What kind of office the consulship is may be understood entirely from this, that among the surpassing dignities of the world it alone deserved to possess the palm-embroidered robes, which felicity bestowed: the rewards of conquerors, the very name of the years; the one recompense to which all things were owed. The right hand of a brave man guarded the standing of the Roman commonwealth; the fortunes of all and the children of the citizens his counsels vindicated; and for so many great debts this dignity alone was the repayment, devised as the adornment of liberty, invented for the common joy. Through it, assuredly, the standing of the empire continually grew; ever-happy Rome received it. Deservedly was it of old reckoned a kind of imperial rank; deservedly did he prevail above all citizens who delivered his fatherland from the enemy.
Disposing the public interests under equity, he pronounced law even over a man's life; yet to him was the power of death safely committed who had been the author of safety. Hence it is that the fasces and axes were ordered to be bound together for so great a power, so that, when they were loosed more slowly, they might gain a delay for deliberation, if they had decreed anything concerning the slaying or death of a man: thus, while all things were handed over to his judgment, lest he should grow insolent in spirit, he was called consul from consulting. Hence flowed forth such bounty, that that right hand which had abundantly shed the blood of enemies poured out the aid of life as a watering stream upon the citizens. Thus those whom he had made fortunate through wars he satisfied with his zeal for largesse.
As a proof, too, of the public glory, he loosed slaves from the yoke of servitude, he who had given liberty to so great a state. But now you receive these things more happily, since we bear the labours of consuls and you the joys of dignities. For your palm-robes are proved to be our victories, and by the outcome of a most prosperous condition you, in peace, grant freeborn status to slaves, while we provide security to the Romans through wars. And therefore, for the indiction so-and-so, we adorn you with the insignia of the consulship.
Paint your broad shoulders with the many-coloured palm-robe, ennoble your strong hand with the victorial sceptre, go forth from your own household gilded even on your shoes, by many steps ascend, with effort befitting its greatness, the curule chair, so that in leisure, as a subject, you may earn what we, ruling, assume after the greatest labours. You wage the business of victories who know nothing of wars: we, with God's help, govern, we deliberate, and your name designates the year. You have conquered the princes in felicity, you who both bear the highest honours and have none of the wearisomeness of dominion. Wherefore raise up the confidence of your mind: it befits consuls to be magnanimous. Think not of private wealth, you who have resolved to win public favour by giving.
For this is the reason why we advance other judges even when they do not ask for it, but consuls we promote only when they hope for it, so that you alone may come to these largesses who know yourselves equal to such great expenses. Otherwise they would be burdens rather than honours, if we imposed anything beyond their strength upon the unwilling. Enjoy, then, becomingly the things you have desired. This is the ambition that is approved. Be illustrious to the world, most prosperous to yourself, and to your posterity worthy of happy imitation. If we examine the order of antiquity in the origin of dignities, the family of the patricians is known to have been dedicated to Jove, so that, as they supposed, the worship of the supreme god might hold the foremost place.
But because it was fitting that you should possess something surpassing, and the very name joined itself by a great kinship to the fathers (patres), this dignity, leaving superstition behind, migrated to your assembly upon the best of terms, since the pontifical praise of conscience could rightly suit the senate. Thus from the augural family you read also that kings were established, and not without reason, for it was fitting that he who could administer public law should come from such a calling. Hence it is that this honour too is girt, even when it is at leisure, having no jurisdiction yet not laying aside the girdle of one who judges. In which a perpetual felicity is born, while the ambition of a successor is not feared: for as soon as it has been given, it becomes coeval with the man for the remaining time of his life:
an inseparable adornment, a faithful girdle, which knows not to desert him before the man chances to depart out of the world. I believe the matter was fashioned after the likeness of the pontificate, whence it came: those who do not lay aside the priesthood except when they relinquish the duties of life. It is added that the laws have conferred such reverence upon them, that one set among sacred things, when he has been girded with this honour, is freed from the bonds of paternal authority, unless it be specially provided against by the prince. And this is established by a probable reason, so that he who had received the most ample spirit of precious liberty might not share the meanest condition with subjects.
He takes precedence over the praetorian men and over men of other dignities, yielding only to one splendour, which it is established is at times assumed even by us. Accordingly, understand this dignity to be one necessarily praised, lest either we should seem to have given too little or you should treat it too negligently, if you should think you had received something mediocre. Wherefore, from that indiction, raised up by our gift, ascend the summit of the patriciate—which certain of the jurists have maintained was named from the fathers—about to do all things that befit so great a reverence. For although our clemency has conferred great things, you still have what you may seek after, if you strive to conduct yourself approvably.
If the origin of any honour is praiseworthy, if a good beginning can give renown to the things that follow, the praetorian prefecture glories in such an author, one who is proved both most prudent toward the world and most acceptable to the divinity. For when Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was pressed by unheard-of dreams concerning the peril of a coming famine, and no human counsel could reveal so great a vision, blessed Joseph was found, who both truly foretold the future and most providently came to the aid of an imperilled people. He first consecrated the insignia of this dignity: he, reverend, mounted the chariot: raised to this summit of glory, that through wisdom he might confer upon the peoples what the power of the ruler had been unable to furnish.
For from that patriarch he is even now called the father of the empire: even today the herald's voice resounds the same title, instructing the judge not to suffer himself to be unlike him: deservedly, so that he to whom so great a power could be given might seem ever to be subtly admonished. For certain rights are common to this dignity even with us. For it produces distant persons without prescription, it fines wrongdoers in great amount, it distributes the treasury according to its own deliberation, it bestows the use of the post-service with like power, it proscribes vacant goods, it punishes the offences of provincial judges, by a word it pronounces sentence. What is there that he does not have committed to him, whose very utterance is a judgment?
It almost amounts to this, that he can establish laws, since his reverence can terminate cases without appeal. Entering the palace, by our custom, he is frequently adored, and such homage seems to discharge a usage that could have accused others. To his power, then, no dignity is equal. In place of the sacred majesty he judges everywhere. No soldier prescribes against him by the authority of his own court, save the official of the master of the soldiers: I believe, so that antiquity might yield something even to those who seemed to wage wars for the commonwealth. He even scourges the curials, who are called by the laws the lesser senate. In his own office he retains a singular right, and is known to command such and so great persons, whom even provincial judges would not dare to despise in any respect.
An office assuredly favoured by genius, effective, well-furnished, and most powerful in all firmness of mind, men who so carry out commands that they delay the things ordered by no postponements. He confers upon those who have completed their military service the honour of tribunes and notaries, and makes his soldiers equal to those who, mingled among the nobles, attend upon our presence. Gladly do we fulfil what he has appointed, by whose reverence we too are so constrained that without hesitation we do the things which we know he has decreed. And not undeservedly, since he sustains the palace by his provision, procures provisions for those who serve us, supplies maintenance even to the judges themselves, and satisfies the greedy envoys of the nations by his arrangements:
and although other dignities have their predefined titles, by this one is carried out almost everything, whatever in our empire is handled with equable moderation. This bulk of all cares, then, the fairest of all—as is prosperous for us and useful for the commonwealth—from that indiction we becomingly lay upon your shoulders, which you should both sustain by the virtue of your talent and strive to administer with the highest fidelity. By however much it is constrained with diverse anxieties, by so much the more does this dignity triumph in the amplest praises. And therefore let so great a light of glory shine in your actions, that it may both blaze in our palace and gleam back in the remoteness of the provinces. Let prudence be matched with power in you: let a fourfold virtue sit beside your conscience.
