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Who in such a cause would suffer himself to be venal, when the gravest loss can be inflicted upon a singular beauty? Wherefore by that indiction we grant you the dignity of the count of Rome, with its privileges and just emoluments, that with faithful zeal and great effort you may seek out wicked hands, and cause those who lie in wait either for the fortunes of private persons or for the walls to come to your judgment; and, the truth of the matter being examined, let them undergo a fitting penalty from the laws—since the public indignation justly pursues such men, who defile the beauty of the ancients by the mutilation of its members, and inflict upon public monuments what they themselves ought to suffer. Compel your office and the accustomed soldiers rather to keep watch by night: but by day the city guards itself.
For he who is watchful through zeal needs no other man's help. Thieves indeed persuade themselves; but then is the presumptuous one easily caught, when the guard is least felt to come upon him. The statues are not wholly mute, since, when struck by thieves, they are seen to warn the guards by their ringing. Accordingly, may we perceive your diligence with praiseworthy devotion, so that to you, on whom we now lay laborious burdens, we may afterwards confer untroubled honors. If dignity is to be valued from labor, if praiseworthy concern for public matters begets grace for one who serves liberally, your office must be held with the highest gratification, since it is proved to take away delay from your necessities by our ordinances. For who would not know how great an abundance of ships you readily procure when admonished?
From the dignitaries of our palace it is scarcely written down in the warrants of transport, and already it is completed by you with the utmost speed. For amid the anxious haste of those dispatched, scarcely does another have time to take note of what you swiftly chance to fulfill. The accustomed labors of the traders you shall neither exact excessively nor abandon to venality. Let there be a measure that cannot burden the toiling, so that, when you have managed troublesome matters without complaints, you may merit greater things from our examination. Accordingly, our Serenity grants you the countship of Ravenna for that indiction, that you may undergo both the privileges and the labors of your dignity. Govern your office with consideration of equity. For he who is engaged in public actions always finds occasions both of harming and of bestowing benefit.
But as much as your administration is conducted among persons of middling means, with so great an equality ought it to be weighed in the balance, since it is rather expedient for him to keep due measure who is known to govern a depleted substance. The wealthy scarcely feel losses, but the slender are wounded by a slight expense, since by even a moderate injury he seems to lose everything who is known to possess but little. The glory of Roman architecture befits to have a skilled guardian, that that wondrous forest of walls may be preserved with diligence coming to its aid, and the modern face of the work may be constructed with cunning arrangements. For our bounty yields not in this zeal: that we may both renew the works of the ancients, their defects being shut out, and clothe the new with the glory of antiquity.
Accordingly, let your Illustrious Magnitude know that so-and-so has been given, from that indiction, as architect to the Roman citadels. And because by just emoluments the studies of the arts must be nourished, we wish to pertain to him whatever his predecessors are established to have reasonably obtained. He will assuredly see better things than he has read, more beautiful than he could conceive: those statues, namely retaining still the likenesses of their authors, so that, as long as the repute of praiseworthy persons should survive, so long too should the image of the body preserve the likeness of living substance. He will behold veins expressed in bronze, muscles swelling with a certain effort, sinews as if strained in a stride, and man so poured into diverse likenesses that you would believe him rather to have been begotten.
These the Tuscans are reported to have first invented in Italy, which posterity, embracing them, gave to the city a people almost equal to that which nature procreated. One will marvel that even ardor is present in the forms of horses. For with their nostrils crisped and rounded, their limbs taut, their ears laid back, one will perhaps believe them eager for the course, when one knows that the metals do not move. What shall we say of the reed-like loftiness of the columns?
Those most lofty masses of buildings held up as if by certain upraised spears, and hollowed out with concave channels under such great evenness that you would rather reckon them to have been poured forth; you would judge to have been made in wax what you see polished from the hardest metals; you would call the joinings of the marbles natural veins, where, while the eyes are deceived, praise is proven to have grown by marvels. The narrators of the former age relate that to the lands were assigned only seven marvels of buildings: the temple of Diana at Ephesus; the most beautiful monument of king Mausolus, from which mausolea are named; the bronze statue of the Sun at Rhodes, which is called the Colossus; the image of Olympian Jove, which Phidias, first of craftsmen, formed with the highest elegance of ivory and gold;
the house of Cyrus, king of the Medes, which Memnon built with prodigal art, with stones set in gold; the walls of Babylon, which queen Semiramis constructed with baked brick, sulphur, and iron; the pyramids in Egypt, whose shadow, consuming itself within their own stance, is in no part seen beyond the bounds of the construction. But who will deem those things any longer pre-eminent, when in one city he shall have beheld so many things to astound? They had honor because they came first in time, and in a rude age whatever new thing had emerged was rightly carried as supreme through the mouths of men. But now it can be truthful, if all Rome be called a marvel.
