From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To: Venantius, Vir Illustris
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Theoderic promotes the young Venantius to the honorary rank of Count of the Domestics, praising his distinguished father's service and urging the son to live up to the family name through learning.
It is our policy to assess future merit even in youth and to judge a child's prospects by the virtues of the parents -- because good outcomes are certain when they draw their credibility from the very beginning, and a stock that has always put down deep roots does not know how to fail. A spring's life-giving flow runs on without ceasing, and all streams share this quality: the taste granted to the source, unless corrupted by some accident, is never denied to the tributaries.
This is why we promote you, assessed on the merits of your distinguished father, to the honorary rank of Count of the Domestics [a prestigious court title in the late Roman/Gothic administration], so that you who are already distinguished by lineage may also shine by office. Who could doubt your future -- certain as it is -- when they recall your glorious father's devoted labors? Fired by the power of his judgment, he was so ready for emergencies that you would have thought he had been briefed in advance. He managed the prefecture [the highest civilian administrative office] -- the noblest of all burdensome responsibilities, and praiseworthy even if it were his only achievement -- while simultaneously overseeing the care of our army, so that neither provinces lacked proper administration nor the army went without his watchful attention. His tireless and ready wisdom overcame every challenge: he drew barbarian customs toward peace; he managed everything to our satisfaction, so that those who received were content without giving those who gave any cause for complaint. To sum up much in little: he proved so much about himself that his untested posterity was chosen on the strength of it.
Yet amid these distinctions of birth -- and this is the greatest glory of the finest nobility -- you do not lack the support of your own merits. You are a diligent student of letters, which deserve to speak for every honor, adding to the brilliance of your family the talent of a graceful eloquence. Devote yourself to such studies; love what you see rewarded in yourself, so that our judgments may advance along with your progress. For you earn from us exactly as much as we see you pressing forward in worthy actions.
XV. VENANTIO V. I. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Providentiae nostrae ratio est in tenera aetate merita futura tractare et ex parentum virtutibus prolis iudicare successus: quia bona certa sunt, quae fidem ab exordio trahunt, dum origo nescit deficere, quae consuevit radicitus pullulare. fertur etiam cursu perenni fontium vena vitalis et hanc condicionem sustinent cuncta manantia, ut sapor, qui concessus est origini, nisi per accidentia fuerit fortasse vitiatus, nesciat rivulis abnegari. [2] Hinc est, quod te magnifici patris meritis aestimatum comitivae domesticorum vacantis honore provehimus, ut qui es clarus stemmate, splendeas dignitate. quis enim in te quamvis futura, tamen certa non teneat, dum gloriosi patris recolat officiosos labores? qui prudentiae ratione flammatus sic fuit ad repentina sollicitus, quasi per moram crederetur instructus. [3] Praefecturam enim, sollicitudinum omnium nobilissimum pondus, quod vel solum fuisset expedire laudabile, iuncta exercitus nostri cura disposuit, ut nec provinciis ordinatio deesset nec exercitui se provida sollicitudo subtraheret. superavit cuncta infatigabilis et expedita prudentia: traxit mores barbaros ad quietem: in votum nostrum cuncta moderatus est, ut sic accipientibus satisfaceret, ne dantes locum querimoniis invenirent. verum ut de plurimis pauca sufficiant, probavit de se tanta, ut eligeretur eius inexplorata posteritas. [4] Inter haec tamen generis ornamenta, quod maximum pulcherrimae nobilitatis decus est, nec tuorum indiges suffragia meritorum. litterarum siquidem studia, quae cunctis honoribus suo sunt digna suffragio, sedulus perscrutator assequeris, addens claritati generis ingenium suaviter eloquentis. incumbe ergo talibus studiis, ama quae in te remunerata cognoscis, ut nostra quoque iudicia cum tuis provectibus tendas. tantum enim a nobis exigis, quantum te bonis actibus imminere cognoscis.
◆
From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To:Venantius, Vir Illustris
Date:~522 AD
Context:Theoderic promotes the young Venantius to the honorary rank of Count of the Domestics, praising his distinguished father's service and urging the son to live up to the family name through learning.
It is our policy to assess future merit even in youth and to judge a child's prospects by the virtues of the parents -- because good outcomes are certain when they draw their credibility from the very beginning, and a stock that has always put down deep roots does not know how to fail. A spring's life-giving flow runs on without ceasing, and all streams share this quality: the taste granted to the source, unless corrupted by some accident, is never denied to the tributaries.
This is why we promote you, assessed on the merits of your distinguished father, to the honorary rank of Count of the Domestics [a prestigious court title in the late Roman/Gothic administration], so that you who are already distinguished by lineage may also shine by office. Who could doubt your future -- certain as it is -- when they recall your glorious father's devoted labors? Fired by the power of his judgment, he was so ready for emergencies that you would have thought he had been briefed in advance. He managed the prefecture [the highest civilian administrative office] -- the noblest of all burdensome responsibilities, and praiseworthy even if it were his only achievement -- while simultaneously overseeing the care of our army, so that neither provinces lacked proper administration nor the army went without his watchful attention. His tireless and ready wisdom overcame every challenge: he drew barbarian customs toward peace; he managed everything to our satisfaction, so that those who received were content without giving those who gave any cause for complaint. To sum up much in little: he proved so much about himself that his untested posterity was chosen on the strength of it.
Yet amid these distinctions of birth -- and this is the greatest glory of the finest nobility -- you do not lack the support of your own merits. You are a diligent student of letters, which deserve to speak for every honor, adding to the brilliance of your family the talent of a graceful eloquence. Devote yourself to such studies; love what you see rewarded in yourself, so that our judgments may advance along with your progress. For you earn from us exactly as much as we see you pressing forward in worthy actions.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.