VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 18
From: The Ostrogothic Chancery (Cassiodorus)
To: [Template for the appointment of a Prefect of the Grain Supply]
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A model letter for the praefectus annonae, who oversaw the distribution of grain in Rome -- described as the most useful of offices because it feeds the people.
[1] If offices are to be measured by this standard -- that a man is the more honored as his work is the more useful -- then surely no dignity can be preferred to the one that sustains human life with the nourishment of food. What good are the other virtues if a hungry people perishes? Eloquence fails on an empty stomach, and even courage falters when the body is not fed. This office, then, holds the first rank among practical necessities: it feeds Rome, that city which feeds the world with its laws. What the mind owes to the soul, the prefect of the grain supply owes to the city. He ensures that the markets are stocked, that the scales are honest, that the bread is sound and the supply unbroken. If he falters, hunger strikes at the entire order of civilization.
XVIII.
FORMULA PRAEFECTURAE ANNONAE.
[1] Si ad hanc mensuram censendae sunt dignitates, ut tanto quis honorabilis habeatur, quanto civibus profuisse cognoscitur, is certe debet esse gloriosus, qui ad copiam Romani populi probatur electus. tui siquidem studii est, ut sacratissimae urbi praeparetur annona, ubique redundet panis copia et tam magnus populus tamquam una mensa satietur. per officinas pistorum cibosque discurris, pensum et munditiam panis exigis nec vile iudicas esse, unde te possit Roma laudare: merito, quando gloria singularis est illius civitatis affectus. [2] Et ne quod agis aliquid putetur extremum, carpentum praefecti urbis mixta gratificatione conscendis. tu illi in spectaculis coniunctissimus inveniris, ut plebs, quam industria tua satiat, in suam reverentiam te honoratum esse cognoscat. nam si querela panis, ut assolet, concitetur, tu promissor ubertatis seditiones civicas momentanea satisfactione dissolvis et per te prospicitur, ne quid a populis conquerentibus excedatur. [3] Non immerito Pompeius fertur copiae quantitate provisa usque ad rerum pervenisse fastigia, quia merito singularis amor est populi, cum potuerit a penuria liberari. hinc ille gratificationem meruit plausumque popularem: hinc unice semper amatus est et in gratia civium omnium vicit facta maiorum: qui ne aliquando inhonore diceretur, cum nominis taxatione vocabatur et Magnus. [4] Hoc te exemplum invitet ad prospera, quando ille honoris tui locum egisse cognoscitur, quem felix Roma mirabatur. ne quis autem putet abiectis te hominibus imperare, dignitati quoque tuae pistorum iura famulata sunt, quae per diversas mundi partes possessione latissima tendebantur, ne inopia faciente vilesceret, quod Romanae copiae laudabili famulatione serviret. suarii quoque, Romanae copiae causa reperti, tuo deputati videntur examini. [5] Gloriare privilegiis adquisitis. tribunal tuum non est inter minimas dignitates, quando et Romana gratia frueris et provinciis iussa transmittis. sed ut actionis ipsius in totum merita perscrutemur, triticeas quidem copias praefectura praetoriana procurat, sed non minor laus est dispensationem probabilem facere quam frumenta colligere, quando in quavis abundantia querela non tollitur, si panis elegantia nulla servetur. [6] Sic Ceres frumenta dicitur invenisse, Pan, autem primus consparsas fruges coxisse perhibetur, unde et nomine eius panis est appellatus. ita et illa praedicata est quae repperit et iste laudatus est, qui decenter edenda humanis usibus applicavit. [7] Atque ideo cognoscentes industriam tuam, quae semper est amica sapientiae, praefecturam annonae per illam indictionem nostra tibi electione deferimus. considera nunc, quia non licet aliquid furari de populo: nam quod in civitatis damno committitur, silentio non celatur. nescit plebs tacere, quando interdum et hoc loquitur, quod a nemine perpetratur. in fraudulentos distringe, panis pondera aequus examinator intende: sollicitius auro pensetur, unde a Quiritibus vivitur, quia gratior nobis est laetitia faventis populi Romani quam copia pretiosissimi metalli. intuere certe quod loquimur. quid habes melius quod optes quam illius populi gratiam quaerere, quam nos etiam constat optare?
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VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 18
From: The Ostrogothic Chancery (Cassiodorus) To: [Template for the appointment of a Prefect of the Grain Supply] Date: ~522 AD Context: A model letter for the praefectus annonae, who oversaw the distribution of grain in Rome -- described as the most useful of offices because it feeds the people.
[1] If offices are to be measured by this standard -- that a man is the more honored as his work is the more useful -- then surely no dignity can be preferred to the one that sustains human life with the nourishment of food. What good are the other virtues if a hungry people perishes? Eloquence fails on an empty stomach, and even courage falters when the body is not fed. This office, then, holds the first rank among practical necessities: it feeds Rome, that city which feeds the world with its laws. What the mind owes to the soul, the prefect of the grain supply owes to the city. He ensures that the markets are stocked, that the scales are honest, that the bread is sound and the supply unbroken. If he falters, hunger strikes at the entire order of civilization.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.