Wherefore it befits a most skilled man to undertake such things, lest among those over-ingenious works of the ancients he himself should seem to be a mere metal-worker, and be unable to understand what the craftsman antiquity wrought in them, that they might be perceived. And therefore let him give attention to books, let him have leisure for the instructions of the ancients, lest he should know anything less from them, in whose place he is known to have been substituted. It is established that for the most part matters can be well conducted where there has been no lack of a person to admonish. For all things without a leader are confused, and while each one thinks to live according to his own will, he is known to omit the rule of discipline. And so, following the manner of ancient custom, our authority yields to you, as judge over the islands of Curitana and Celsina, by that indiction.
For it is just that those who are separated from the company of the rest of men should have one go to their dwellings who may compose them by reasonable judgment, lest there be a certain necessity of injustice in being ignorant of common acts that are situated far off. You have therefore, you aforesaid, one who ought both to hear and to settle the cases arising among you. And if anything has also been decreed by our Piety, carry it out at his admonition, since occasion for errors is removed when it is declared to you whom you ought to heed. Him we believe so to study good deeds that he may be able to receive increases of our grace. For it is necessary that he take remuneration from us, if he disposes for you the things that will be profitable.
It is a glorious work for one serving, whereby the Roman city is proved to be adorned, since each one advances with us as much as he shall have contributed to the aforesaid City by his own labor. There is no doubt that burnt lime, which is of the same color as snow and lighter than sponges, is the greatest instrument of buildings. As much as it is dissolved by the burning of fire, so much thereafter is the firmness of the walls strengthened: a soluble stone, a stony softness, a sandy rock, which is then the more kindled when it is drenched with most copious waters; without which neither are the stones fixed nor the grains of sand made solid. And therefore it deserves to receive the greater zeal, which is known to hold the first place in the Roman walls.
Wherefore our authority sets your industry, celebrated by the talk of many, over the burning and distribution of lime from that indiction, that, abundantly provided, it may suffice for public buildings as well as private, and the minds of all may be roused to building, when they shall have seen that what is sought is ready at hand. The privileges of your office, moreover, you shall reasonably claim by our commands, that you may be able to merit greater things, if you shall have fulfilled well what is delegated to you. Consider what you undertake, and you understand that you ought not to give place to sins. For to construct arms well is to wish to safeguard the welfare of all, since at first sight the enemy himself is terrified and begins to yield in spirit, if he knows that he does not possess the like.
And therefore, from that indiction, we have set you over the soldiers and the smiths of arms, invited by the repute of your character, that you may exact from the craftsmen such a work as you know can please us. Let not security make you presume upon our absence. Whatever you do, we see. Act—we who, by very experience, can at first sight detect the errors of craftsmen by the most subtle investigation, and judge what is praiseworthily wrought. See therefore with what diligence, with what zeal, that must be done which is established to come to our examination. Act then so that no venality, no fault may sink you, since that cannot be venial which is transgressed in such a cause, lest you be punished for the very part in which you have sinned.
A work which generates both death and safety: the destruction of the guilty, the safeguard of the good, an aid ever necessary against the wicked. Phoroneus is said to have first offered this to Juno, that he might consecrate his invention under the auspices, as they thought, of a deity. These things are necessary in war, comely in peace; these, in fine, make weak and frail mortals stronger than all wild beasts. By the report of many we have learned that that man, established in upright character, can faithfully discharge the things committed to him.
For that reason let your Illustrious Magnitude know that we have chosen him, that he may both preside over the soldiers according to the ancient manner and be able to give orders to the craftsmen of arms, so that they may so elegantly fulfill their customary tasks that no offense can be found in them. For although fault injures everywhere, here nevertheless it strikes gravely, if he should neglect the instruments of wars. For it is, as it were, the likeness of treason to withdraw from the army that which is established to arm it. To them your Providence will assign their customs, so that, while the excuse of provisions is taken from them, the necessary things may be exacted more vigorously.
