Letter 7007: Formula of the Prefecture of the Night Watch of the City of Rome.
Cassiodorus→Unknown|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
barbarian invasionimperial politics
Formula of the Prefecture of the Night Watch of the City of Rome.
[The Praefectus Vigilum was responsible for fire prevention and nighttime policing in Rome -- a colorful office that Cassiodorus describes with evident relish.]
Although your very title ought to rouse you to the nighttime vigils of the city -- so that you may fulfill what your name implies -- our customary foresight does not relent unless we gently invite those we select for action to obey as well. What could be finer than to labor diligently in that city where such witnesses are seen to watch? Your vigilance, the moment it is applied, passes through the mouths of patricians and consuls. You can scarcely do something carefully before you hear the leading men praise it with admiration. You govern a moderate office yet move in the highest circles of reputation. You are called the guardian of the city of Rome, since you defend it from an enemy within.
Be watchful, therefore, against thieves. The laws do not grant you the authority to punish them, but they have not taken from you the license to track them down -- I believe because, however detestable these predators were, since they were called Romans, the ancients wished to subject them to a higher authority for judgment. Exercise, then, for the coming indiction, the dignity of the Prefecture of the Night Watch. The terror of punishment has been taken from you, but not the power. For the law decreed that the man it wished to catch criminals should himself be the more feared. You will therefore be the security of the sleeping, the protection of houses, the guardian of locks -- an unseen examiner, a silent judge, for whom it is lawful to outwit the treacherous, and glorious to deceive them.
Your work is a nocturnal hunt, which in a wonderful way is successful precisely when it cannot be seen. You commit a greater theft against the thieves, since you strive to circumvent men you know can deceive anyone. What you do is a kind of magic trick -- ensnaring the cunning of robbers. We think it would have been easier to solve the riddles of the Sphinx than to catch the fleeting presence of a burglar. He is watchful in every direction, unstable toward the future, anxious about traps. How can you capture a man who, like the wind, seems fixed in no place?
Be tireless in your vigil alongside the birds of the night. Let the darkness open your eyes, and just as those birds find their food in the dark, so may you find your glory. Be attentive now to your charge. Do not let bribery steal from you what diligence has granted. For although these things seem to take place under the deepest darkness, there is no action that can be hidden. You shall also claim, by our authority, the legitimate privileges of your office and the staff assigned to you, since in so great a city it is necessary for various judges to handle what cannot be managed by one alone.
VII.
FORMULA PRAEFECTURAE VIGILUM URBIS ROMAE.
[1] Quamvis nomen tuum ad civitatis te vigilias debeat excitare, ut possis implere quod diceris, tamen providentiae nostrae solita cautela non deserit, nisi eos quos ad agendum deligimus, ad parendum quoque suaviter invitemus. quid enim tibi pulchrius quam in illa urbe operam navanter impendere diligentiae tuae, ubi tales testes videntur assistere? cautela quidem tua, mox adhibita fuerit, per patriciorum et consulum ora discurrit: vix te contingit aliquid sollicite facere et audis proceres cum ammiratione laudare. mediocrem dignitatem regis et in summa opinione versaris. custos Romanae civitatis diceris, quoniam eam ab intestino hoste defendis. [2] Quapropter circa fures esto sollicitus. quos etsi tibi leges punire minime praecipiunt, tamen eos indagandi licentiam non tulerunt: credo ut quamvis essent raptores detestabiles, tamen, quia dicebantur Romani, maiori eos subderent dignitati. utere igitur per indictionem illam praefecturae vigilibus dignitate. horror tibi poenarum ademptus est, non potestas: nam lex a quo voluit malos capi ipsum censuit plus timeri. eris igitur securitas soporantium, munimen domorum, tutela claustrorum, discussor obscurus, arbiter silentiosus, cui fallere insidiantes fas est et decipere gloria. [3] Actus tuus venatio nocturna est, quae miro modo si non cernitur, tunc tenetur. furta magis in furibus facis, dum illos circumvenire niteris quos omnibus illudere posse cognoscis. praestigii genus est quod agitis, ut latronum versutias irretire possitis. facilius enim aestimamus sphingae aenigmata comprehendi potuisse quam raptoris fugacem praesentiam reperire. ille circumspectus ad omnia, instabilis ad ventura, trepidus ad insidias quemadmodum potest capi, qui more venti nullo situ cernitur contineri? [4] Vigila impiger cum nocturnis avibus: nox tibi pandat aspectus et sicut illae reperiunt in obscuris cibum, ita tu possis invenire praeconium. esto nunc ad iniuncta sollicitus. venalitas tibi non adimat quod concedit industria. nam licet haec sub profunda caligine videantur geri, nullus tamen actus est qui possit abscondi. privilegia quoque tua vel officii deputati ex nostra tibi auctoritate rationabiliter vindicabis, quia necesse est in tam magna civitate per diversos iudices agi, quod ab uno non potest explicari.
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Formula of the Prefecture of the Night Watch of the City of Rome.
[The Praefectus Vigilum was responsible for fire prevention and nighttime policing in Rome -- a colorful office that Cassiodorus describes with evident relish.]
Although your very title ought to rouse you to the nighttime vigils of the city -- so that you may fulfill what your name implies -- our customary foresight does not relent unless we gently invite those we select for action to obey as well. What could be finer than to labor diligently in that city where such witnesses are seen to watch? Your vigilance, the moment it is applied, passes through the mouths of patricians and consuls. You can scarcely do something carefully before you hear the leading men praise it with admiration. You govern a moderate office yet move in the highest circles of reputation. You are called the guardian of the city of Rome, since you defend it from an enemy within.
Be watchful, therefore, against thieves. The laws do not grant you the authority to punish them, but they have not taken from you the license to track them down -- I believe because, however detestable these predators were, since they were called Romans, the ancients wished to subject them to a higher authority for judgment. Exercise, then, for the coming indiction, the dignity of the Prefecture of the Night Watch. The terror of punishment has been taken from you, but not the power. For the law decreed that the man it wished to catch criminals should himself be the more feared. You will therefore be the security of the sleeping, the protection of houses, the guardian of locks -- an unseen examiner, a silent judge, for whom it is lawful to outwit the treacherous, and glorious to deceive them.
Your work is a nocturnal hunt, which in a wonderful way is successful precisely when it cannot be seen. You commit a greater theft against the thieves, since you strive to circumvent men you know can deceive anyone. What you do is a kind of magic trick -- ensnaring the cunning of robbers. We think it would have been easier to solve the riddles of the Sphinx than to catch the fleeting presence of a burglar. He is watchful in every direction, unstable toward the future, anxious about traps. How can you capture a man who, like the wind, seems fixed in no place?
Be tireless in your vigil alongside the birds of the night. Let the darkness open your eyes, and just as those birds find their food in the dark, so may you find your glory. Be attentive now to your charge. Do not let bribery steal from you what diligence has granted. For although these things seem to take place under the deepest darkness, there is no action that can be hidden. You shall also claim, by our authority, the legitimate privileges of your office and the staff assigned to you, since in so great a city it is necessary for various judges to handle what cannot be managed by one alone.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.