XX. KING THEODERIC TO ALBINUS AND AVIENUS, MEN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK AND PATRICIANS.
[1] Although amid the glorious cares of the commonwealth and the salutary tides of royal anxieties it may seem a minor thing for a prince to speak of spectacles, still, out of love for the Roman commonwealth, we shall not shrink from entering into these considerations as well. For we judge it worthy of our attention to be of service wherever we can, especially since the happiness of the times consists in the joy of the people. For it is the assurance of our labors, God granting His favor, that the populace knows itself to be at leisure. [2] Through the petition of the Green faction -- since the custom has arisen that the people are named by their colors -- we have learned that turbulent riots are being stirred up by certain most wicked persons, and that a cause of public joy has erupted into the battles of madness. Such things assuredly cannot possess the seemly quality of gladness if they do not first earn the common peace. It is therefore fitting that our clemency should attend to these matters as well, so that propriety of conduct may shine forth everywhere. For we are not pondering the idle shouts of the populace; rather, we are cutting out the seed of pernicious sedition. [3] Wherefore let Your Illustrious Greatness, reminded by the present order, graciously assume the patronage of the Green faction, which your father of glorious memory bestowed. It ought not to be considered beneath one's dignity to govern and guide the Roman people. For if the purpose of all honors is weighed, they were chosen for the benefit of those very people who deserved to receive the most glorious offices. [4] Let the spectators therefore be convened, and from Helladius and Thorodon let him who is judged more suited to the public entertainment be appointed by you as pantomime of the Greens -- with all popular confusion removed -- so that we may appear to have conferred upon worthy persons the expenditure that we devote to the spectacle of the city. [5] Our ancestors named this branch of the art of music the silent art -- namely because, with mouth closed, it speaks with the hands and makes itself understood through certain gestures, conveying what could scarcely be recognized even by the narrating tongue or the fabric of written prose.
XX. ALBINO ET AVIENO VV. II. ATQUE PATRICIIS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Licet inter gloriosas rei publicae curas et regalium sollicitudinum salutiferos fluctus pars minima videatur principem de spectaculis loqui, tamen pro amore rei publicae Romanae non pigebit has quoque cogitationes intrare, quia undecumque praestare possumus, dignum nostris sensibus aestimamus, praesertim cum beatitudo sit temporum laetitia populorum. illud enim propitiante deo labores nostros asserit, quod se otiosam generalitas esse cognoscit. [2] Partis itaque prasini insinuata petitione comperimus—quoniam hoc introductum est, ut populi de colore vocitentur—seditiones turbulentas a quibusdam scelestissimis incitari et causam laetitiae publicae ad furoris certamina prorupisse. quod utique gaudii decoram non potest habere qualitatem, si pacem non meruerit possidere communem. et ideo dignum est clementiam nostram has quoque partes aspicere, ut ubique possit morum probitas elucere. non enim inania verborum popularium cogitamus, sed perniciosae semen seditionis excludimus. [3] Quapropter illustris magnitudo vestra praesenti iussione commonita patrocinium partis prasini, quod gloriosae recordationis pater vester impendit, dignanter assumat. putari enim non debet iniuria populos regere ac gubernare Romanos. nam si honorum omnium causa pensetur, pro illorum utilitate delecti sunt, qui honores gloriosissimos accipere meruerunt. [4] Convocatis ergo spectatoribus, de Helladio et Thorodon qui laetitiae publicae aptior fuerit aestimatus, populi confusione sublata constituatur a vobis prasini pantomimus, quatenus sumptum, quem pro spectaculo civitatis impendimus, electis contulisse videamur. [5] Hanc partem musicae disciplinae mutam nominavere maiores, scilicet quae ore clauso manibus loquitur et quibusdam gesticulationibus facit intellegi, quod vix narrante lingua aut scripturae textu possit agnosci.
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XX. KING THEODERIC TO ALBINUS AND AVIENUS, MEN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK AND PATRICIANS.
[1] Although amid the glorious cares of the commonwealth and the salutary tides of royal anxieties it may seem a minor thing for a prince to speak of spectacles, still, out of love for the Roman commonwealth, we shall not shrink from entering into these considerations as well. For we judge it worthy of our attention to be of service wherever we can, especially since the happiness of the times consists in the joy of the people. For it is the assurance of our labors, God granting His favor, that the populace knows itself to be at leisure. [2] Through the petition of the Green faction -- since the custom has arisen that the people are named by their colors -- we have learned that turbulent riots are being stirred up by certain most wicked persons, and that a cause of public joy has erupted into the battles of madness. Such things assuredly cannot possess the seemly quality of gladness if they do not first earn the common peace. It is therefore fitting that our clemency should attend to these matters as well, so that propriety of conduct may shine forth everywhere. For we are not pondering the idle shouts of the populace; rather, we are cutting out the seed of pernicious sedition. [3] Wherefore let Your Illustrious Greatness, reminded by the present order, graciously assume the patronage of the Green faction, which your father of glorious memory bestowed. It ought not to be considered beneath one's dignity to govern and guide the Roman people. For if the purpose of all honors is weighed, they were chosen for the benefit of those very people who deserved to receive the most glorious offices. [4] Let the spectators therefore be convened, and from Helladius and Thorodon let him who is judged more suited to the public entertainment be appointed by you as pantomime of the Greens -- with all popular confusion removed -- so that we may appear to have conferred upon worthy persons the expenditure that we devote to the spectacle of the city. [5] Our ancestors named this branch of the art of music the silent art -- namely because, with mouth closed, it speaks with the hands and makes itself understood through certain gestures, conveying what could scarcely be recognized even by the narrating tongue or the fabric of written prose.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.