Know that your tribunal has been made so lofty for this reason, that, seated there, you should think nothing low and abject. Consider what you ought to say, which is received by so many. Let the public records contain such things as no one need blush to have read. The wonderful presiding officer has no part with offences, who, unless he constantly does something excellent, incurs blame even by being idle. For if that most holy author aforesaid be called to mind, it is a kind of priesthood to administer competently the dignity of the praetorian prefecture. Since the praise of a judge is always assessed from the dignity committed to him, and he must be held more excellent than those over whom he is known to preside, no one seems to be more highly exalted than he to whom Rome could be committed.
It is a great thing, indeed, to be a noble, but a far greater thing to judge concerning nobles. That senate, glorious in wonderful repute, is proved to have a presiding officer whom the world looks up to as one establishing laws: and thence it comes about that they exercise perfect power in the senate who tremble before you to plead their own causes. But this moderation too is known to be worthy of proclamation, that they should choose to be bound by the laws which they know could have been established by themselves. This matter is in part absolutely common to us: but we are distinguished by this reason alone, that we cannot be made subject to another, we who hold ourselves as our own judges. Look upon so many learned men, and consider what it is to say anything to these and not to dread the shame of error.
Concerning such men you deliberate, whom you know to be more excellent than yourself. So conduct your post, then, that all may acknowledge you as judge of an honoured assembly. You sit above all the consulars, no less; you pronounce sentence first; and in that hall of Liberty you are beheld with reverence, in which you are approved to have the chief men of the world committed to you. Who now could think of an obscure vice, who knows himself to be among so many lights of character? Do you wish not to receive hatred? Exclude from yourself the zeal for currying favour. You must needs have public love, if you promise nothing in secret. It will be assuredly a great and singular renown, if the judges do not accept, where there are those who strive to give much.
To your jurisdiction not only is Rome committed—although in her all things are contained—but the ancient laws willed that you should extend your power within the hundredth milestone, lest a mural rampart should enclose the judge of so great a city, since Rome possessed all things. You also take cognizance, by appeal, of the provinces assigned by law. Learned advocates serve as soldiers under you, since in that fatherland it is not difficult to find orators, where it has ever befallen men to hear the masters of eloquence. You are borne in a carriage through the noble populace, public prayers accompany you, most welcome acclamations advance with you in unison of voice. Do well, since at your coming it is permitted even to the peoples to be silent.
You have abundant means whence to win for yourself the favour of so great a city, if diverse wares are sold under no venality, if the supply of the baths, salubriously kindled, does not grow cool through the heats of rapacity, if the spectacle that is offered for pleasure is not the cause of litigation. For he sweetly compels the people to be grateful, whoever in the contests of the factions turns aside from the unjust. For so great is the force of glorious truth, that even in theatrical matters equity is desired. The order of admonitions, then, having been run through, by that indiction we adorn you with the garb of the toga'd dignity, so that, clothed in Romulean attire, you may strive after Roman laws. For if you are equal to this dignity, there is nothing which you may not in the least obtain from us.
For by such a testimonial you will be no less worthy of all things, if the senate praises your conduct. For the proof of a matter is perfect, where the consenting witnesses are proved to be the highest in rank. If dignities are illustrious only insofar as they enjoy the sight of us, if frequent presence betrays the affection of the ruler, no one among the judges can be so glorious as he who is received into the participation of our thoughts. For to some we commit the procuration of public money, to others we grant cases to be heard, to others we delegate the rights of our patrimony: but the quaestorship we receive with our whole heart, which we reckon to be the voice of our own tongue.
This office is necessarily and intimately applied to our thoughts, so that it can properly say what it knows we feel: it lays aside the discretion of its own will and so takes on the will of our mind, that what it speaks is thought rather to have proceeded from us. O how arduous a thing it is for a subject to assume the words of a ruler, to be able to speak what may be believed to be ours, and, advanced to public dignity, to make glorious falsehood! Consider what weight you have, and at the same time what comeliness.
If we are in any doubt, we inquire of the quaestor, who is the treasury of public repute, the cabinet of the laws, ever ready for the sudden need; and, as Tully, the master of eloquence, says, nothing seems more excellent than to be able by speaking to hold the minds of men, to allure their wills, to impel them whither one wills, and to lead them back from whence one wills. For if it is proper to the orator to speak gravely and ornately, so as to be able to move the minds of the judges, how much more eloquent ought he to be who is known to admonish the peoples by the mouth of the prince, that they should love the right, despise the perverse, praise the good without end, and vehemently accuse the worst? So that the rigour of justice is almost on holiday, where the strength of eloquence prevails.
Let him be a most prudent imitator of the ancients, let him correct both the morals of others and guard his own with due integrity. Such, in fine, ought the quaestor to be, as it befits one who bears the image of the prince to be. For if it befalls us, as is customary, to hear a case by formal record, what authority will there be in the tongue, which beneath our eyes can fulfil the royal genius? There must be present knowledge of the law, caution of speech, so that no one may have cause to reprehend what it is established the prince has decreed. There will be need, moreover, of firmness of mind, so that he be drawn away from the path of justice by no bribes, by no terrors. For in order to preserve equity, we suffer even ourselves to be contradicted, we whom it also behoves to be obeyed.
But see that you bring forth so much learning, that, fully consulted, you may expound all things approvably. For other dignities may seek the solace of assessors: but your dignity furnishes counsels to the prince. And therefore, provoked by the fame of your prudence and eloquence, we grant you, by that indiction, with God supplying, the quaestorship—the glory of letters, the temple of civility, the mother of all dignities, the dwelling of self-restraint, the seat of all the virtues—so that you may act in such wise as you contend yourself to be equal to the things aforesaid. For to you the provinces transmit their prayers: from you the senate seeks the help of law:
from you the learned are proved to seek what they already know, and it is necessary for you to suffice for all, as many as it befalls to demand from us the remedies of the laws. But when you have done all these things, be not lifted up by any elations, be bitten by no envy, rejoice not in the calamities of others, since what is hateful to the prince cannot befit the quaestor. Exercise the power of the prince in the condition of a subject. So, glorified by our mouth, speak forth, yet so that you believe you will render an account to us as your judges, where either the culpable receives his recompense or the man of good purpose, being praised, acquires the glory of it.
He takes up a reverend honour, whoever has received the name of master (magister), since this appellation always comes from expertise, and in the name it is recognized what is to be judged concerning his morals. To him assuredly pertains the discipline of the palace: he himself calms the stormy ways of the insolent scholae by the prosperous serenity of his moderation. So many orders are arranged without any confusion, and he himself bears the burden of all, which the throng holds distributed. Thus, having discharged the gravity of his name, he adorns the principate by his acts. Through him the senator, coming, is presented to our gaze: he admonishes the trembling, composes the speaker, and is even wont to insert his own words, that we may becomingly hear all things.