We believe it pertains to the genius of your dignity, if we should seem to enjoin upon you fitting things, since each one is rendered the more agreeable, the more he is shown to have undertaken occasions for obeying. And therefore the levies of the binio and ternio, which ancient authority decreed to be exacted from the provincials, you shall, by that indiction, your office procuring it, hasten to transmit to the bureaux of the Count of the Sacred Largesses, so that the whole sum may be solemnly completed before the day of the Kalends of March—lest you be compelled to render from your own what you have neglected to procure. For it would touch upon your injury, if another were seen to exact those levies which the most sacred laws have ordained to pertain to you.
Although ancient custom has ordained the exaction of the binio and ternio to pertain to you, nevertheless, lest a manifold occupation should overburden you and a doubled solicitude should hinder you, we have judged that such-and-such bureaucrats of our office should be assigned, that they may attend upon you and your office, so that, with their assistance, the solemn sum may be conveyed to that Illustrious man, the Count of the Sacred Largesses, before the day of the Kalends of March, lest you be made guilty before public opinion, if you should think that the sacred largesses might be delayed by any postponement. So that you should not suppose yourself to be exempted, whom we have believed to be aided. For if anything less than was fitting should be paid in, know that this is to be extracted from your own resources.
We do not doubt that it is most welcome when a man is reminded to fulfil the office he has undertaken; for it would be the heavier burden if a soldier were to live in idleness, since his employment is his livelihood and his very honour is a charge laid upon him. For a man who is left to ignoble sloth is reckoned no better than one ungirt for service. Wherefore by the indiction in question We command you to proceed to that province, so that, together with the judge or his staff, before the day of the Kalends of March you may forward to the treasury offices of the Count of the Sacred Largesses, all delay set aside, the sum that is by custom solemnly demanded at the rate of two and three; yet in such a way that neither does Our treasury receive anything less than is customary, nor does the landholder pay out beyond the measure of his declared assessment.
And do not doubt that you will bear the peril of Our admonition, if We should come to learn that anything has been done contrary to the ancient order. We bestow Our benefits especially upon your Grace, if We may approve that you have administered your charge with good reason. For you do not lie unrewarded, if you both prudently receive foreign peoples and arrange the dealings of Our own folk with even-handed fairness. For although prudence is everywhere necessary, in this office it seems the more fitting, since between two peoples contests are forever arising, unless justice be kept watch over. Wherefore those whose tempers most resemble the winds must be soothed by skill; for unless their spirits be first calmed, by their native impetuousness they rush headlong into utter contempt.
On this account, drawn by the reputation of your moderation, We decree that you hold the charge of that harbour through the said indiction, so that you may administer all things pertaining to your title in such manner that you may advance to better things. For it is in small matters that he is tested to whom greater things are to be entrusted. With high prerogative among his colleagues is he adorned, whoever discharges service in the name of the chief magistracy. For he is recognised to occupy the foremost place: since in human affairs a great part of the names asserts the excellence of dignities. This too is proved by the example of your own post, without which neither is admission to the council-chamber granted nor the ceremony of petition carried through; and the whole genius of the judge is by the laws so reckoned committed to you, that without you it cannot be made complete.
To the Count of the provinces indeed power has been given, but to you the judge himself has been committed. You hold the rod that threatens the wicked; you keep discipline within the laws; to you it is lawful to restrain the insolence of the pleader, which the presiding officer is not permitted to chastise; nay, the records of the whole proceeding are completed by your subscription, and your consent is sought after the will of the judge has been declared. Act, therefore, so that, being set over such matters, you may with merit be perceived to have fulfilled them. And so by the indiction in question We command you to hasten to that province, so that, joined with the judge's staff, you may perform what is fitting to your post, and that you who go forth from Us as a chief may not be accused of any meannesses.
For you make yourself most worthy of reverence to all, if what is believed of your name be also felt in your conduct. Solemn custom invites Us both to send you the adornment of office and to preserve the ancient ranks of those who keep the watches. For it is to Our praise if the Roman soldiery attends you, since with such ministers you can do what seems to accord with the ancient ordinances. For thus, with God's help, have We brought forth Our Goths, that they should be both equipped with arms and composed with fairness. This is what the remaining nations cannot possess; this is what makes you singular: if, accustomed to wars, you are seen to live by the laws together with the Romans.
Wherefore from Our staff We have judged that such-and-such men should be sent to you, so that, according to ancient custom, he who obeys your commands ought to be governed by reasonable antiquity. To him you shall, by Our command, extend your favour in the preserving of his provisions and his customary rights. For he ought to be cherished by you, who has deserved to be appointed by Us. The honour of this age is a manifest proof of the human mind, since freedom of spirit always displays its own will, while he disdains to conceal himself who has known that others are subject to him.
