Letter 6015: It is the custom of deputies to obey the will of the judges they represent so completely that they seem to have no...

From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of the King To: The Vicar of the City of Rome (appointment formula) Date: ~522 AD Context: A template letter for appointing the Vicar of Rome, describing the grandeur and responsibilities of this office that served as deputy to the Praetorian Prefect. It is the custom of deputies to obey the will of the judges they represent so completely that they seem to have no standing of their own. They shine with borrowed light, lean on another's authority, and appear to be mere images of the real thing -- men who possess no independent brilliance. But you bear the title of Vicar, and you do not surrender your own prerogatives, since jurisdiction granted by a prince is your own. You share some authority with the prefects: parties appear before you under praetorian advocacy; you deliver judgments in the emperor's name [vice sacra -- "by sacred delegation"]; and -- the surest mark of trust -- in capital inscriptions, human life is committed to your hands, which among mortals is known to be the most precious thing. It is further provided that you may not even be greeted without your military cloak [chlamys -- the short cloak marking official rank], so that, always seen in official dress, you would never be taken for a private citizen. We consider all these privileges to have been granted for the glory of the prefecture, so that anyone calling you the deputy of so great a seat would see nothing diminished. Consider what quality of service you must render, you who are elevated by such authority. A man cleared of a charge should not be stripped of his innocent property: for what can he owe you if he counts the cost of his own money as the price of acquittal? Like the highest officials, you ride in a carriage. Within forty miles of the most sacred city you guard its laws. At Praeneste [modern Palestrina] you present games in place of the consul, you are raised to the dignity of a senator, and the halls that are known to belong to the highest ranks are opened to you. This is why in the Hall of Liberty [the Atrium Libertatis, a famous public building in Rome] you hold a seat of honor, and merely to have entered there is a distinction. Even senators who outrank you in precedence are seen to need certain things from you. You have something to offer those above you, and not without reason should you be counted among the foremost, you who can either help or harm men of consular rank. Lift your spirits, but temper them with modesty. Every office is only as good as the character of the man who holds it. Nothing done in public service is lowly unless it is corrupted by bad morals. If fairness is admired in humble private citizens, how much more welcome is it when preserved at the summit of power -- where restraint is hardest to maintain when one's will races ahead. Therefore we confer upon you the dignity of the vicariate by our serene judgment. Exercise it in Rome in such a way that you make your conscience worthy of so great a city. You shall enjoy all the privileges that your predecessors are known to have held, because just as we demand from you the observance of ancient customs, so too we do not deny your office its ancient honors.

XV. FORMULA VICARIIS U. R. [1] Vices agentium mos est sic iudicum voluntatibus oboedire, ut suas non habeant dignitates. splendent mutuato lumine, nituntur viribus alienis et quaedam imago in illis esse videtur veritatis, qui proprii non habent iura fulgoris. tu autem vicarius diceris et tua privilegia non relinquis, quando propria est iurisdictio, quae datur a principe. habes enim cum praefectis aliquam portionem: partes apud te sub praetoriana advocatione confligunt: vice sacra sententiam dicis et, quod maxime fidei signum est, in inscriptionibus vita tibi committitur hominum, quod inter mortales constat esse pretiosum. [2] Additur quod nec salutari te sine chlamyde iura voluerunt, scilicet ut sub veste militari semper visus numquam credereris esse privatus. sed haec omnia ad praefecturae gloriam iudicamus esse concessa, ut qui tantae sedis vicarium diceret, umbratile nil videret. considera qualia de te praestes, qui tanta auctoritate subveheris. exuendus a crimine non nudetur ab innoxia facultate: nam quid tibi debere possit, si nummis suis imputet quod evasit? ad similitudinem quippe summorum carpento veheris. intra quadragesimum sacratissimae urbis iura custodis. Praeneste ludos edis in vicem consulis in honorem positus dignitatemque senatoris adquiris et illa tibi panduntur atria quae summatibus probantur esse collata. [3] Hinc est quod in aula Libertatis locum patrium tenes et ibi mereris consessum, ubi est vel intrasse praeconium. ipsi quin etiam senatores, qui praecedunt ordine, aliqua videntur a te necessaria postulare. habes quod praestes potioribus te nec inmerito inter praecipuos censendus es, qui aut iuvare potes aut laedere consulares. erige animos sub qualitate modestiae. talis est unaquaeque dignitas, qualis administrantium est voluntas. nihil abiectum est, quod in re publica geritur, nisi malis fuerit moribus vitiatum. nam si humilium privatorum placet aequalitas, quanto magis grata est in potestatis culmine custodita, quae difficile modum servat, dum ad suum velle festinat? [4] Proinde vicariae tibi dignitatem serenitatis nostrae aestimatione conferimus, quam sic Romae geras, ut conscientiam tuam tanta civitate facias esse dignissimam. usurus omnibus privilegiis, quae tuos decessores habuisse constiterit, quia sicut a vobis instituta antiquorum deposcimus, ita et dignitati vestrae vetera non negamus.