He is the not-unfulfilling promiser of the royal countenance, the glorious bestower of our converse, as it were a kind of morning star of the court consistory: for as the morning star promises the coming day, so he attributes to those who long for it the countenance of our serenity. Moreover, we deposit the greatest weight of cases in the recesses of his audience with the best security, so that, relieved by his faithful cares, we may more actively occupy ourselves with public interests. He even guards, by the strictness of his diligence, the opportune swiftness of the post-horses, whose condition is ever in motion, so that he may expedite by the benefit of speed those of our solicitudes which he aids by counsel.
Through him, for the praise of our commonwealth, courtesy is dispensed to foreign nations, and they return unwilling whom he had received mourning. Through him, indeed, the arrival of envoys—however hastening—is announced to us beforehand: through him the dispatch of our name is determined, and to him is principally entrusted what is felt to be so necessary. These labours, too, being weighed, antiquity decreed the greatest power to this office, that no judge throughout the provinces should assume the fasces, unless he himself had also decreed it to be done. It subjected to his arbitration the judgments of others, so that to him might return what another seemed to have furnished.
He has not, indeed, the troubles of exacting money, but he enjoys far and wide the good of the power he has obtained—I believe, so that the dignity might be culled from diverse titles, instituted for the relief of the prince. He also, of his own will, appoints the equalizers of victual supplies in the royal city, and makes a judge of so necessary a matter. For he himself furnishes joy to the peoples, he himself furnishes adornment to our times, when he sets such men over the public stores, that the querulous commons, being satisfied, may not know how to have sedition.
His office, indeed, is adorned with so great a prerogative of genius, that, having completed the duties of military service, he is honoured with the name of the principate; and in a wondrous manner, among the praetorian cohorts and the soldiers of the urban prefecture, they seem to have found a primacy, by whom a humble service was rendered to you. Thus, in the favour of a great honour, a certain injustice comes from the laws, while he is set over the watches of others who is declared to have done his soldiering elsewhere. The deputy (adjutor) of the master, too, is presented to our gaze, so that by a vicarious lot of the benefit we may choose his protection who furnishes us with faithful solace.
This dignity, then, illustrious by so many titles, opulent with so many insignia, we commit to you to be governed, by that indiction, with becoming gravity, so that all things you do may seem to have been done by the master: for nothing of morals is left over, if—which God forbid—anything be sinned against by so great a maturity. Wholly pleasing are the names that forthwith designate the actions, when all ambiguity is removed from the hearer, where it is comprehended in the title what is being done. For the words testify that to preside over the royal gifts—the count of the sacred largesses—are the very indications of the matter. Which was truly comely, truly in every way exquisite, to make a dignity set apart in the department of royal gifts, and to call it the honour of another, while it is established that we confer the gifts.
An innocent function, a duty of piety—ever to bring forward that whereby the fame of the prince may be increased. To do military service amid royal gifts, and to have a dignity from public largesse, is assuredly a great felicity. Other judges serve the remaining virtues of the ruler: this alone is one that ministers only to the moments of piety. For through it nothing rigorous is carried out, nothing severe is by chance decreed, but it complies then, when prayers are poured forth on our behalf. Through you we raise up the fortunes of suppliants; on the Kalends of January we bestow gifts in abundance, and the public gladness is your military service.
But this our liberality you adorn with another service, that the figure of our countenance may be imprinted upon the customary metals, and you make coinage to remind the ages to come of our times. O great inventions of the prudent! O praiseworthy institutions of the men of old! that the image of princes should seem to feed the subjects through commerce—princes whose counsels cease not to keep vigil for the safety of all. But to this, so to speak, gift-giving dignity, we add also the place of the primiceriate, the herald of our largesse, the token of public felicity, so that through you we may bestow honours, through whom we also confer the largesses of our money:
deservedly, since both are bestowed with a like grace and ought to be administered by one judge, things that are seen to be joined with equal praise. But it is too little a thing that the provincial judges are subject to your dignity: you confirm the documents of the very nobles, since a thing is not believed perfected unless it has been completed by you according to solemn form. The sacred vestment, too, is known to have been anciently committed to you, lest anything that pertains to royal splendour should obey your arrangements less well. The cares of the shores, too, with the incidental provision of profit, you administer. The merchants, who are established to be necessary for human life, are manifestly subject to this power.
For whatever in garments, whatever in bronze, whatever in silver, whatever in gems human ambition can hold precious, comply with your arrangements, and to your judgment flow together those who have come from the farthest parts of the world. The traffic in salt, too, antiquity not ineptly assigned to you, among silken garments and the most precious pearl, that it might evidently show forth your wisdom, to whom such kinds of merchandise were assigned to serve. Wherefore, by that indiction, we confer upon you the dignities of the count of the sacred largesses and of the primiceriate, so that you may be adorned with many praises, you who are girt about with a multitude of honours.
Use, then, your titles solemnly; and if usage has taken away anything from you of the ancient privilege, it has assuredly left behind very many things which you ought to vindicate, since the care of the two dignities is indeed glorious, but their custody is also laborious—dignities which bring you abundant fruit of comeliness, if they are cultivated with upright morals. The count of the private estates, as the very appellation of the name is felt to sound forth, is reported once to have governed the private substance of princes through the care of the accountants (rationales).
And because the dignity of a judge could not be exercised among men bound by the lowest conditions, this office also took up other titles by prudent deliberation, lest the Latin dignity should seem to have its cause only with slaves; rather, it busied itself the more happily with urban affairs once it had decently laid aside the cases of country folk. For what could the public laws first accomplish among slaves, who had no legal standing before the laws? There no advocate was present, the parties did not contend against one another in solemn pleading; the council-chamber was thrown into confusion by unpolished disorder, and was called a court by an abuse of the term, where the sayings of the wise were not cited by the parties.
Now this dignity occupies itself with the cases of free men, and is truly held to be a lawful magistrate, since it is felt to be able to adjudicate concerning the fortunes of the freeborn. First, against wicked lusts and the depraved appetites of the human race, the custody of this office is decreed to you as a public parent, lest anyone defile himself by a shameful union, while showing no reverence for kindred blood. For public gravity, weighing the matter, has distinguished the sanctity of nearness and the grace of conjugal union, because something far different is owed to the natural bond of kinship than what we may indulge to bodily license. Against these offenses you are chosen as the sole and self-restrained inquisitor, so that, while you pursue such disgraces, you may attain the heralds of chastity.
Equal laws have moreover entrusted the sacred repose of the dead to your conscience: that no one should strip tombs clad in marble, that no one should with irreligious rashness lay hands on the beauty of their columns, that no one should by a wicked search uncover the ashes of others, consumed whether by the length of time or by the devouring flame; that the body, which once had left behind worldly troubles, should not again suffer human treachery. For although corpses do not feel theft, he is known to be a stranger to all piety who is shown to have taken anything away from the dead. See what has been entrusted to you: the chastity of the living and the security of the dead. You have also, throughout the provinces, no small amount from the perpetual right of tributes.