But happy is that condition of the human mind which confines the judgement of its own advancement within the bounds of moderation, and so passes through the very brief span of high office that it is rendered acceptable in all ages. Wherefore now and again, O judges, descend to gentle ways. It is laborious indeed, yet not impossible, to persuade mortals of that justice which the gift of the Divinity has so imparted to the perceptions of all, that even those who know not the laws nonetheless recognise the reasonableness of truth. For it must needs be that what is granted by nature should, at her further prompting, be heard again with sweetness. And therefore labour not to impose upon the peoples what they are agreed to feel even of their own free will.
For they easily follow the footsteps of another's word who can be impelled by an admonisher. Therefore by the indiction in question, in that city, We grant you, by the favour of the Divinity, the honour of a countship of the second rank, so that you may both govern the citizens committed to you with fairness and steadfastly fulfil the orders of the public ordinances, in order that We may bestow better things upon you when Our presence has perceived that you have acted commendably. It is useful always to choose one to whom the rest ought to render obedience, since, if the will of divers persons is left to wander, a confusion that is the friend of faults is begotten.
And so know that We have, by the indiction in question, bestowed the countship of your city upon such-and-such a man, to whom lend your most wholesome compliance, that he may bring a remedy to your causes and procure effect for the public commands; and you shall know that, if anyone conducts himself with commendable devotion, he will not vainly request the like from Our disposition. We are confident that it is pleasing to you when We appoint judges over your soldiery, since you then exercise your ranks whenever the presence of one who judges is not lacking to you. These are names relative to the understanding: if you take away the presiding officer, you leave no soldier; for the attendant service is abolished whenever he who could command is done away with.
To you, therefore, We yield the administration, while We direct dignities to you and make you serve as soldiers for so long as until We appoint judges; nor count this a slight benefit, that, whereas you constitute the attendant body, the choice of those who are to take cognisance falls to you. And therefore know that, by the indiction in question, such-and-such a count of your soldiery has been appointed. We think he will so conduct himself, both in public causes and in private, that the praise desired may attend him. Lending him your most just devotion, solemnly obey in those things which he shall command you, since We believe that Our reverence is honoured if We perceive that Our judges are well treated.
In no way is the fidelity doubted of him who is chosen for the guarding of a city, since it stands proved that what is appointed for the safety of many must be entrusted to a tried conscience. And therefore by Our authority We grant you the care of the gate of that city, so that it may neither lie open to the comings of the wicked nor delay the access of the good. For if the gate be always barred, it is like a prison; if again it be perpetually thrown open, the city will profit nothing by having the defences of its walls. Let both therefore be tempered, so that you may both satisfy the nightly watch and not presume to close it unfittingly. You will surely be the road of the citizens and the entrance of every kind of merchandise, a friend, that is, of the abundance which you desire to enter. Strive therefore to invite the comers with provisions.
It is no contemptible thing that has been entrusted to you. You are set over certain throats of the city, you who are shown to preside over the victuals that enter in. This you ought to accomplish without complaint, so that in small things We may recognise to whom We ought to entrust greater. It accords with fairness that each one, when his term of service is run out, should attain to the fruit of his soldiering and receive the reward of his labour in recompense of his merits. Whence, since the reason of ancient custom persuades that he ought to be designated by Us who deserves to be tribune over you, We therefore by this authority decree that he whom the post seems to require shall preside over you in the aforesaid honour, in order that, when the appointed time has come, he may obtain the desired honour.
These are divine judgements, not human, that he whom the powers above have willed to lead through to his due time should rightly be seen to have received also the rewards of his labour. Let him therefore obtain the fitting privileges of his watch-keeping, since We desire that no man be defrauded of the customary emolument whom We know to have come to the first rank without faults. Wherefore obey in all ways him who orders matters for the public good, since his predecessors hold a share of the judge's authority, when it is required of them whether anything has been done by you too insolently.
Since We decree that very many things be done in the city of Rome, and since it is necessary that part of the count's staff be there, that the public utilities may be seen to be fulfilled, We have, after Our manner, provided that, because We do not suffer the principal officer to be absent from Our service, you ought, under the name of vicar, solemnly to occupy his place in the city of Rome, in order that he may both enjoy the labours of his subordinate primates and you may learn in another's honour what you ought happily to display in your own. If, too, you judge that any of the count's officers should be sent to the court, you shall, consulting Our service, leave it to your own discretion.
