Letter 7005: Formula of the Curator of the Palace.

V. FORMULA FOR THE OFFICE OF CARE OF THE PALACE. [1] Since our hall, as is recognized, was established by skilled designers, so among the learned there ought to be careful watchfulness over it, because that marvelous beauty, if it is not from time to time restored, is spoiled as old age creeps over it. These are the delights of our power, the adorned face of empire, the heralding testimony of kingdoms: these are displayed to envoys with wonder, and at first sight such a lord is believed to be as great as his dwelling is proven to be. And therefore it is a great pleasure to a most prudent mind to rejoice continually in a most beautiful habitation and, amid the cares of state, to refresh the weary spirit with the sweetness of buildings. [2] These the Cyclopes are first said to have founded in Sicily, vast as caverns, after Polyphemus in the hollows of the mountains had endured from Ulysses the deplorable loss of his single eye. From there the skill of building is recorded to have been carried over into Italy, so that what was invented by such great and such excellent founders an imitating posterity might preserve to its own advantage. [3] Hence it is that we judge that Your Excellency [Spectabilitas] ought, from that indiction onward, to take up the care of our palace, so that you may both maintain the old in its former splendor and bring forth the new with a like antiquity: because, just as a comely body fittingly is clothed in a single color, so the splendor of the palace ought to be spread, alike, through all its members. For these tasks you will be able to be found fit if you read frequently the geometer Euclid, if you store up his figures, drawn out with marvelous variety, in the contemplation of your mind, so that abundant knowledge, when prompted, may serve you in the hour of need. [4] Let Archimedes too, that most subtle investigator, together with Metrobius, always stand by you, so that you may be rendered most ready for new things, you who are proved learned by the books of the ancients. For no slight charge is delegated to you, since you are proved to fulfill, by the service of your art, our spirit which is most eager in the zeal for building. For wherever we either restore a city, or wish to found new fortresses, or if the pleasantness of constructing a praetorium allures us, by your ordering it is brought before our eyes what is devised by our thinking. A comely mastery, a purpose altogether glorious, to send into ages so long-lasting that which posterity, in admiration, ought to praise you for. [5] For whatever the builder of walls, or the carver of marbles, or the caster of bronze, or the turner of vaults, or the plasterer, or the mosaicist does not know, he prudently asks of you, and that whole great workmen's army runs back to your judgment, lest it should be able to have anything confused. See therefore how much he ought to know who can instruct so many. You receive, surely, the most abundant fruit of your good arrangement, when you are praised for their labor, if you display the things diligently made by them. Wherefore whatever pertains to you, we wish it to be carried out so becomingly, so firmly, that only the newness of the buildings should set them apart from the work of the ancients. [6] But these things you make possible if you suppress none of our gifts out of any greed. For he effectively commands the craftsman who does not allow him to be defrauded of fitting convenience. A generous hand nourishes the talents of the arts, since he who does not worry about his sustenance hastens to accomplish what is ordered. Consider this too, with what favor you are treated, that, adorned with a golden wand, amid numerous attendants you are seen to walk first before the royal feet, so that by the very testimony of your nearness to us it may be recognized that we have entrusted the palaces to you.

V. FORMULA CURAE PALATII. [1] Aula nostra sicut agnoscitur peritis dispositoribus instituta, ita doctorum in ea diligens debet esse cautela, quoniam pulchritudo illa mirabilis, si subinde non reficitur, senectute obrepente vitiatur. haec nostrae sunt oblectamenta potentiae, imperii decora facies, testimonium praeconiale regnorum: haec legatis sub ammiratione monstrantur et prima fronte talis dominus esse creditur, quale eius habitaculum comprobatur. et ideo magna voluptas est prudentissimae mentis pulcherrima iugiter habitatione gaudere et inter publicas curas animum fessum reficere dulcedine fabricarum. [2] Quas primum Cyclopes dicuntur ad antrorum modum amplissimas in Sicilia condidisse, postquam in cavernis montium Polyphemus ab Ulixe singularis oculi lugendam pertulerat orbitatem. inde ad Italiam fabricandi peritia legitur fuisse translata, ut quod tantis ac talibus institutoribus inventum est, aemulatrix posteritas in suum commodum custodiret. [3] Hinc est quod spectabilitatem tuam ab illa indictione curam palatii nostri suscipere debere censemus, ut et antiqua in nitorem pristinum contineas et nova simili antiquitate producas: quia, sicut decorum corpus uno convenit colore vestiri, ita nitor palatii similis debet per universa membra diffundi. ad quae sic poteris idoneus inveniri, si frequenter geometram legas Euclidem, si schemata eius mirabili varietate descripta in tuae mentis contemplatione condideris, ut in hora commonito famuletur tibi copiosa notitia. [4] Archimedes quoque subtilissimus exquisitor cum Metrobio tibi semper assistant, ut ad nova reddaris paratissimus, qui libris veterum probaris eruditus. non enim tibi minima cura delegatur, quando animum nostrum fabricandi studio cupidissimum artis tuae ministerio probaris explere. nam sicubi aut civitatem reficimus aut castellorum volumus fundare novitatem vel si construendi nobis praetorii amoenitas blandiatur, te ordinante ad oculos perducitur quod nobis cogitantibus invenitur. decorum magisterium, propositum omnino gloriosum in tam longas aetates mittere, unde te debeat posteritas ammirata laudare. [5] Quicquid enim aut instructor parietum aut sculptor marmorum aut aeris fusor aut camerum rotator aut gypsoplastes aut musivarius ignorat, te prudenter interrogat et tam magnus ille fabrilis exercitus ad tuum recurrit iudicium, ne possit aliquid habere confusum. vide ergo quanta debet nosse, qui possit tantos instruere. recipis certe bonae dispositionis tuae uberrimum fructum, cum tu de illorum labore laudaris, si ab eis diligenter facta monstraveris. quapropter quicquid ad te pertinet, ita decenter, ita firmiter volumus explicari, ut ab opere veterum sola distet novitas fabricarum. [6] Sed haec possibilia facis, si dona nostra nulla cupiditate suppresseris. efficaciter enim imperat artifici, qui eum competenti non patitur commoditate fraudari. manus larga artium nutrit ingenia, quando qui de victu non cogitat, perficere iussa festinat. illud quoque considera, qua gratificatione tracteris, ut aurea virga decoratus inter obsequia numerosa ante pedes regios primus videaris incedere, ut ipso testimonio vicinitatis nostrae agnoscamur tibi palatia commisisse.