You appoint canonicarii, you admonish the proprietors, and you share no small rights with the other judges. You do not allow ownerless goods to lie vacant; thus what a usurper might have seized, you cause our treasury to obtain by just gains. You lawfully give precedence over us to the next of kin of the deceased, because in this case the person of the prince comes after all others; yet from this we wish not to acquire, provided there be those who ought to possess what is left behind. Deposited monies too, which through long age have lost their rightful owners, are by your inquiry applied to our treasuries, so that we, who suffer all men to possess what is their own, may have others' property gladly offered to us. For he loses without loss what is found, who does not forfeit his own.
Accordingly, that it may be joined to happy auspices, by such an indiction we adorn you with the honor of the Count of the Private Estates, which the laws have decreed to be equal even to the prefects: for this too is a courtly power, to be revered by right in our palace, which you will cause to grow beyond its bounds if you conduct the dignity you have received with self-restraint. The reasoning of ancient custom persuades us to instruct in our written documents those who, placed far away, receive their dignities by transmission, so that a worthy reading might admonish those whom we could not instruct in person. But you, whom the royal choice has plucked out for the cares of our patrimony, we do not instruct by appointed precepts so much as we educate by the practice of most serene conversation.
For our conversations shall be to you the instruments of justice, since you will perceive that what can also accord with the divine commands is pleasing to us. We entrust our patrimony to you for the relief of private men's fortunes, not for their oppression. For if you would consider the manner of our tranquility, you impose a certain prejudice of humility upon the servants of the royal house. A wicked master indeed strives by any means to vindicate his own profits; but he who is known to be zealous for good repute is always more burdened by his own judgment. The race of rustics is insolent toward liberty, who think that voluntary acts are so far permitted to themselves because they are said to belong to our substance.
Be therefore moderate toward them with upright authority. We grant restraint at the same time as we concede power. Consider with what splendor the dignity you have received ought to be handled, through which you have deserved to have, above the other judges, the familiarity of the prince. For just as the rising sun, when night is put to flight, reveals the colors of bodies, so the quality of your character, by the prince being constantly seen, will not be hidden. Your mind will lie open both to our eyes and to our ears. In countenance and in voice we recognize the morals of those who serve. If a calm face, if a measured voice has presented itself, we believe the causes to be most proven; for whatever is said in a turbulent manner, we do not reckon to be justice.
Wherefore the examination of your sovereign will weigh your manner of speaking, since they cannot conceal their own inclinations who are able to bring forth their own words. For words are the mirror of men's hearts, since that is believed to please him in his character which he is shown to have chosen for himself to act upon. The proud man, moreover, is betrayed by his straddling gait; the irascible is disclosed by the blazing of his eyes; the crafty always loves a downward look; lightness is betrayed by the inconstancy of the eyes; the greedy is laid bare by his hooked nails. And therefore, study those virtues to which you have been advanced, because no one can deceive a prince who is proved excellently to inquire even into the causes of natural things in you.
Wherefore, with God's help, we promote you to the Count of our Patrimony by such an indiction, so that our palace may bear witness that he is an ungreedy judge whom we have judged worthy of promotion. For what greater thing could you desire than to know that the tongues of nobles praise you? Elsewhere perhaps unjust judges are feared; here, where a present remedy is sought, a sentence that has been bought is not feared. Settle the complaints of proprietors without venal delay. For everything just passes over into a benefit by the advantage of speed, and what is rendered as a debt is, by such grace, reckoned a gift. Let our possessions, both because they are immovable, not go beyond the bounds set, lest, by a contrary condition, what cannot be moved should by evil practices come to be extended.
Convey also to your soldiers what purity of soul you have chosen to follow, since he can be called just under whom no one is proved to transgress. Use therefore, by God's grant as author, the privilege of dignity happily granted to you. Let what you see very often incite you to the desire of good things, because in those things which you do I shall be both judge and witness. For if you arrange our banquets with careful ordering, you must needs be rendered illustrious not only to our palace but also to the nations. For envoys coming from almost every part of the world, when they begin to take part in our feasts, marvel that there is found in abundance what they know to be most rare in their own country.
They are astonished too that the abundance of a single table can satisfy such crowds of attendants, so that they judge that what is consumed grows again, whence such great supplies are proved to come forth. They have, no doubt, in their own land something to talk about, while they long to tell their kinsmen what they have seen. Thus he is rendered famous well-nigh throughout the whole world who is found provident in our preparations. Add that the times of our gladness are your council-chambers, when the breast is rendered free from cares, and then a place for suggesting is granted to you, when it is taken away from all. Deservedly, since you are the judge of so great a display and of the feasts, let a mind soothed by food be granted to you.
Good morals would be gravely endangered if dignities were bestowed only on the rich or on those strong of body, since you may find many who shun the watches of the palace, who are rather able to shine by praiseworthy conduct. For to many their own means do not suffice for the triumph, from many lovers of wisdom bodily health is withdrawn, and it often happens that the wise lie unrewarded, if men should always come to honors by attendance at court. It is rare for many things to flow together into one, whereas the reigning power's piety ought to come to the aid of all. What if a poor noble should dread the expenses of the consulship? What if one renowned for wisdom should be unable to sustain the troubles of the prefecture? What if a flowing eloquence should fear the burdens of the quaestorship?
What if the remaining fasces should perchance be avoided through weariness of troubles rather than through merits? Is it not, if such things be fled by great men, that dignities undergo a kind of repulse to the shame of our clemency? How much more justly should a good prince leave nothing unrewarded that nature has made praiseworthy! It is wisdom that deserves honors; all else comes from without. Prudence alone is that which is set before all things, when it is happily found in a man. Let there be among us both a consular most upright in fortunes, let there be also leading men without long toil, let military service have its own rewards; but let this honorable place too exist, which is procured by merits alone.
For the most sacred laws have decreed, not absurdly, that those whom the report of good opinion commends should seek such high places by codicils of the vacant rank. For though means might desert them in the apparatus of so great an honor, their conscious virtue would not conceal them. Those who seemed to despair of their own fortune are animated to such things. By this both the man most robust for labors and the man feeble of body earns his praises. For all are proclaimed under their diversity whom the name of such an honor embraces, and he is believed to have wrung out something more of merit, I know not what, who is felt, in leisure, to have deserved the office of the laboring.
And therefore, by the present codicils, from that indiction defend this for yourself by favorable divinity: that, the circumstance of the present time being considered, you may obtain the rank of the honor acquired; yet in such a way that those be in every manner preferred who, with the greatest sweat, have been present to our sight. For it is necessary that one merit yield to two, being outweighed. Otherwise all could run to restful dignities, if the laboring be not at all preferred to the idle. Let those attain those things who can, nor let these things which we grant be lacking to you. Thus, both parties being stirred by either grace, both they will be able to hasten to our palaces, and the joys of the desired honor will accompany you. It is established that that commonwealth is happy which shines adorned with many citizens.
For just as the heaven is rendered bright by stars, so cities shine again with the light of dignities: not because a man becomes another through honors, but because he is made more modest, from whom a better order of conduct is demanded. For who would wish to handle his own reputation in a blameworthy manner, which he knows to have been chosen especially for praises? Honors indeed glorify him whom his life also commends. For to live by an evil practice is not lawful even for a prince, since the people can secretly speak even of him against whose morals no one has publicly dared to lay any charge.
