Letter 33

CassiodorusCaelianus and Agapitus, Patricians|c. 522 AD|cassiodorus

VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 33

From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus
To: Agapitus, Prefect of the City, a Distinguished Man
Date: ~507-511 AD
Context: A brief follow-up confirming that the pantomime chosen by the patricians Albinus and Avienus for the Green faction must receive his regular monthly salary without reduction.

[1] Our serenity's judgment, once pronounced, does not waver, nor does it change through anyone's scheming what it has established by careful planning. We recall that we recently issued orders to the patricians Albinus and Avienus to select a pantomime for the Green faction who would be best suited for the spectacles, and they reported back to us that they had done so. [2] Therefore by this present authority we decree that whoever was found to have been chosen by the aforementioned men shall receive the customary monthly salary of the Green faction from you without any reduction, so that what our foresight established to prevent disorder may become an occasion of peace, not sedition.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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