wherefore what is ordered out of regard for the common good must be embraced, and it is wrong to delay a command that is known to benefit above all those who are loyal. [3] We therefore decree by the present authority that you cheerfully build yourselves houses in the aforesaid fortress, rendering to our mind a fair return: that just as we ordain what is beneficial for your interests, so may you in turn adorn our times with the most splendid constructions. For it will then come about that you will wish to gather suitable provisions within your own walls, and that your dwelling will not be unpleasing to you when your own labor of building commends it. [4] How fine a thing it is, I ask you, to be within your own fortified homes while the enemy must endure the harshest exposure! Let him lie open to the rains while roofs protect you; let hunger consume him while stores laid up in advance sustain you. Thus, with you most securely established, your enemy will suffer the fate of a doomed man before the battle has even been joined. For it is established that in time of necessity the man who does not scatter his attention among many things proves the strongest. For who would think him prudent if he begins to attend to building and to storing provisions at the very moment when he ought to be waging war?
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.