Take therefore, for your fidelity and your labors, the vacant distinction of the Count of the Domestics, that you may appear adorned to your fellow citizens, and—what is sweetest to good minds—you may be continually occupied with your own affairs. For what is more fortunate than to cultivate a field and to shine in the city, where one's own work delights its author, nor is anything acquired by deceiving, while granaries are heaped up by sweet toil? Wherefore we have given a delightful honor; do you join to it the dignity of conduct, for both are conjoined to each other: the one hangs upon the other. Scattered seeds do not grow together unless the quality of the soil too has done its work: you shall have a copious harvest from our grace, if we learn that our judgments have been excellently handled by you.
It seems indeed a great thing to many, and an occasional festal privilege, to be occupied for the public good by upright actions; but how much more happy to take up a splendid honor and to have none of the troubles of cares? For at times assiduous labors render even dignities themselves ungrateful, since human weakness is wont quickly to feel disgust, and what is first believed to have been sought is afterward felt to be wished to be avoided. But it is far more excellent to be present to the royal gaze and absent from troubles, to have the grace of the place and to avoid the affronts of office. It is sweet to earn something in such a way that it can be disturbed by no anxiety, while it is rendered far more pleasing where only the joys of prosperity are felt.
This honor, then, you regard as bestowed upon you by a leisurely recompense, as much as it is known to have been conferred by ancient provision upon those who labored exceedingly, so that governors of provinces, praised by a year's administration, were scarcely brought to such a summit, to whom they confessed themselves to owe very much. The counselors of the prefects too, renowned for their conscience, foremost in dictation, who in that office of the most ample prefecture seem so to exercise eloquence that you would believe it to be another quaestorship for dispatching public affairs—whence we frequently take them up even as judges, because we approve them to be most learned.
Acknowledge therefore what is to be thought of such an honor, since perfect men find for so many praiseworthy practices the rewards of this dignity, and it is deservedly granted with so great pomp—a dignity reckoned even with the splendor of the senatorial order: a clear rank of Spectabilis, most worthy of our consistory, which enters among the Illustres and is summoned among the magnates: a dignity girt with the honor of a leisured belt, which knows to offend no one, is known to burden no one, and, above all good things, knows not how to stir up envy.
Wherefore, provoked by your character, we bestow upon you the Count of the First Order from that indiction by the favor of majesty, so that you may enter our consistory as one invited, and adorn it as one praised for character, since this honor is neighbor to the Illustres, while no other is held between them. Let it delight you to imitate those whom you touch by nearness. You make the place ample and honorable, if you handle yourself with moderate conduct. Let it certainly admonish you that the dignity you have received is reckoned by the appellation of the First Order, surely because all follow you who are adorned with the honor of Spectabilis. But see that no one precede you in reputation who follows you in dignity. Otherwise it is a grave weight of envy to shine with the brightness of the belt and not to glow with the lamp of morals.
If honor is frequently conferred on the idle, if at times either nobility is chosen or only the favor of one's person supports the deserving of something, with what zeal are those to be rewarded who have come through to the prizes of their own contest? It must be considered with what labor service has been done, and so the recompense must be pondered. For the measure of these matters comes from the contrary, since such a gift ought to be given to the obedient as could have been a peril to the disloyal. Great are the things which those keeping watch sustain: they compel contumacious persons to obey, they track down with prudent shrewdness those hiding in their bedchambers, they impose the moderation of equality upon the proud: thus what is briefly spoken by the judges is by them completed, with efficacy as their servant.
It is known what perils they sustain when they are sent to others' cases. If one acts too slackly, the petitioner complains; if strictly, the one summoned cries out. Thus between the two opposites it is rare to have found commendation. Be it said with the peace of the dignities: it is easier to find a praised judge than a soldier who completes what is enjoined upon him without offense. For it is one thing only to declare what is lawful, another to have brought justice to its term. A good thing is indeed praiseworthily spoken, but the appointed measures are far more gloriously fulfilled. Words alone are directed by the magistrates, but from the soldiers the effect is demanded. After everything they are subjected to perils, if, being constrained, they should lodge any plausible complaint. Frequently the very integrity of an action has harmed others.
For many whom they have striven to grieve in execution, they have afterward endured as their costly judges. For they frequently, unknowing, offend those whom they are afterward to obey, and while they keep faith in others' cases, they sometimes incur perils to their own safety. But amid these things, does not the soldier who has escaped praised seem justly to be a marvel? To such merits, therefore, a recompense is to be rendered, that we may stir up by granted compensations those grown torpid through excessive labor. Use therefore confidently whatever the bountiful laws have bestowed on veterans, you who are to be subjected to no sordid burden, having handled yourself with the purest conduct.
The Count of the First Order too, which venerable antiquity assigned to those who have discharged such military service, you shall claim according to the imperial statutes. These things indeed you obtain by the benefit of the ancients; but by our name you are walled with perennial protection against uncivil assaults and conventional injuries, so that the office which has served our commands with special diligence may seem to have been able to merit something more than the other soldiers. We decree also that a penalty of so many pounds of gold is to be inflicted, if anyone should believe our statutes to be violable on any occasion whatever. Nor yet do we permit anything to avail against you which has been attempted by deceitful machination.
We desire indeed that the curia of the most ample senate be filled with natural fecundity, and that its offspring grow so greatly that it may seem to satisfy the wishes of its parents—which is the most difficult kind of greed. But it belongs to one who loves less, not to seek something more whereby it might increase so great a number. The diligent farmer, by anticipating, aids the heavenly rain and waters his seedbeds before they earn the desired showers. Striving moreover to improve the fruit of trees, he establishes the breedings of diverse grafts, so that, the sweetness of the fruits being multiplied, he may sow into his gardens the ornament of variety. So we desire to enclose the most pleasant praises of virtues within the belt of Gabinius, that a foreign shoot, bound by the embrace of grace, may grow into the morals of the curia.
But this cultivation is far different. For into trees what is judged better is grafted; to them foreign things come, that they may grow sweet rather from the others' sweetness. To you, however, things are offered that the rustic may make progress. For although fire shines by night, yet presented to the sun it is dark; hence it is that nothing excellent can be brought to that order except what is proved to be increased through it. And therefore let the light of the senate receive him, conspicuous for the splendor of his birth and prudently kindled by the heat of genius. For hitherto he has been clear by his own merits; but now he will be translucent from your conspicuousness. Open the curia, receive the candidate: he is already predestined to the senate, on whom we have conferred the broad-striped dignity.
Public fathers must needs be benign, because this title owes itself not so much to its own offspring as to the general zeal and wish. It is the custom of those acting in another's stead so to obey the wills of the judges that they have no dignities of their own. They shine with borrowed light, they rely on others' strength, and a certain image of truth seems to be in them, who have not the rights of their own brightness. But you are called Vicar, and you do not relinquish your privileges, since the jurisdiction which is given by the prince is your own. For you have some portion with the prefects: the parties contend before you under praetorian advocacy;
in the sacred stead you pronounce sentence, and—what is the greatest sign of trust—in capital indictments the life of men is committed to you, which among mortals is established to be precious. It is added that the laws would not have you greeted without the chlamys, namely that, always seen under military garb, you should never be believed to be a private man. But all these things we judge to have been granted to the glory of the prefecture, so that he who is called the Vicar of so great a seat should see nothing shadowy. Consider what manner of things you display concerning yourself, who are borne aloft by so great an authority. He who is to be stripped of crime should not be stripped of harmless means; for what could it owe you, if he should impute to his own coin that he escaped? In the likeness, indeed, of the highest, you are borne in a carriage.
