MAGNUS AURELIUS CASSIODORUS SENATOR
MOST DISTINGUISHED AND ILLUSTRIOUS, FORMER QUAESTOR OF THE PALACE,
FORMER ORDINARY CONSUL, FORMER MASTER OF OFFICES,
PRAETORIAN PREFECT AND PATRICIAN
THE TWELVE BOOKS OF THE VARIAE — PREFACE
[1] Having accumulated the goodwill of eloquent men either through casual conversation or through unpaid favors, but never through any genuine merits, they urged me to gather into a single collection the writings I had poured forth in the course of my offices, as the nature of various pieces of business demanded — so that future posterity might recognize both the burden of my labors, which I sustained for the benefit of the common good, and the disinterested integrity of a conscience that could not be purchased. [2] I told them that their very affection would in all likelihood work against me: what now seemed acceptable on account of the petitioners' needs would afterward, to readers, seem improper. I added that they ought to recall the words of Horace, who warns what danger a hasty utterance may run into. [3] You see that everyone demands speed of reply; and do you believe I can produce things that will cause no regret afterward? A style is always rough that is either not refined by careful thought through a process of deliberation, or is not fully articulated in the proper choice of words. Speech is granted to all of us in common: only elegance distinguishes the educated from the ignorant. [4] Authors are allowed nine years for composition; I am not granted even the moments of a single hour. No sooner have I begun than there is pressure from clamoring voices, and such excessive haste is introduced that carefully started projects cannot be completed. One man piles on the weight of his importunate interruptions; another disciplines me with a burden of miseries; others surround me with the furious uproar of their quarrels. [5] With all this, why do you seek the eloquence of dictation when we can barely find the abundance of words? The very nights, too, are haunted by inexplicable concern — lest the cities go short of provisions, which above all things the common people demand more urgently, being students of the belly rather than the ear. And so I am compelled to range in mind over all the provinces and always to be inquiring into what has been assigned, since it is not enough to give orders to soldiers about what must be done unless the judge's constant diligence is seen to be requiring it. I beg you: do not love me to my own harm. Advice is to be avoided when it carries more danger than dignity. [6] But they wearied me still further with arguments of this kind: "Everyone knows that you hold the seat of the Praetorian Prefecture, upon whose dignity public responsibilities always attend as its constant retinue. From it military expenses are demanded; from it the sustenance of the peoples is sought without regard for the season; to it alone has been added even the heavy burden of the law courts. The laws seemed to lay upon it a boundless weight, in that they preferred to assign to it, for the sake of honor, nearly all matters whatsoever. For what space of time can you steal from public labor, when everything the utility of the common good requires flows into a single breast? [7] We add also that you, frequently burdened with the duties of the quaestorship as well, are deprived of leisure by constant thought; and it seems that the princes impose upon you, as upon one toiling under more modest fasces, tasks from other offices that the proper judges of those offices cannot manage. These things you do without selling any of them, but following the example of your own father you receive from those who hope only labors: thus, by freely giving to those who ask, you purchase everything under the gift of self-restraint. [8] Moreover, the glorious conversations of kings are known to occupy you for most of the day for the public good, so that those who sit at leisure grow weary of waiting for what you are found to sustain with unbroken toil. But this can be more to your credit and renown if, amid such great and varied occupations, you are able to produce something worth reading — and moreover your labor will be able to instruct, without giving offense, those men who are inexperienced but have been equipped for public life by a conscious eloquence, and those who are in tranquility can achieve more happily the practice that you exercise tossed among the perils of contention. [9] And so — with the good faith you enjoy safe — what may with propriety be published..."
