Letter 7010: VARIAE, BOOK 7, LETTER 10

VARIAE, BOOK 7, LETTER 10 From: The Royal Chancery (Cassiodorus), on behalf of the King To: [Appointee to the Tribune of Entertainments] Date: ~523-527 AD Context: The appointment letter for the official responsible for managing public spectacles and theatrical performances in Rome. [1] Although the slippery arts of the stage are remote from upright morals, and the wandering life of performers might seem to give license to every kind of excess, nevertheless the moderating wisdom of antiquity saw to it that they were not left entirely without regulation. Even entertainers must have a master, and even pleasures must have a guardian — for unregulated spectacle quickly degenerates from harmless amusement into public disorder. [2] You are therefore appointed to oversee the performers, manage the scheduling of public entertainments, resolve disputes among the acting companies, and ensure that the spectacles presented to the Roman people are conducted with proper decorum. The mob loves entertainment, but it also loves an excuse for riot — and it falls to you to provide the former while preventing the latter. [3] Pay the performers fairly and on time. Artists who are cheated become agitators, and their grievances, performed before a crowd, become everyone's grievances. A well-managed theater is a source of public contentment; a badly managed one is an invitation to unrest. [4] We do not pretend that the stage is a school of virtue. But we recognize that a great city requires public entertainment as surely as it requires bread and water, and that an office tasked with managing it is no less important than one tasked with managing any other necessity of civic life. Serve with the understanding that what seems frivolous can have very serious consequences.

X. FORMULA TRIBUNI VOLUPTATUM. [1] Quamvis artes lubricae honestis moribus sint remotae et histrionum vita vaga videatur efferri posse licentia, tamen moderatrix providit antiquitas, ut in totum non effluerent, cum et ipsae iudicem sustinerent. amministranda est enim sub quadam disciplina exhibitio voluptatum. teneat scaenicos si non verus, vel umbratilis ordo iudicii. temperentur et haec legum qualitate negotia, quasi honestas imperet inhonestis, et quibusdam regulis vivant, qui viam rectae conversationis ignorant. student enim illi non tantum iucunditati suae, quantum alienae laetitiae et condicione perversa cum dominatum suis corporibus tradunt, servire potius animas compulerunt. [2] Dignum fuit ergo moderatorem suscipere, qui se nesciunt iuridica conversatione tractare. locus quippe tuus his gregibus hominum veluti quidam tutor est positus. nam sicut illi aetates teneras adhibita cautela custodiunt, sic a te voluptates fervidae impensa maturitate frenandae sunt. age bonis institutis quod nimia prudentia constat invenisse maiores. leve desiderium etsi verecundia non cohibet, districtio praenuntiata modificat. agantur spectacula suis consuetudinibus ordinata, quia nec illi possunt invenire gratiam, nisi imitati fuerint aliquam disciplinam. [3] Quapropter tribunum te voluptatum per illam indictionem nostra facit electio, ut omnia sic agas, quemadmodum tibi vota civitatis adiungas, ne quod ad laetitiam constat inventum, tuis temporibus ad culpas videatur fuisse transmissum. cum fama diminutis salva tua opinione versare. castitatem dilige, cui subiacent prostitutae: ut magna laude dicatur: 'virtutibus studuit, qui voluptatibus miscebatur'. optamus enim ut per ludicram amministrationem ad seriam pervenias dignitatem.