Within the fortieth milestone you guard the rights of the most sacred city. At Praeneste you give games in the stead of the consul, placed in his honor, and you acquire the dignity of a senator, and those halls are opened to you which are proved to have been granted to the highest. Hence it is that in the Hall of Liberty you hold an ancestral place, and there you earn a seat where merely to have entered is a herald of praise. The senators themselves, indeed, who precede in order, seem to ask certain necessary things from you. You have wherewith to render service to those greater than you, nor not undeservedly are you to be reckoned among the foremost, you who can either aid or harm the consulars. Lift up your spirit under the quality of modesty. Every dignity is such as is the will of those administering it.
Nothing that is conducted in the commonwealth is abject, unless it has been vitiated by evil morals. For if the equality of humble private men pleases, how much more welcome is it when preserved at the summit of power, which with difficulty keeps measure, while it hastens to its own desire? Accordingly, we confer upon you the dignity of the Vicariate by the estimation of our serenity, which you are so to conduct at Rome that you may make your conscience most worthy of so great a city. You shall use all the privileges which it is established that your predecessors had, because, just as we demand from you the institutions of the ancients, so also we do not deny to your dignity the things of old.
There is no doubt that the prince's secret adorns its subjects, since nothing necessary is judged able to be committed to any save those who have been made solid by great faith. Everything indeed that we do is public; but many things are not to be known beforehand, except when they have been, with God's aid, completed—which ought to be the more concealed, the more they are desired to be known. It befits only the most weighty to know the king's counsel. They ought to imitate cabinets, which contain the records of documents, so that when some instruction is sought from them, then they may speak: but they ought to dissemble the whole, as though knowing they knew not. For from anxious inquirers often even by the face is betrayed what is kept silent.
Let innocence be present, which commends all things, because in a placid mind it is fitting that royal words be deposited. But since our solicitude, the huntress of good conduct, has regarded you as one established in approved morals, from that indiction we decree you to be our Notary, that, the course of military service being run, you may happily come to the summit of the Primiceriate—an honor which makes a senator, to whom the hall of the fathers is unlocked, not unjustly: for he who serves our cares with assiduous nightly toil seems justly also to enter the curia of Liberty. There is added also another gift for the labor discharged: that, if in any way he should merit to attain the Illustrate, whether actual or vacant, he ought to be preferred to all who are proved to be adorned with codicillary Illustrates.
Whence it is absolutely gathered that this is given to use according to the merits of the Primiceriate, so that under one and the same title there would be unequal dignity, though equally acquired. You ought therefore to be animated to labors, when you see set before you such a reward as the magnates rejoice to have found. Although every dignity is clear precisely so far as the sight of our presence illumines it—since he always receives honor who decently acquires our conversations—yet no one merits our discourses so much as he who is known to be the Referendarius. Through him the orderings of cases are set forth to us, through him we learn the wishes of those who appeal, and we render answers to them, that we may loose the entangled affairs.
It is a great thing in this contest to serve princely prudence and on the sudden so to maintain others' griefs that he may seem to satisfy the wishes of the complainants. For what manner of thing is it to be confounded by no admixture in our tumultuous processions, or to be in no wise impeded by such great clamors? He must needs seek out from the troubled what he can placably intimate to us and report more distinctly than he could have heard. It is arduous to compose the sayings of the trembling and to speak the truth: not so much does the appellant dread the outcome of his own affair as this man sustains peril in the relation. If he should say anything less, he is asserted an enemy, he is cried out a bribed man.
The master of the affair can, by the patronage of fear, turn his own words about, but the reporter is not permitted to change anything. Our sentences indeed are to be held with such cautious memory that nothing may seem diminished, nothing added. With us very often listening, you are about to speak our words, and, bound by a difficult condition, you lie subject to our judgment while you strive to expound others' causes. Wherefore our choice has constituted you Referendarius: but do you apply to our commands the purity of conscience and the truth of tongue. A marvelous erudition, however, our conversation grants to you, which, while through you it orders others, adorns the quality of your mind.
For under us it is not permitted to be unskilled, since in the stead of a whetstone we render minds splendid, which we polish by the assiduity of cases. Wherefore report to all that we have commanded those things which they ought or were able to receive. You so prove our words, if you re-say just things. Love what glorifies us. Let your will be such as you see our purpose to be. We desire you to be such, in the highest degree, that even through you we may correct the judges. We exact a peculiar tribute from you, that, just as we mingle our discourses with you familiarly, so also our reputation may especially merit from you affection.
If dignities are to be reckoned by this measure—that one is held honorable in proportion as he is known to have benefited the citizens—then surely he ought to be glorious who is proved chosen for the abundance of the Roman people. For it is your task that provision be prepared for the most sacred city, that everywhere a supply of bread may abound, and that so great a people may be satisfied as if at one table. You run through the bakers' workshops and their foods, you exact the weight and the cleanness of the bread, nor do you judge it base, whence Rome can praise you: deservedly, since the affection of that city is a singular glory. And lest anything you do be thought lowly, you ascend the carriage of the Prefect of the City with mingled gratification.
You are found most closely joined to him at the spectacles, so that the populace, whom your industry satisfies, may recognize you to be honored to their own reverence. For if a complaint about bread, as is wont, should be stirred up, you, the promiser of plenty, dissolve the civic seditions by momentary satisfaction, and through you it is provided that nothing be exceeded by the complaining peoples. Not undeservedly is Pompey said, by the quantity of supply provided, to have come even to the summit of affairs, because deservedly the love of the people is singular, when it could be freed from want. Hence he earned gratification and popular applause: hence he was uniquely always loved, and in the favor of all the citizens he surpassed the deeds of his elders:
who, lest he should ever be spoken of without honor, was even called, with an appraisal of his name, 'the Great.' Let this example invite you to prosperity, since he is known to have performed the function of your office, whom happy Rome admired. But lest anyone think that you command abject men, the rights of the bakers too have served your dignity, which extended through diverse parts of the world by a most far-reaching possession, lest, by want being caused, that should grow cheap which served the Roman supply with praiseworthy ministration. The swine-dealers also, found for the sake of the Roman supply, seem assigned to your examination. Glory in the privileges acquired. Your tribunal is not among the least of dignities, since you both enjoy Roman favor and transmit commands to the provinces.
But to weigh fully the merits of this very office: the praetorian prefecture, it is true, provides the supplies of wheat, yet it is no lesser praise to make a worthy distribution than to gather the grain, since amid any abundance whatever the complaint is not removed if no refinement of bread is preserved. Thus Ceres is said to have discovered grain, while Pan is reported to have been the first to bake the kneaded crops, whence bread is also called by his name. So she was celebrated who found it, and he was praised who fittingly applied to human use what was to be eaten. And therefore, recognizing your diligence, which is ever the friend of wisdom, we confer upon you by our choice the prefecture of the grain-supply for the said indiction.