V. C. ET INL. EXQUAEST. PAL. EXCONS. ORD. EXMAG. OFF. PPO ATQUE PAT.
VARIARUM LIBRI DUODECIM
Praefatio
[1] Cum disertorum gratiam aut communibus fabulis aut gratuitis beneficiis, nullis tamen veris meritis collegissem, dicta mea, quae in honoribus saepe positus pro explicanda negotiorum qualitate profuderam, in unum corpus redigere suadebant, ut ventura posteritas et laborum meorum molestias, quas pro generalitatis commodo sustinebam, et sinceris conscientiae inemptam dinosceret actionem. [2] Dicebam dilectionem ipsorum mihi potius fore contrariam, ut, quod modo propter desideria supplicantium putabatur acceptum, postea legentibus videretur insubidum. addebam debere illos Flacci dicta recolere, qui monet, quid periculi vox praecipitata possit incurrere. [3] Respondendi celeritatem cunctos videtis exigere, et creditis me impaenitenda proferre? dictio semper agrestis est, quae aut sensibus electis per moram non comitur aut verborum minime proprietatibus explicatur. loqui nobis communiter datum est: solus ornatus est, qui discernit indoctos. [4] Nonus annus ad scribendum relaxatur auctoribus: mihi nec horarum momenta praestantur: mox ut coepero, clamoribus imminetur et festinatione nimia geritur, ne cautius coepta peragantur. alter nos frequentia invidiosae interpellationis exaggerat: alter miseriarum mole castigat: alii furiosa contentionum seditione circumdant. [5] Inter haec cur requiritis dictationis eloquium, ubi copiam vix possumus habere sermonum? ipsas quoque noctes inexplicabilis cura circumvolat, ne desint alimonia civitatibus, quae supra omnia populi plus requirunt, studentes ventri, non auribus. hinc est quod cogimur animo per cunctas ire provincias et iniuncta semper inquirere, quia non sufficit agenda militibus imperare, nisi haec iudicis assiduitas videatur exigere. nolite, quaeso, noxie nos amare. declinanda est suasio quae plus habet periculi quam decoris. [6] Sed illi me potius tali disceptatione fatigabant: ëpraefectum te praetorianae sedis omnes noverunt, cui dignitati occupationes publicae velut pedisequae semper assistunt. ab hac enim exercituales flagitantur expensae: ab hac victus quaeritur sine temporis consideratione populorum: huic etiam vel solum grave iudiciorum pondus adiectum est. cui ideo leges visae sunt inmensum onus imponere, dum ad ipsam honoris gratia maluerunt paene omnia pertinere. quod enim spatium possis publico labori subripere, quando in unum pectus confluit, quicquid utilitas generalitatis exposcit? [7] Addimus etiam, quod frequenter quaesturae vicibus ingravato otii tempus adimit crebra cogitatio, et velut mediocribus fascibus insudanti illa tibi de aliis honoribus principes videntur imponere, quae proprii iudices nequeunt explicare. haec autem facis nulla vendendo, sed exemplo proprii genitoris ab sperantibus accipis solos labores: sic petentibus praestando gratis sub continentiae munere cuncta mercaris. [8] Regum quin etiam gloriosa colloquia pro magna diei parte in bonum publicum te occupare noverunt, ut fastidium sit otiosis expectare, quae tu continuo labore cognosceris sustinere. verum hoc magis tibi ad suffragium laudis potest proficere, si inter tanta et talia valueris legenda proferre: deinde quod rudes viros et ad rem publicam conscia facundia praeparatos labor tuus sine aliqua offensione poterit edocere, et usum, quem tu inter altercantium pericula iactatus exerces, illos, qui sunt in tranquillitate positi, contingit felicius adipisci. [9] Proinde, quod salva fide, qua frueris, dissimulare non poteris, tanta regum beneficia, si pateris ignorari, frustra maluisti benigna festinatione concedi. noli, quaesumus, in obscurum silentii revocare, qui te dicente meruerunt illustres dignitates accipere. tu enim illos assumpsisti vera laude describere et quodam modo historico colore depingere. quos si celebrandos posteris tradas, abstulisti, consuetudine maiorum, morientibus decenter interitum. [10 Deinde mores pravos regis auctoritate recorrigis, excedentis audaciam frangis, timorem legibus reddis. et adhuc dubitas edere quod tantis utilitatibus probas posse congruere? celas etiam ut ita dixerim, speculum mentis tuae, ubi te omnis aetas ventura possit inspicere. contingit enim dissimilem filium plerumque generari: oratio dispar moribus vix potest inveniri. est ergo ista valde certior arbitrii proles: nam quod de arcano pectoris gignitur, auctoris sui posteritas veracius aestimatur. [11] Dixisti etiam ad commendationem universitatis frequenter reginis ac regibus laudes: duodecim libris Gothorum historiam defloratis prosperitatibus condidisti. cum tibi in illis fuerit secundus eventus, quid ambigis et haec publico dare, qui iam cognosceris dicendi tirocinia posuisse?í [12] Victus sum, fateor, in verecundiam meam: nec obsistere tantis prudentibus potui, cum me viderem ex affectione culpari. nunc ignoscite, legentes, et si qua est incauta praesumptio, suadentibus potius imputate, quia mea iudicia cum illo videntur facere, qui me decreverit accusare. [13] Et ideo quod in quaesturae, magisterii ac praefecturae dignitatibus a me dictatum in diversis publicis actibus potui reperire, bis sena librorum ordinatione composui, ut, quamquam diversitate causarum legentis intentio concitetur, efficacius tamen rapiatur animus, cum tendit ad terminum. [14] Illud autem sustinere alios passi non sumus quod nos frequenter incurrimus in honoribus dandis, impolitas et praecipites dictiones, quae sic poscuntur ad subitum, ut vix vel scribi posse videantur. cunctarum itaque dignitatum sexto et septimo libris formulas comprehendi, ut et mihi quamvis sero prospicerem et sequentibus in angusto tempore subvenirem: ita quae dixi de praeteritis conveniunt et futuris, quia non de personis, sed de ipsis locis quae apta videbantur explicui. [15] Librorum vero titulum, operis indicem, causarum praeconem, totius orationis brevissimam vocem, variarum nomine praenotavi, quia necesse nobis fuit stilum non unum sumere, qui personas varias suscepimus ammonere. aliter enim multa lectione satiatis, aliter mediocri gustatione suspensis, aliter a litterarum sapore ieiunis persuasionis causa loquendum est, ut interdum genus sit peritiae vitare quod doctis placeat. [16] Proinde maiorum pulchra definitio est sic apte dicere, ut audientibus possis concepta vota suadere. neque enim tria genera dicendi in cassum prudens definivit antiquitas: humile, quod communione ipsa serpere videatur: medium, quod nec magnitudine tumescit nec parvitate tenuatur, sed inter utrumque positum, propria venustate ditatum suis finibus continetur: tertium genus, quod ad summum apicem disputationis exquisitis sensibus elevatur: videlicet, ut varietas personarum congruum sortiretur eloquium et, licet ab uno pectore proflueret, diversis tamen alveis emanaret, quando nullus eloquentis obtinet nomen, nisi qui trina ista virtute succinctus causis emergentibus viriliter est paratus. [17] Huc accedit, quod modo regibus, modo potestatibus aulicis, modo loqui videamur humillimis, quibus alia contigit sub festinatione profundere, alia vero licuit cogitata proferre, ut merito variarum dicatur, quod tanta diversitate conficitur. sed utinam, sicut ista regulis accepisse probamur antiquis, ita eadem promissae resignent merita dictionis. [18] Quapropter humile de nobis verecunde promittimus: mediocre non improbe pollicemur: summum vero, quod propter nobiltatem sui est in editiore constitutum, nos attigisse non credimus. verum tamen sileant praesumptiones illicitae, qui legendi sumus. incongruo namque nostras de nobis disputationes ingerimus, qui vestra potius iudicia sustinemus.
