Letter 9023: Consider, Senators, what we think of you -- that we choose for the highest dignities men of your own stock whom we...

From: Athalaric (through Cassiodorus), King of the Ostrogoths To: The Senate of the City of Rome Date: ~527 AD Context: Athalaric announces a new appointment to the Senate, praising the candidate's family heritage and arguing that noble blood, properly cultivated, produces the best public servants. Consider, Senators, what we think of you -- that we choose for the highest dignities men of your own stock whom we have never met, not from negligent indifference but from the honorable presumption of good birth. Let uncertain matters be brought to examination; what is known through lineage needs no trial. For when a man descends from a line of distinguished ancestors, he carries in his blood the predisposition to virtue -- not as an automatic guarantee, but as a foundation that needs only proper cultivation. We do not suggest that birth alone suffices. History teaches that noble houses can produce unworthy heirs, just as humble origins can yield extraordinary men. But when good breeding is united with good education and good character, the result is a servant of the state who understands the demands of office not merely from instruction but from the example of his own family. The candidate we present to you today comes from precisely such a lineage. His ancestors served the state with distinction across generations, and he himself has shown in his early career the same qualities that made his forefathers worthy of trust. We commend him to your approval with confidence, knowing that you will find in him a colleague worthy of your ancient and distinguished order.

XXIII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Quid, patres conscripti, de vobis iudicemus, expendite, ut ad summarum culmina dignitatum germinis vestri viros quos numquam vidimus eligamus, non fastidio neglegentiae, sed honorabili praesumptione naturae. ad examen veniant quae putantur incerta: num quis de illa re aestimet deliberandum, ubi nihil reperitur ambiguum? [2] Omnes quidem benignitas nostra complectitur, sed tales veritatis testimonio praedicamus. praecedit quidem gratia, sed sequitur incorrupta sententia. nam sicut idem curiae corpus est vobis, ita in unum laudabili proposito convenitis. vos ergo dilexisse iudicium est, unde libertatis augmentum et nostri imperii crescit ornatus. rerum causae semper in semine sunt: fructus editus prodit auctores et quicquid a divinitate meremur, de felici prole colligitur. [3] Hinc est quod patricium Venantium sub admiratione pensamus et fecunda prole gaudentem et tot consularibus patrem. educavit enim liberos nulla discretione laudandos, pondere moderationis aequales, ingenii vivacitate consimiles et morum societate vere germanos, quorum infantia bonis artibus enutrita iuventutem quoque armis exercuit, formans animum litteris, membra gymnasiis: tradens amicis exhibere constantiam, dominis fidem: et quicquid in illo viro gratia divina concessit, integra perfectione transmissum cernas in posteris. iactent se alii possessione locupleti summumque bonum solas putent esse divitias. in hac autem domo non tantum patrimoniis, sed et virtutibus aditur hereditas. [4] Hoc est profecto quod vere divites facit, quando nullum melius potest esse compendium quam laudibus successisse maiorum. probatum est etiam in eo bonis dispensatoribus nil deesse. alieni continens, propria sub moderatione distribuens et inusitata laude mirabilis, nulli gravis tot protulit consulares. recipiat haec audiens fructum bonorum: agnoscat se praeconem habere quem dominum et inter tot lumina procerum singulariter fuisse laudatum. nam si homines ornat semel accepisse palmatam, quid ille censendus est, qui tot meretur in filiis consulatus? [5] Et ideo, patres conscripti, alumnum vestrum Paulinum aurea dignitate vestimus, ut iuventus eius, quae fulget meritis, trabea quoque resplendeat triumphali. hunc honorem Deciorum familia non miratur, quia eorum plena sunt atria fascibus laureatis. aliis rara dignitas ista contingit: in hoc decursu generis paene nascitur consularis. [6] Favete ergo, patres conscripti, nostris muneribus et vestro nihilominus candidato. nam licet nuncupemini omnibus generaliter patres, huic etiam estis specialiter et parentes. nomen vestrum a curae similitudine derivatum fidelissima rerum appellatione confirmat, non translaticia usitatione vocabuli, sed honora sorte nascendi. cedant vobis hanc felicitatem divina perpetuam, ut licet gratiam praestetis exoticis, prole vestra vivacius gaudeatis.