Consider now that it is not permitted to steal anything from the people: for what is committed to the city's loss is not concealed in silence. The common folk know not how to keep quiet, since at times they even speak of what is perpetrated by no one. Restrain those who commit fraud; as a fair examiner attend to the weights of the bread: let that be weighed more carefully than gold by which the citizens live, because the joy of a favoring Roman people is more pleasing to us than a store of the most precious metal. Mark well what we say. What better thing can you wish for than to seek the favor of that people, which it is agreed that we ourselves also desire?
Among the most useful arts that the divine powers have granted to sustain the need of human frailty, none seems to offer anything comparable to what healing medicine can confer. For with a mother's grace it ever stands by those endangered by disease; it does battle against pains on behalf of our weakness, and strives to lift us up there where no riches, no rank can come to aid. Those skilled in legal causes are held to bear the palm when they have defended the affairs of individuals: but how much more glorious to drive out what seemed to bring death, and to restore health to one in peril, of which he had been compelled to despair!
An art which finds more in a man than he himself knows within himself: it makes firm what is in peril, strengthens what is shaken, and, foreknowing things to come, does not yield to a man's seeming health; when the sick man, troubled by his present weakness, understands more than appears, trusting his reading more than his eyes, so that what is gathered by reason is by the ignorant almost reckoned a prophecy. To this skill, that there should be lacking a judge—is this not proved to be a forgetfulness of human affairs? And when wanton pleasures have their tribune, does this art not deserve to have its chief? Let them therefore have a president, those to whom we entrust our well-being: let them know that they render account to him who undertake to work the health of mankind. Let it be called an art not because it works by chance, but because it works by what it has read.
Otherwise we are rather exposed to dangers, if we submit to wandering whims. Hence, if there be hesitation, let inquiry at once be made. Exceedingly obscure is man's health, a balance composed of contrary humors: where any of these has grown excessive, it forthwith drives the body to sickness. Hence it is that, just as weary health is refreshed by suitable foods, so a thing is poison which is taken unfittingly. Let physicians therefore, for the safety of all, even after their schooling, have a master; let them be free for their books and delight in the ancients: none more justly reads assiduously than he who has dealt with human health. Lay aside, you craftsmen of healing, the harmful contentions of the sick; lest, while you are unwilling to yield to one another, you seem to scatter your own discoveries in turn.
You have one whom you may consult without envy. Every prudent man seeks counsel, while he is recognized as the more studious who shows himself the more cautious by frequent inquiry. Indeed, in the very beginnings of this art certain sacred rites consecrate you after the manner of a priesthood: for to your teachers you promise to hate wickedness and to love purity. So it is not free to you to transgress of your own will, you to whom, before the moments of your knowledge, it is laid as a charge to bind your souls. And therefore search out the more diligently the things that may heal the wounded and strengthen the weak: for I will see to it that what a lapse may excuse as a fault, to sin against a man's health is the crime of homicide. But we believe these things now suffice, since it is we who must be the ones to admonish you.
Wherefore from the present time we adorn you with the honor of the countship of the chief physicians (comes archiatrorum), that among the masters of health you alone may be held preeminent, and that all may yield to your judgment who torment themselves with the rivalry of mutual contention. Be the arbiter of this excellent art, and unloose the conflicts of those whom the outcome alone was wont to judge. In this very office you heal the sick, if you prudently cut off their harmful contentions. It is a great gift to have prudent men as subordinates, and to become honorable among those whom the rest revere. Let your visitation be the well-being of the sick, the refreshment of the weak, the sure hope of the wearied. Let the inexperienced inquire of the sick whom they visit, whether the pain has ceased, whether sleep has come:
but of his own illness let the sick man question you, and let him hear from you more truly what he himself suffers. You too surely have most truthful witnesses whom you may question. To a skilled chief physician the pulse of the veins announces what nature suffers within; the urine too is offered to the eyes, so that it is easier to disregard the voice of one crying out than not to perceive signs of this kind. Indulge yourself also at our palace: have the confidence to enter, a thing wont to be procured by great rewards. For though others serve under subject law, you must observe the lords of affairs with surpassing zeal. It is lawful for you to weary us with fastings; it is lawful to oppose our desire and, in place of a benefit, to prescribe what may torment us toward the joys of health.
In short, you recognize that such liberty toward us is yours as we are not proved to have toward others. Although the testimonies of the very name seem to declare that your dignity descends from the consuls, yet such great insignia surround you that no one can doubt that you shine with the brightness of that lamp. For the axes and fasces, which antiquity dedicated to its guardian-spirit, seem assigned to your trappings, so that the jurisdiction granted you may admonish the provinces even when silent. But what must that be for you which is shown to adorn the famed curule chairs? Nay, the festive pomp of obeisance sends before you even the countenance of the reigning sovereigns, so that, heaped with reverence not only of the supreme judge but also of the lords, you may be adorned. O invention of great moderation!
From the name of consul you are promised most clement, and from the image of princes, to be feared. In some provinces still you are honored, adorned with the cloak (paenula) and with the conveyance of a carriage, so that by many tokens, through the displayed images, it may be declared that you bear the alternating turns of a most exalted dignity. Consider that what you undertake is great, and may you be defiled by no degradation of crimes. The author of your name is celebrated for conferring much: do you act so that you may be accused of no greed, in order that, if you cannot avail to give, you may at least hasten to wish to be moderate. For he is reckoned next to the giver of whom it can be said, 'he keeps continually from what is another's.' Surely it is a vice of most foul contradiction to be zealous for thefts and to bear the name of liberality.
Let what you are called raise your spirits to praise. You assuredly do not make yourself unequal to your merits, if you trample down the offenses of most shameful ambition. For to conquer harmful errors, to overcome staining vices—this consulate too is truly brought forth from character. For not in vain did the wisest of the ancients impose such names on things, when they sent to the provinces a consular man as president of great self-restraint. Triumph over the public laws, lavish justice, and you can imitate in the stronger part him whom you touch by the nearness of the name. A man of middling estate may lack money; he cannot but have the talents of character who is just. Do not dread the lavish hands of consuls: even good poor men have their own riches.
That therefore is sought from you which is born in the human breast, not what is held in the bowels of the earth. How much better to triumph from the treasury of the soul, whence repentance is never born, since you are not made poorer when you grant more—nay rather, you are rendered so much the richer as you recognize that you have scattered abroad the goods of a good conscience. Wherefore, enticed by the praise of your reputation, we command you through the said indiction to exercise in that province the dignity of the consularship, so that nothing be acceptable to you which is proved hostile to the laws. Love rather those things which the rights of equity commend. Prove your name by your actions. Take counsel for (consule) the weary, and then you will be truly called consular.
But that all things may be weighed with even measure, resolve not to seek after money, and you will find that abundant gifts come to you. For the divine powers have set this condition upon human deeds, that he can the more grow rich who knows not how to wish for base gains. Those who act well receive without knowing it, because it must needs be that, while the ambition of evils is for a little while despised, more is bestowed by a heavenly gift. Antiquity altogether providently decreed that judges be sent to the province, lest mean men be burdened by having to come to us. For who of robbers would bear his audacity, if they knew discipline to be set far off? Permitted violence could rage unchecked, if the complainant were believed to be heard too tardily.