But those whom you shall judge ought to be retained shall enjoy the security granted them, yet in such a way that you moderate all things by turns, so that neither does continuous toil wear out those keeping watch, nor again does the rust of idleness, which must be shunned, consume the slothful. Every public utility indeed ought to be accomplished by faithful action, since the whole is conducted viciously where purity of conscience is not held; yet above all the integrity of the coinage ought to be sought, where both Our countenance is imprinted and the general advantage is found. For what will be safe, if there be sinning against Our image, and the sacrilegious hand hastens to violate her whom the subject ought to venerate with his heart?
There is added the fact that all sale is dissolved if the metals which serve as our sustenance are debased, since what is seen to be offered corrupted in trading must needs be rejected. Who then would suffer that the wicked losses of all should be the gain of one, so that a detestable vice could come to a price? Let that be clean which is brought to the form of Our Serenity; royal splendour admits nothing tainted. For if anyone's countenance is depicted in genuine colour, much more justly is the imperial grace guarded by the purity of the metals. Let the flame of gold whiten by no injury of admixture; let the colour of silver smile with the grace of its whiteness; let the redness of bronze remain in its native quality.
For if to injure one man is reckoned worthy of condemnation by the laws, what shall he be able to deserve who has sinned against so great a multitude of men? We command moreover that the established weight be preserved for the denarii, which of old were sold by weight rather than by number; whence antiquity, fittingly deriving the words from their origin, beautifully called them 'compendium' (gain) and 'dispendium' (loss). For 'pecunia' (money), named from the hide of cattle ('pecus') by Gallic originators, was transferred to the metals without as yet any stamp. This We do not allow to be made contemptible by foul admixture, lest it be found to return again to its ancient cheapness.
Accordingly, you, whose integrity of administration has been praised to Us, We command, from the said indiction throughout a continuous five years, to have the care of the coinage, which King Servius is reported first to have stamped upon bronze: in such wise that you should not doubt that inquiry will be made at your own peril, if any fraud can be discovered therein. For just as you will undergo harsh penalties if perhaps you have transgressed, so We do not leave you unrewarded, if We perceive that you have acted blamelessly. Who would doubt that it is in the interest of public utility that those upon whom We are agreed to confer gifts should be seen to suffer no injury of the journey, since they neither cause you the detriments of delays and they themselves recognise that they have been well treated?
And therefore you shall furnish without any delay to the envoys of that nation the kindness appended below, namely toward the horses, up to the fixed number of head, so that they ought not to reach their own seats unrewarded, since to those who hasten, swiftness in returning is more welcome than any greatness of gifts. We do not doubt that things offered unasked are gratefully received which are wont, when requested, to be conferred in place of a gift, since the remembrance of the master always grants increase, nor can the tokens of a prince's gratification be empty. Wherefore by these present commands We summon you to Our court, that you may enjoy no moderate gladness.
And therefore, the delight of leisure set aside, hasten to come to that city on that day, so that We may judge Our presence to have been welcome to you, when We learn that you have made haste. For Our court desires the presence of good men, since, by some compact I know not how, whatever is recognised as pleasing to royal wisdom is also approved by divine judgement; for He who governs our hearts Himself also grants what we ought to perceive. It is a manifestation of a good conscience to have sought the presence of a just prince, which he alone can desire who trusts in the great purity of his mind. Bright eyes alone require the sight of the sun, since they only can endure the gleaming rays whom it is agreed to have the purest eyes.
Thus they aspire to the presence of the prince who presume upon the sincerity of their heart. Hence it is that with a glad mind We bestow upon you the confidence of coming to Our court, lest the honour of the summons, which is found to be for your glory, be turned to injury, while it is retarded by any delay. Nay rather, We invite the desires of those who come, since We grow the more if We add noble men to Our service. No one doubts that men are refreshed by a pleasant variety, since in the continuance of things there is, it is agreed, a great weariness to minds. The sweetness of honey, if taken without ceasing, grows loathsome; bright skies themselves, however greatly they are desired, when continually attained grow cheap.
Not undeservedly, since, so long as man is changeable, he desires to have the qualities of his own nature. And therefore, to you who hasten, that you may be refreshed by provincial delight, We grant the opportunity of tarrying for so many months in the aforesaid province, since he is seen to be almost a recluse to whom it does not seem free to change his soil; yet in such a way that, when, with the Lord's help, you have spent out the merited respite, you hasten to return to your city seats. For if it is a weariness to live continually in the busyness of the city, how much more to have passed long periods in the fields! Gladly therefore We grant the respite of departure, not that Rome should be deserted, but that she may be more commended to one absent. We desire those subject to Us, by the help of God, to glory in the varied prerogative of dignities.