Cassiodorus
◆
MAGNUS AURELIUS CASSIODORUS SENATOR MOST DISTINGUISHED AND ILLUSTRIOUS, FORMER QUAESTOR OF THE PALACE, FORMER ORDINARY CONSUL, FORMER MASTER OF OFFICES, PRAETORIAN PREFECT AND PATRICIAN
THE TWELVE BOOKS OF THE VARIAE — PREFACE
[1] Having accumulated the goodwill of eloquent men either through casual conversation or through unpaid favors, but never through any genuine merits, they urged me to gather into a single collection the writings I had poured forth in the course of my offices, as the nature of various pieces of business demanded — so that future posterity might recognize both the burden of my labors, which I sustained for the benefit of the common good, and the disinterested integrity of a conscience that could not be purchased. [2] I told them that their very affection would in all likelihood work against me: what now seemed acceptable on account of the petitioners' needs would afterward, to readers, seem improper. I added that they ought to recall the words of Horace, who warns what danger a hasty utterance may run into. [3] You see that everyone demands speed of reply; and do you believe I can produce things that will cause no regret afterward? A style is always rough that is either not refined by careful thought through a process of deliberation, or is not fully articulated in the proper choice of words. Speech is granted to all of us in common: only elegance distinguishes the educated from the ignorant. [4] Authors are allowed nine years for composition; I am not granted even the moments of a single hour. No sooner have I begun than there is pressure from clamoring voices, and such excessive haste is introduced that carefully started projects cannot be completed. One man piles on the weight of his importunate interruptions; another disciplines me with a burden of miseries; others surround me with the furious uproar of their quarrels. [5] With all this, why do you seek the eloquence of dictation when we can barely find the abundance of words? The very nights, too, are haunted by inexplicable concern — lest the cities go short of provisions, which above all things the common people demand more urgently, being students of the belly rather than the ear. And so I am compelled to range in mind over all the provinces and always to be inquiring into what has been assigned, since it is not enough to give orders to soldiers about what must be done unless the judge's constant diligence is seen to be requiring it. I beg you: do not love me to my own harm. Advice is to be avoided when it carries more danger than dignity. [6] But they wearied me still further with arguments of this kind: "Everyone knows that you hold the seat of the Praetorian Prefecture, upon whose dignity public responsibilities always attend as its constant retinue. From it military expenses are demanded; from it the sustenance of the peoples is sought without regard for the season; to it alone has been added even the heavy burden of the law courts. The laws seemed to lay upon it a boundless weight, in that they preferred to assign to it, for the sake of honor, nearly all matters whatsoever. For what space of time can you steal from public labor, when everything the utility of the common good requires flows into a single breast? [7] We add also that you, frequently burdened with the duties of the quaestorship as well, are deprived of leisure by constant thought; and it seems that the princes impose upon you, as upon one toiling under more modest fasces, tasks from other offices that the proper judges of those offices cannot manage. These things you do without selling any of them, but following the example of your own father you receive from those who hope only labors: thus, by freely giving to those who ask, you purchase everything under the gift of self-restraint. [8] Moreover, the glorious conversations of kings are known to occupy you for most of the day for the public good, so that those who sit at leisure grow weary of waiting for what you are found to sustain with unbroken toil. But this can be more to your credit and renown if, amid such great and varied occupations, you are able to produce something worth reading — and moreover your labor will be able to instruct, without giving offense, those men who are inexperienced but have been equipped for public life by a conscious eloquence, and those who are in tranquility can achieve more happily the practice that you exercise tossed among the perils of contention. [9] And so — with the good faith you enjoy safe — what may with propriety be published..."
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.