Letter 3017: You should gladly obey Roman custom, to which you have been restored after so long -- for the return is welcome to a...
Cassiodorus→All the provincials of Gaul|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
friendshipimperial politics
From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To: All the provincials of Gaul
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A remarkable proclamation to the newly reconquered Gallic provinces, urging them to embrace Roman law and customs again after years under other rule.
You should gladly obey Roman custom, to which you have been restored after so long -- for the return is welcome to a place where your ancestors are known to have prospered. Therefore, recalled by God's grace to your ancient liberty, clothe yourselves in the manners of the toga. Cast off barbarism; throw away the cruelty of your hearts, because under the justice of our times it does not become you to live by foreign customs.
With the inborn gentleness we bring to your needs -- and may this be said with good fortune -- we have thought it right to send the distinguished Gemellus, vicar of the prefects, a man tested and proven to us in loyalty and diligence, to restore order in the province. We trust he can do no wrong, since he knows full well how seriously we take it when people offend us.
Obey his arrangements, which proceed from our orders, because we trust he will decree what is beneficial for you. Receive the ways of law gradually. Let what is good not seem burdensome merely because it is new. What could be more fortunate than for people to rely on the laws alone and to fear nothing else? Public law is the surest comfort of human life: the help of the weak, the bridle of the powerful.
Learn to love the source of both your security and the advancement of your conscience...
XVII. UNIVERSIS PROVINCIALIBUS GALLIARUM THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Libenter parendum est Romanae consuetudini, cui estis post longa tempora restituti, quia ibi regressus est gratus, ubi provectum vestros constat habuisse maiores. atque ideo in antiquam libertatem deo praestante revocati vestimini moribus togatis, exuite barbariem, abicite mentium crudelitatem, quia sub aequitate nostri temporis non vos decet vivere moribus alienis. [2] Proinde de necessitatibus vestris innata nobis mansuetudine cogitantes, quod feliciter dictum sit, spectabilem virum Gemellum, vicarium praefectorum, fide nobis et industria comprobatum ad componendam provinciam credidimus dirigendum: sperantes in nullo eum posse delinquere, qui nobis peccantes graviter intellegit displicere. [3] Quapropter ordinationibus eius ex nostris iussionibus oboedite, quia eum credimus vobis profutura decernere. recipite paulatim iuridicos mores. non sit novitas molesta, quae proba est. quid enim potest esse felicius quam homines de solis legibus confidere et casus reliquos non timere? iura publica certissima sunt humanae vitae solacia, infirmorum auxilia, potentum frena. [4] Amate unde et securitas venit et conscientia proficit. gentilitas enim vivit ad libitum: ubi magis mortem reperit propriam, qui potest habere quod placeat. vos iam securi ostentate divitias: parentum bona longo situ recondita prodantur in lucem: quia tantum quis nobilior erit quantum et moribus probis et luculenta facultate reluxerit. [5] Ideo enim vobis vicarium praefecturae direximus, ut cum tanta dignitate et civilem videamur regulam destinasse. fruemini quod tantum audiebatis. intellegite homines non tam corporea vi quam ratione praeferri et illos merito crescere qui possunt aliis iusta praestare.
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From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To:All the provincials of Gaul
Date:~522 AD
Context:A remarkable proclamation to the newly reconquered Gallic provinces, urging them to embrace Roman law and customs again after years under other rule.
You should gladly obey Roman custom, to which you have been restored after so long -- for the return is welcome to a place where your ancestors are known to have prospered. Therefore, recalled by God's grace to your ancient liberty, clothe yourselves in the manners of the toga. Cast off barbarism; throw away the cruelty of your hearts, because under the justice of our times it does not become you to live by foreign customs.
With the inborn gentleness we bring to your needs -- and may this be said with good fortune -- we have thought it right to send the distinguished Gemellus, vicar of the prefects, a man tested and proven to us in loyalty and diligence, to restore order in the province. We trust he can do no wrong, since he knows full well how seriously we take it when people offend us.
Obey his arrangements, which proceed from our orders, because we trust he will decree what is beneficial for you. Receive the ways of law gradually. Let what is good not seem burdensome merely because it is new. What could be more fortunate than for people to rely on the laws alone and to fear nothing else? Public law is the surest comfort of human life: the help of the weak, the bridle of the powerful.
Learn to love the source of both your security and the advancement of your conscience...
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.