Letter 8005: King Athalaric to the Goths Settled Throughout Italy.
Cassiodorus→Goths Settled|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
barbarian invasion
King Athalaric to the Goths Settled Throughout Italy.
[Athalaric, grandson of Theodoric the Great, succeeded to the Ostrogothic throne as a child in 526, with his mother Amalasuntha as regent.]
We would have wished to announce to you the joys of our grandfather's long life. But since he has been taken from those who loved him by the hard law of nature, he appointed us as heirs to his kingdom by God's command -- so that, through the succession of his bloodline, the benefits he bestowed upon you would be made permanent. We desire both to increase and to protect what we know he accomplished. To this succession, while he was still alive, the assembled nation swore their allegiance in the royal city with such united enthusiasm that you would have thought it was a single voice making the promise that the whole people clearly desired.
Following this example, carry out the same oath with equal devotion, so that you may not appear to have done less than those who were present -- from whom the full measure of loyalty is likewise expected. We have arranged for the following count [comes] to receive your sworn pledge, so that, just as you demonstrate your devotion to us with the fullest loyalty, you may hear welcome things from our own intentions in return.
Receive, therefore, a name that brings you lasting good fortune: the royal lineage of the Amals, the purple-born stock, an infancy wrapped in the imperial robe -- through whom, with God's help, our ancestors were fittingly elevated and received continual increase throughout so long a line of kings.
We trust in the favor of the Divinity who graciously aided our forebears, and who now grants us the gift of His favor in turn -- so that under our reign you may gather the sweetest fruits of good fortune, you who flourished under our ancestors with abundant praise for your valor.
V.
DIVERSIS GOTHIS PER ITALIAM CONSTITUTIS ATHALARICUS REX.
[1] Voluissemus quidem vobis domni avi nostri longaevae vitae gaudia nuntiare: sed quoniam diligentibus dura condicione subtractus est, nos heredes regni sui deo sibi imperante substituit, ut successione sanguinis sui beneficia vobis a se collata faceret esse perpetua, dum nos illa et augere et tueri cupimus, quae ab illo facta esse cognoscimus. cuius ordinationi, adhuc eo superstite, in regia civitate ita sacramenti interpositione cunctorum vota sociata sunt, ut unum crederes promittere, quod generalitas videbatur optare. [2] Hoc vos sequentes exemplum pari devotione peragite, ne quid a praesentibus minus fecisse videamini, a quibus creditur totum similiter posse compleri. illum vero comitem vobis fecimus iurata voce promittere, ut, sicut nobis vestrum animum proditis devotissime, sic optata de nostris sensibus audiatis. recipite itaque prosperum semper vobis nomen, Hamalorum regalem prosapiam, blatteum germen, infantiam purpuratam, per quos deo iuvante parentes nostri decenter evecti sunt et inter tam prolixum ordinem regum susceperunt semper augmentum. [3] Credimus enim de divinitate propitia, quae maiores nostros dignanter adiuvit, nunc quoque gratiam suae dignationis impendere, ut et nobis regnantibus bonarum rerum fructus dulcissimos afferatis, qui sub nostris parentibus copiosa virtutum laude floruistis.
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King Athalaric to the Goths Settled Throughout Italy.
[Athalaric, grandson of Theodoric the Great, succeeded to the Ostrogothic throne as a child in 526, with his mother Amalasuntha as regent.]
We would have wished to announce to you the joys of our grandfather's long life. But since he has been taken from those who loved him by the hard law of nature, he appointed us as heirs to his kingdom by God's command -- so that, through the succession of his bloodline, the benefits he bestowed upon you would be made permanent. We desire both to increase and to protect what we know he accomplished. To this succession, while he was still alive, the assembled nation swore their allegiance in the royal city with such united enthusiasm that you would have thought it was a single voice making the promise that the whole people clearly desired.
Following this example, carry out the same oath with equal devotion, so that you may not appear to have done less than those who were present -- from whom the full measure of loyalty is likewise expected. We have arranged for the following count [comes] to receive your sworn pledge, so that, just as you demonstrate your devotion to us with the fullest loyalty, you may hear welcome things from our own intentions in return.
Receive, therefore, a name that brings you lasting good fortune: the royal lineage of the Amals, the purple-born stock, an infancy wrapped in the imperial robe -- through whom, with God's help, our ancestors were fittingly elevated and received continual increase throughout so long a line of kings.
We trust in the favor of the Divinity who graciously aided our forebears, and who now grants us the gift of His favor in turn -- so that under our reign you may gather the sweetest fruits of good fortune, you who flourished under our ancestors with abundant praise for your valor.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.