Letter 7014: If a position should be judged by its labors, and if praiseworthy attention to public business earns favor for the...
Cassiodorus→The Count of Ravenna|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
property economicstravel mobility
From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of the King
To: The Count of Ravenna (appointment formula)
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A template for appointing the Count of Ravenna, the official responsible for managing the port city's shipping and commerce.
If a position should be judged by its labors, and if praiseworthy attention to public business earns favor for the man who serves generously, then your office deserves the highest regard -- for its own demands are known to remove any delay from our orders. Everyone knows how quickly you arrange a vast fleet of ships at the briefest notice. Hardly has the request been written by the officers of our palace before you have already carried it out with the greatest speed.
Indeed, amid the frantic haste of departures, one man can barely notice what you manage to accomplish with remarkable energy. Collect the customary services from merchants, but do not demand excessive levies or abandon them to profiteering. Maintain a standard that does not burden the workers, so that by handling contentious matters without complaints, you may earn still greater rewards from our judgment.
Accordingly, our serenity grants you the countship of Ravenna for the current tax year [indiction]. Take up both the privileges and the labors of your office. Govern your staff with a sense of fairness. Anyone placed in charge of public business always finds opportunities both to harm and to help. But since your administration operates among ordinary people, it must be weighed with corresponding evenness, because the man who governs those of limited means ought above all to maintain balance. The wealthy barely feel their losses, but the poor are wounded by even a small expense -- since a person known to possess little seems to lose everything from even a modest injury.
XIIII.
FORMULA COMITIVAE RAVENNATIS.
[1] Si aestimanda est dignitas ex labore, si laudabilis sollicitudo actuum publicorum parit gratiam liberaliter servienti, summa gratificatione locus tuus habendus est, qui suis necessitatibus probatur adimere nostris ordinationibus tarditatem. quis enim nesciat quantam copiam navium leviter procures ammonitus? a dignitatibus palatii nostri vix in evectionibus scribitur et iam a te summa celeritate completur. [2] Nam inter dimissorum festinationes anxias vix sufficit alter advertere quod te vivaciter contingit implere. negotiatorum operas consuetas nec nimias exigas nec venalitate derelinquas. sit modus qui non potest gravare laborantes, ut, cum res querelosas sine querimoniis egeris, maiora de nostro examine merearis. [3] Proinde comitivam Ravennatem per illam indictionem tibi serenitas nostra concedit, ut dignitatis tuae privilegia subeas et labores. officium tuum aequitatis consideratione moderare. semper enim et laedendi et praestandi causas invenit, qui publicis actionibus adhibetur. sed quantum amministratio tua inter mediocres agitur, tanta debet aequalitate trutinari, quia illum potius expedit tenere mensuram, qui defectam noscitur gubernare substantiam. idonei damna vix sentiunt, tenues autem levi dispendio vulnerantur, quando vel mediocri iniuria totum videtur amittere, qui exiguum cognoscitur possidere.
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From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of the King
To:The Count of Ravenna (appointment formula)
Date:~522 AD
Context:A template for appointing the Count of Ravenna, the official responsible for managing the port city's shipping and commerce.
If a position should be judged by its labors, and if praiseworthy attention to public business earns favor for the man who serves generously, then your office deserves the highest regard -- for its own demands are known to remove any delay from our orders. Everyone knows how quickly you arrange a vast fleet of ships at the briefest notice. Hardly has the request been written by the officers of our palace before you have already carried it out with the greatest speed.
Indeed, amid the frantic haste of departures, one man can barely notice what you manage to accomplish with remarkable energy. Collect the customary services from merchants, but do not demand excessive levies or abandon them to profiteering. Maintain a standard that does not burden the workers, so that by handling contentious matters without complaints, you may earn still greater rewards from our judgment.
Accordingly, our serenity grants you the countship of Ravenna for the current tax year [indiction]. Take up both the privileges and the labors of your office. Govern your staff with a sense of fairness. Anyone placed in charge of public business always finds opportunities both to harm and to help. But since your administration operates among ordinary people, it must be weighed with corresponding evenness, because the man who governs those of limited means ought above all to maintain balance. The wealthy barely feel their losses, but the poor are wounded by even a small expense -- since a person known to possess little seems to lose everything from even a modest injury.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.