Letter 4030: King Theodoric to Albinus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Patrician.
Cassiodorus→Albinus, Abbot of Canterbury|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
illnessimperial politics
King Theodoric to Albinus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Patrician.
Everyone should think about enhancing their city, but especially those whom the state has bound to it through the highest honors -- for it stands to reason that the man who has received the most must owe the most in return.
In your petition you have requested permission to build upon the Curva Portico, which stands beside the Domus Palmata [a prominent public building near the Forum] and gracefully encloses the forum like an open courtyard. Your aim is to extend the living space of private residences while adding the aspect of something new to the ancient walls. In this way, what might through neglect have fallen into ruin will instead be sustained by the care of its occupants -- for buildings quickly collapse when there is no one living in them to look after them, and what is not protected by the presence of residents is soon dissolved by the decay of age.
Since we wish to see the city adorned with the splendor of rising buildings, we grant the permission you seek -- provided, however, that the project neither interferes with public utility nor detracts from the city's beauty. Therefore, pursue your plans with confidence, so that you may prove yourself a worthy occupant of Roman buildings, and the finished work may praise its creator. There is nothing that better reveals both the ingenuity of a wise mind and the results of true generosity.
XXX. ALBINO V. I. PATRICIO THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Decet quidem cunctos patriae suae augmenta cogitare, sed eos maxime, quos res publica sibi summis honoribus obligavit, quia ratio rerum est, ut eum necesse sit plus debere, qui visus est maiora suscipere. [2] Porrecta itaque supplicatione testatus es Curvae porticus, quae iuxta domum Palmatam posita forum in modum areae decenter includit, superimponendis fabricis licentiam condonari, ut et privatarum aedium habitatio protendatur et antiquis moenibus novitatis crescat aspectus. ita fit, ut, quod per incuriam poterat labi, manentum videatur diligentia sustineri, quia facilis est aedificiorum ruina incolarum subtracta custodia et cito vetustatis decoctione resolvitur, quod hominum praesentia non tuetur. [3] Unde nos, qui urbem fabricarum surgentium cupimus nitore componi, facultatem concedimus postulatam, ita tamen, si res petita aut utilitati publicae non officit aut decori. quapropter rebus speratis securus innitere, ut dignus Romanis fabricis habitator appareas perfectumque opus suum laudet auctorem. nulla enim res est, per quam melius possit agnosci et prudentis ingenium at largitatis effectus.
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King Theodoric to Albinus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Patrician.
Everyone should think about enhancing their city, but especially those whom the state has bound to it through the highest honors -- for it stands to reason that the man who has received the most must owe the most in return.
In your petition you have requested permission to build upon the Curva Portico, which stands beside the Domus Palmata [a prominent public building near the Forum] and gracefully encloses the forum like an open courtyard. Your aim is to extend the living space of private residences while adding the aspect of something new to the ancient walls. In this way, what might through neglect have fallen into ruin will instead be sustained by the care of its occupants -- for buildings quickly collapse when there is no one living in them to look after them, and what is not protected by the presence of residents is soon dissolved by the decay of age.
Since we wish to see the city adorned with the splendor of rising buildings, we grant the permission you seek -- provided, however, that the project neither interferes with public utility nor detracts from the city's beauty. Therefore, pursue your plans with confidence, so that you may prove yourself a worthy occupant of Roman buildings, and the finished work may praise its creator. There is nothing that better reveals both the ingenuity of a wise mind and the results of true generosity.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.