Letter 7046: The establishment of divine law provided the beginning of human law, since the commandments found in the Two Tablets...
Cassiodorus→Unknown|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
imperial politicsmonasticism
From: Cassiodorus (formula template)
To: [Petitioner for marriage to a first cousin]
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Template granting permission to marry a first cousin, which required specific royal dispensation under Roman law.
The establishment of divine law provided the beginning of human law, since the commandments found in the Two Tablets are read as its foundation. Holy Moses, formed by divine instruction, decreed among other things to the people of Israel that they should keep their marriages away from the proximity of sacred blood, so that they would not pollute themselves by returning to near kinship and would ensure a provident expansion into unrelated families. Wise men following this example extended the rule of chaste observance much further to posterity, reserving for the ruler alone the dispensation for marriage between first cousins, understanding that what they required to be petitioned from the ruler would more rarely be presumed.
We admire this invention and praise with amazement the balance of things -- that this was referred to the judgment of the prince, so that the one who governed the morals of the peoples would also relax the moderate reins of desire. Therefore, moved by your petitions, if the woman is joined to you only by the proximity of a first cousin's blood and no closer degree is proven, we decree that she shall be joined to you in marriage. No question shall be raised against you on this account, since the laws consent to this being permitted by our will, and the benefits of this authority have confirmed your wishes. You shall therefore, with God's favor, have legitimate heirs, a chaste marriage, a glorious union. For whatever we command to be done must necessarily be attributed not to fault but to praise.
XLVI.
FORMULA QUA CONSOBRINAE MATRIMONIUM LEGITIMUM FIAT.
[1] Institutio divinarum legum humano iuri ministravit exordium, quando in illis capitibus legitur praeceptum quae duabus tabulis probantur ascripta. sacer enim Moyses divina institutione formatus Israhelitico populo inter alia definivit, ut concubitus suos a vicinitate pii sanguinis abstinerent, ne et se in proximitatem redeundo polluerent et dilatationem providam in genus extraneum non haberent. hoc prudentes viri sequentes exemplum multo longius pudicam observantiam posteris transmiserunt, reservantes principi tantum beneficium in consobrinis nuptiali copulatione iungendis, intellegentes rarius posse praesumi quod a principe iusserant postulari. [2] Ammiramur inventum et temperiem rerum stupenda consideratione laudamus hoc ad principis remissum fuisse iudicium, ut qui populorum mores regebat, ipse et moderata concupiscentiae frena laxaret. et ideo, supplicationum tuarum tenore permoti, si tibi tantum illa consobrini sanguinis vicinitate coniungitur nec alio gradu proximior approbaris, matrimonio tuo decernimus esse sociandam nullamque vobis exinde iubemus fieri quaestionem, quando hoc et leges nostra permitti voluntate consentiunt et vota vestra praesentis auctoritatis beneficia firmaverunt. erunt vobis itaque deo favente posteri sollemniter heredes, castum matrimonium, gloriosa permixtio, quoniam quicquid a nobis fieri praecipitur, necesse est ut non culpis, sed laudibus applicetur.
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From:Cassiodorus (formula template)
To:[Petitioner for marriage to a first cousin]
Date:~522 AD
Context:Template granting permission to marry a first cousin, which required specific royal dispensation under Roman law.
The establishment of divine law provided the beginning of human law, since the commandments found in the Two Tablets are read as its foundation. Holy Moses, formed by divine instruction, decreed among other things to the people of Israel that they should keep their marriages away from the proximity of sacred blood, so that they would not pollute themselves by returning to near kinship and would ensure a provident expansion into unrelated families. Wise men following this example extended the rule of chaste observance much further to posterity, reserving for the ruler alone the dispensation for marriage between first cousins, understanding that what they required to be petitioned from the ruler would more rarely be presumed.
We admire this invention and praise with amazement the balance of things -- that this was referred to the judgment of the prince, so that the one who governed the morals of the peoples would also relax the moderate reins of desire. Therefore, moved by your petitions, if the woman is joined to you only by the proximity of a first cousin's blood and no closer degree is proven, we decree that she shall be joined to you in marriage. No question shall be raised against you on this account, since the laws consent to this being permitted by our will, and the benefits of this authority have confirmed your wishes. You shall therefore, with God's favor, have legitimate heirs, a chaste marriage, a glorious union. For whatever we command to be done must necessarily be attributed not to fault but to praise.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.