VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 34
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus
To: Abundantius, Praetorian Prefect
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A delightful character sketch of a debtor named Frontosus who constantly promises to pay public debts but endlessly changes his story -- compared to a chameleon and the mythical Proteus.
[1] We have been repeatedly informed that Frontosus -- a man whose very name testifies to his character -- has defrauded the treasury of no small sum. We have had him examined by various judges, lest he be condemned not by truth but by mere rumor. He confessed everything and promised to repay, if only given generous extensions. But time after time, the deadlines pass and he shows up unprepared, forgetful of his own promises -- unable to flee, yet oblivious to his own pledges. He is forgetful when left alone, anxious when held. He changes his words, shifts his commitments, and never content with a single version of his own story, transforms himself with different disguises. [2] He is rightly compared to the chameleon, a creature resembling a small serpent in shape, distinguished only by a golden head and the pale-green color of its remaining limbs. Whenever this creature encounters a human gaze and cannot escape by speed, it becomes so confused by sheer timidity that it changes its colors in endless variety -- now dark blue, now purple, now green, now deep blue. It is astonishing to see so many different hues on a single surface. [3] We might well compare it to the pandia gemstone, which cannot contain a single gleam within itself: its appearance ripples and shifts even while the stone is held motionless. What you see one moment is different the next, if you keep looking -- you think it has changed, yet you know no one has taken anything away. [4] By these analogies you can judge the mind of Frontosus, who keeps no faith with his own word and contains as many shifts as he has uttered sentences. He is rightly to be classed with the myths of Proteus, who when suddenly seized could never hold to his own true form -- roaring as a lion, hissing as a serpent, or dissolving into flowing water to conceal the man within. [5] Since he is so well known, when you bring him before your court, first make sure he does not promise anything, and beware of letting him set dates, for it is the habit of the most flighty minds to promise easily what they have no intention of fulfilling. Whatever he can reasonably pay, after fair assessment, let him pay it at once under compulsion and without further delay -- for after so many falsehoods he can rightly be held accountable for the contempt he has so often shown.
XXXIIII.
ABUNDANTIO PPO THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Frontosum sui nominis testem frequenti nobis insinuatione suggestum est pecuniae publicae decoxisse non minimam quantitatem. quem a diversis iudicibus fecimus iusta examinatione perquiri, ne forsitan, ut assolet, eum non veritas, sed infamaret invidia. ille omnia confessus reddere se posse constituit. si ei largae praeberentur indutiae: quibus frequenter emensis immemor prommisionis suae ad constituta semper imparatus occurrit, fugere quidem nescius, sed suae sponsionis ignarus, obliviosus cum relinquitur, trepidus cum tenetur. mutat verba, variat constituta nec in una dicti sui qualitate contentus diversis imaginibus immutatur. [2] Merito chamaeleonti bestiae conferendus, quae parvorum serpentium formae consimilis aureo tantum capite et reliquis membris subalbentis prasini colore distinguitur. haec quotiens humanos aspectus incurrerit, dum ei fugiendi velocitas denegatur, nimia timiditate confusa colores suos multifaria qualitate commutat, ut modo veneta, modo blattea, modo prasina, modo possit cyanea reperiri. unde mirum est in una superficie tot diversa conspicere. [3] Quam non immerito pandiae gemmae dicimus esse consimilem, in qua unus se fulgor non potest continere: fluctuat aspectibus tremulis, dum lapis teneatur immobilis. nam quod modo videris, mox aliud ibi, si amplius intuearis, advertis: sic mutatum credis, quod neminem eripuisse cognoscis. [4] His permutationibus aestimatis mens Frontosi simillima reperitur, quae dicti sui non habet fidem, quae tot varietates continet quot verba protulerit: Protei fabulis iure sociandus, qui subito comprehensus substantiae suae formam omnimodis non habebat. nam ut celaret hominem, aut leo frendebat aut sibilabat anguis aut in undas liquidas solvebatur. [5] Et quia sic notus est, cum facies ad tuum venire iudicium, primum agito, ne promittat, caveto ne constituat, quia levissimi animi mos est polliceri facile quae non disponit implere. quicquid autem persolvere considerata aequitate potuerit, constrictus sine aliqua dilatione iam reddat, quia post tot falsitates argutiae suae reputare poterit, quod se frequenter illusisse cognoscit.
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VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 34
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus To: Abundantius, Praetorian Prefect Date: ~522 AD Context: A delightful character sketch of a debtor named Frontosus who constantly promises to pay public debts but endlessly changes his story -- compared to a chameleon and the mythical Proteus.
[1] We have been repeatedly informed that Frontosus -- a man whose very name testifies to his character -- has defrauded the treasury of no small sum. We have had him examined by various judges, lest he be condemned not by truth but by mere rumor. He confessed everything and promised to repay, if only given generous extensions. But time after time, the deadlines pass and he shows up unprepared, forgetful of his own promises -- unable to flee, yet oblivious to his own pledges. He is forgetful when left alone, anxious when held. He changes his words, shifts his commitments, and never content with a single version of his own story, transforms himself with different disguises. [2] He is rightly compared to the chameleon, a creature resembling a small serpent in shape, distinguished only by a golden head and the pale-green color of its remaining limbs. Whenever this creature encounters a human gaze and cannot escape by speed, it becomes so confused by sheer timidity that it changes its colors in endless variety -- now dark blue, now purple, now green, now deep blue. It is astonishing to see so many different hues on a single surface. [3] We might well compare it to the pandia gemstone, which cannot contain a single gleam within itself: its appearance ripples and shifts even while the stone is held motionless. What you see one moment is different the next, if you keep looking -- you think it has changed, yet you know no one has taken anything away. [4] By these analogies you can judge the mind of Frontosus, who keeps no faith with his own word and contains as many shifts as he has uttered sentences. He is rightly to be classed with the myths of Proteus, who when suddenly seized could never hold to his own true form -- roaring as a lion, hissing as a serpent, or dissolving into flowing water to conceal the man within. [5] Since he is so well known, when you bring him before your court, first make sure he does not promise anything, and beware of letting him set dates, for it is the habit of the most flighty minds to promise easily what they have no intention of fulfilling. Whatever he can reasonably pay, after fair assessment, let him pay it at once under compulsion and without further delay -- for after so many falsehoods he can rightly be held accountable for the contempt he has so often shown.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.