But how much better to repress crimes while still soft in their very cradle than to avenge them when hardened! We send evils to a quick reckoning, if we make judgments to be present at hand. For who would dare to sin, when he knows strict severity to hang over his own neck? And therefore our choice sends you as governor of that province through the said indiction, so that you may truly strive to correct those whom you know to have been committed to you. Among other things, attend without doubt to the stripes (clavi) of your cloak (chlamys), which you should know are not idly set there, except that, when those engaged in public service beheld the purple, they might ever be admonished of the prince's vigor.
The festive garb you wear, a gracious vesture, which Venus is said to have woven for her son Priapus, so that the son, singularly adorned, might bear witness to a mother of surpassing beauty. Consider how much the laws have given, and stretch yourself to the measure of your power. To you is shown to be entrusted the exaction of the fiscal tributes. It is established that it is committed to your good faith to report to the prince whatever is proved to arise in the provinces. You are likewise bidden to give audience to the senator residing there; you are to punish a soldier under the prefects only with his own (the prefect's) cognizance; they have ordered your name to be set before the honored provincials in the subscriptions. What has been judged of you may be perceived, you to whom so many nobles seem able to be set behind.
It is added that by the prince you are called brother, so that by the nobility of a precious name you might be lifted up from the baseness of crimes. Think that the fortunes of so many men have been committed to you. Your character will be the report of our age. Be self-restrained in regard to yourself, that you may be able to be a judge over others. The first equity is for presidents to begin with themselves, so that the criminal must fear one whom they cannot find to be like themselves. For a defendant fears no faults in himself which he has noticed his examiner to have, since he reckons that one acting wrongly displeases none but those of good character. No one condemns his own deeds in another, because it is the nature of the human mind that it strives rather to avenge what it has recognized itself to have committed.
O what a thing it is to sit free upon the tribunals, not to be beholden to one's own defendant, lest he who has bought you off begin to become the more powerful! Let him fear the strict, let him fear the self-restrained, let him not hear one who flatters. Grant that he may dread a rigid sentence. Greedy judges know not how much they transgress: for when they sell another's crimes, they make them to be their own sins. Wherefore be solicitous, that we may rather hear the praises of your good administration. From us you confidently demand what you remit, because we think as much of your reward as we recognize that you have not sought after money. It belongs to royal providence to choose such persons as judges that they may have no necessity of coming to the court, those whom it has befallen to tarry in far-off regions.
For there is no such business as can bear the great expenses of a Sicilian journey, since it is more convenient to lose one's case than to have gained anything through such outlays. For we do not wish complaints to come from Sicily, but praises, because an administrator's conduct is held grievous with us if petitioners from so far off have been able to accuse it. For a feigned grief is not believed where the tedium of so great a labor is undergone. And therefore those things must be handled with the greater care, from which envy is the more to be feared. Accordingly, through the said indiction we grant you, by favoring divinity, the countship of the city of Syracuse, that you may strive to do all things just as you recognize that we have granted them to you. From those near at hand we endure the vows (demands) of litigants:
but from afar, on the contrary, we of our own accord seek out those places from which we perceive that it can with difficulty be come to us. You have things which ought to adorn you, if only you come there cleansed in conscience. A number of soldiers serves you at our expense. You are rendered festive amid arms: your procession is a war-array adorned. You enjoy a peaceful army, nor do you undergo the perils of war, and you are adorned with the pomp of arms. Yet amid these things think of civil discipline. Do not permit the soldiers to be insolent toward the landholders. Let them receive their rations under moderation; let them not be mixed up in matters foreign to them. Let him who glories that he is armed know that he has been chosen for the security of all. We neither wish the privileges of your dignity to be diminished, nor command them to be exceeded.
Let it suffice you to perform just so much as it is established your predecessors reasonably accomplished. Among the other inventions of antiquity and the astonishing praises of well-ordered things, this deserves to be extolled with all praises: that the comely appearance of various cities is seen to be adorned with suitable administrations, so that both the assembly of nobles is gathered by a frequented concourse, and the knots of cases are loosed by the disputation of law. Whence we too recognize that we have no lesser glory, who renew the deeds of the ancients by yearly solemnities. For what would an invention profit, if it had not been continually preserved? Dignities go forth from us, gleaming like rays from the sun, that in our part of the world preserved justice may shine again.
For this reason we sow the advantages of so many emoluments, that we may gather the security of the provincials. Our harvest is the repose of all, which we cannot otherwise reckon, except that our subjects seem not to have lost anything unreasonably. And therefore we gladly bring you to the countship of Naples through the said indiction, that as a fair balance you may examine civil affairs, and guard your reputation with such maturity as you recognize that you may easily displease that people even in a slight fault. It is a city adorned with a multitude of citizens, abounding in the delights of sea and land, so that you may judge yourself to have found there a most sweet life, if you mingle yourself with no bitternesses. Your offices fill the praetorium; a throng of soldiers keeps guard.
You sit upon a festive tribunal: but you endure as many witnesses as you recognize the throngs that surround you to be. Besides, by command you guard the shores up to the appointed place. Foreign trade is obedient to your will. You grant to buyers from your own price, and what the eager merchant acquires profits your favor. But amid these illustrious heights it befits one to be the best of judges, since he cannot hide himself who is known to dwell among frequented peoples. Your deed will be the talk of the city, while there is carried through the mouths of the people whatever it happens has been done by a judge. The frequency of men has its own vengeance, if it speaks adversely, and what is voiced by many corroborations is believed to be a judgment passed upon the judge.
On the contrary, what is better than to regard with favor that people over whom you are known to preside? What a thing it is to enjoy the favor of the many and to receive those voices which it delights even clement lords to hear! We give you the material for advancement: it is yours so to act that it may delight the prince to increase his benefits. You indeed pay us tributes with yearly devotion: but we, with a greater exchange, render back to you adorning dignities, so that those who obey our commands may defend you from the wickedness of invaders. Your repose will be our joy: a sweet gain, if you should know no harm. Live with composed morals, that you may live by laws kept as holidays. What need is there for anyone to do that whereby he may incur penalties?
Let the judge seek causes among you and not find them. Let reason compose your movements, you who recognize that you are rational beings. To the wicked we appoint a judge, to those of good morals a witness, so that no one may feel himself compelled, except him whom the order of lawful conduct accuses. And therefore we declare that we have given to that man the countship of the city of Naples through the said indiction, so that, praised for your governance, he may deserve another dignity from our judgment. To him it befits you prudently to obey, because either thing is praiseworthy: that a good people make a benign judge, and that a gentle judge compose a most weighty people by even-handed reason. It befits all administrative bodies to have their own judges: for he from whom the president is taken away is also denied his service.
But we, to whom it is dear to hold all the orders in their own places, make known that, with the Lord's help, we have bestowed the countship of Naples, so that, with the judges renewed by yearly succession, the solemnity of administration may not perish for you. Wherefore render fitting obedience to the designated man, so that, just as we do not suffer you to lose the advantages of your emoluments, so you too ought to keep the ancient rule of obedience.