Letter 3016: A judgment backed by precedent is solid, and there is no room for doubt where proven experience speaks in one's favor.
Cassiodorus→Gemellus, a|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
barbarian invasionimperial politics
From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To: Gemellus, Vir Sublimis
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Theoderic appoints Gemellus as vicar of the prefects in Gaul, ordering him to govern the recently conquered Gallic provinces with justice and sensitivity.
A judgment backed by precedent is solid, and there is no room for doubt where proven experience speaks in one's favor. We have tested your effectiveness through various stages of active service, and you have earned equal favor in each, consistently approved in diverse assignments.
This is why our authority now sends you to the provinces of Gaul -- subject to us by God's help -- as vicar of the prefects [the deputy of the Praetorian Prefect, with jurisdiction over the Gallic provinces]. Consider what kind of opinion we must hold of you, since you are being sent to govern the very people we believe were especially won over to our glory. A prince's glory is precious, and he must naturally be more attentive to the lands from which he feels his triumphs have grown.
Carry out your orders, then, if you wish our confidence in you to grow. Do not court disorder; shun greed, so that the war-weary province may receive in you the kind of judge it knows a Roman prince has sent. A people crushed by calamity longs for outstanding men. Make them glad they were conquered. Let them experience nothing like what they suffered when they were seeking Rome's protection. Let all the sadness of their disaster fade; let their clouded faces clear at last. Now is the time for them to rejoice, since they have obtained what they wished for.
XVI. GEMELLO V. S. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Firmum est iudicium cuius tenetur exemplum, nec locus ambiguitati relinquitur ubi experimenta probabilia suffragantur. exploravimus efficaciam tuam per diversos industriae gradus, sed uni parem meruisti gratiam, variis actionibus aequaliter approbatus. [2] Hinc est quod praesenti tempore in Gallias nobis deo auxiliante subiectas vicarium te praefectorum nostra mittit auctoritas. unde perpende qualia de te videamur habere iudicia, quando ad illos populos mitteris corrigendos, quos nostris laudibus specialiter credimus adquisitos. cara est principi gloria et necesse est de illis amplius esse sollicitum, unde sibi triumphorum venisse sentit augmentum. [3] Age igitur mandata, si cupis in te proficere nostra iudicia. turbulenta non ames: avara declina, ut talem te iudicem provincia fessa suscipiat, qualem Romanum principem transmisisse cognoscat. desiderat viros egregios coacta cladibus suis. effice ut victam fuisse delectet. nihil tale sentiat, quale patiebatur, cum Romam quaereret. abscedat omnis de calamitate tristitia: serenetur tandem nubilus vultus. nunc illam gaudere convenit, cum ad sua vota pervenit.
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From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To:Gemellus, Vir Sublimis
Date:~522 AD
Context:Theoderic appoints Gemellus as vicar of the prefects in Gaul, ordering him to govern the recently conquered Gallic provinces with justice and sensitivity.
A judgment backed by precedent is solid, and there is no room for doubt where proven experience speaks in one's favor. We have tested your effectiveness through various stages of active service, and you have earned equal favor in each, consistently approved in diverse assignments.
This is why our authority now sends you to the provinces of Gaul -- subject to us by God's help -- as vicar of the prefects [the deputy of the Praetorian Prefect, with jurisdiction over the Gallic provinces]. Consider what kind of opinion we must hold of you, since you are being sent to govern the very people we believe were especially won over to our glory. A prince's glory is precious, and he must naturally be more attentive to the lands from which he feels his triumphs have grown.
Carry out your orders, then, if you wish our confidence in you to grow. Do not court disorder; shun greed, so that the war-weary province may receive in you the kind of judge it knows a Roman prince has sent. A people crushed by calamity longs for outstanding men. Make them glad they were conquered. Let them experience nothing like what they suffered when they were seeking Rome's protection. Let all the sadness of their disaster fade; let their clouded faces clear at last. Now is the time for them to rejoice, since they have obtained what they wished for.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.