VARIAE, BOOK 9, LETTER 8
From: King Athalaric, writing through Cassiodorus
To: Osuin, Distinguished Count
Date: ~526-534 AD
Context: A letter rewarding Osuin for faithful service, arguing that publicly honoring good officials spurs others to excellence.
[1] It is our settled policy to crown honest labors with the palm of reward, so that the advancement of the deserving may sting the idle into action — and they can blame no one but themselves for their own stagnation, when they see what honest effort achieves. For it would be a dull and lifeless kingdom if merit went unrecognized and idleness carried no cost. A ruler who does not know whom to reward has no idea whom to command.
[2] Your faithful service has earned our notice. Through your diligent administration, you have demonstrated that public trust and personal integrity can coexist — a rarer combination than it ought to be. We therefore confirm you in the honors appropriate to your merit, and we do so publicly, so that others may learn from your example. The state flourishes when the virtuous know they are seen.
VIII.
OSUIN V. I. COMITI ATHALARICUS REX.
[1] Propositi nostri est honestos labores palma remunerationis ornare, ut vicissitudine, qua provecti gaudent, desides mordeantur sibique imputare possint quod clementissimis temporibus iudicii nostri praemia non merentur. atque ideo illustrem magnitudinem tuam deo iuvante ad Delmatiarum atque Saviae provincias iterum credidimus destinandam, ut quicquid pro utilitatibus nostris esse cognoscis, aequabili ordinatione disponas populumque nobis devotum per tuam iustitiam facias esse gratissimum, quia dominorum laudibus applicatur, cum se probabiliter tractat electus. [2] Non exempla aliena perquiras: memor esto quae feceris et non indiges ammoneri. quid est enim quod de tua quisquam debeat actione dubitare, quando ipsis provinciis adhuc propria bona redolere cognoscis? quodam modo iam debitum est illi velle praestare, apud quem te scis fuisse laudabilem. oboedientibus enim iuste indulgetur animus et quos scimus memores bonorum, indubitanter eis denuo praebemus affectum. [3] Aetas quidem tua provecta est, sed actus quoque maturior quid tibi nunc subripere valeat, in quo nec iuventus reprehensibilis fuit? sed haec in domni avi nostri regno fecisti: nunc talia demonstra, ut temporibus nostris reservasse videaris, quicquid probitatis addideris.
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VARIAE, BOOK 9, LETTER 8
From: King Athalaric, writing through Cassiodorus To: Osuin, Distinguished Count Date: ~526-534 AD Context: A letter rewarding Osuin for faithful service, arguing that publicly honoring good officials spurs others to excellence.
[1] It is our settled policy to crown honest labors with the palm of reward, so that the advancement of the deserving may sting the idle into action — and they can blame no one but themselves for their own stagnation, when they see what honest effort achieves. For it would be a dull and lifeless kingdom if merit went unrecognized and idleness carried no cost. A ruler who does not know whom to reward has no idea whom to command.
[2] Your faithful service has earned our notice. Through your diligent administration, you have demonstrated that public trust and personal integrity can coexist — a rarer combination than it ought to be. We therefore confirm you in the honors appropriate to your merit, and we do so publicly, so that others may learn from your example. The state flourishes when the virtuous know they are seen.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.