Letter 11006: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect, to John, Chancellor.

VI. Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to John the Cancellarius [chief of the prefect's office staff]. [1] Although every branch of the service is carried out through fixed grades, and those who comply with the commands of the judges keep their appointed times, your office is recognized as not being bound by the customary order, since it has deserved to be set before its own chief men. For those who are known to go before you render obedience to you, and by a reversal of the ordinary terms of justice you are looked upon as worthy of reverence by those whom you are shown able to follow after. This unequal equity, this special decree, this singular benefit you exercise under the eye of the judge, nor can it reasonably be blamed that it seems to be assumed against the order. [2] No one prescribes to you according to the character of the time. The overstepping of the register [matricula, the seniority roll] is your prerogative, and you alone confidently neglect what you compel others to observe. But such things are granted to you on account of your excellent merits, since he whom we are agreed to have chosen ought to be believed to surpass all in diligence and good faith. For no one approves a follower except him whom praiseworthy virtue joins to himself, since it is blameworthy to raise up an inferior unless he is seen to excel others by his merits. [3] This praiseworthy precedence, therefore, this gracious judgment, this domestic service, the dignity of the chancellery confers upon you from the twelfth indiction, that you may guard the secrets of our consistory with faithful integrity, that whoever is to be presented may approach through you, that through you the desire of a suppliant may be made known to our ears, that you may dispatch our orders without any zeal for venality, and that you may conduct all things in such a way that you may be able to commend our justice. For your acts are the reputation of your judge, and just as the inner part of a house can fittingly be understood from its doors, so the mind of the presiding officer is judged to be known from you: not unjustly, because each man is seen to choose for his own responses such a person as he has determined that all should esteem him to be. [4] The very garments which are applied to our bodies, can they not disfigure us, if they grow foul with some defilement? But with how great grace do they seem to adorn us, when they have shone with praiseworthy cleanliness! So a soldier of the service brought close to the secrets of the judge either adorns or stains the reputation of his presiding officer. For in us indeed do they sin who burden others, and while the spoil of one who entreats is sought after, the good name of the one presiding is stripped away. [5] Consider whether we ought to neglect that whereby we recognize ourselves able to be blamed. Beyond all madmen is he who does not desire to avenge one whom he has caught raging to his own disgrace. Look to the name by which you are called. What you do among the lattices [cancelli] cannot be hidden. For you hold gleaming doors, open enclosures, windowed entrances, and however diligently you shut them, it is necessary that you open yourself to all. For if you stand outside, you are not corrected by my gaze; if you enter within, you cannot escape the sight of those who watch. [6] See where antiquity has wished you to be placed: you are looked upon from every side, you who dwell in that brightness. Therefore turn your ears and mind to our admonitions: fix in your mind all that we command: let not our words pass straight through you as through an empty pipe, which is seen full only so long as waves are known able to flow into it. Be rather a receptacle, that you may guard what you have heard, that you may not pour out what you have received: because it will profit nothing, if things destined to pass away please your ears and do not fix themselves wholly in the recesses of your heart.

VI. IOHANNI CANCELLARIO SENATOR PPO. [1] Quamvis statutis gradibus omnis militia peragatur et tempora sibi custodiant, qui iudicum iussionibus obsecundant, tuus honor cognoscitur sollemni ordine non teneri, qui suis primatibus meruit anteponi. tibi enim reddunt obsequia, qui te praeire noscuntur et reflexa condicione iustitiae illis reverendus aspiceris, quos subsequi posse monstraris. hanc inaequabilem aequitatem, speciale decretum, singulare beneficium sub aspectu iudicis agis nec potest rationabiliter culpari, quod inpugnante ordine videatur assumi. [2] Nullus tibi de temporis qualitate praescribit. transgressio matriculae actio tua est et solus confidenter neglegis quod alios servare compellis. sed talia tibi pro excellentibus meritis conceduntur. dum credi debet omnes industria fideque superare, quem nos constat elegisse. nemo enim sequentem probat, nisi quem sibi laudanda virtus associat, quando vituperabile est inferiorem erigere nisi meritis alios videatur excellere. [3] Hoc igitur laudabile praeiudicium, sententiam gratiosam, militiam domesticam a duodecima indictione cancellorum tibi decus attribuit, ut consistorii nostri secreta fideli integritate custodias, per te praesentandus accedat, per te nostris auribus desiderium supplicis innotescat, iussa nostra sine studio venalitatis expedias omniaque sic geras, ut nostram possis commendare iustitiam. actus enim tui iudicis opinio est et sicut penetrale domus de foribus potest congruenter intellegi, sic mens praesulis de te probatur agnosci: non iniuria, quia talem unusquisque ad responsa sua videtur eligere, qualem se cunctos decreverit aestimare. [4] Vestes ipsae, quae nostris corporibus applicantur, nonne nos deformare possunt, si aliquo inquinamento sordescant? quanta vero gratia nos decorare videntur, cum laudabili puritate nituerint! sic miles ad secreta iudicis proximatus praesulis sui famam aut ornat aut maculat. in nobis siquidem peccant, qui alios gravant et dum spolium obsecrantis ambitur, fama praesidentis exuitur. [5] Considera, si neglegere debemus unde nos culpari posse cognoscimus. ultra omnes dementes est, qui ulcisci non appetit quem grassatum in suo dedecore comprehendit. respice, quo nomine nuncuperis. latere non potest quod inter cancellos egeris. tenes quippe lucidas fores, claustra patentia, fenestratas ianuas et quamvis studiose claudas, necesse est ut te cunctis aperias. nam si foris steteris, meis non emendaris obtutibus: si intus ingrediaris, observantium non potes declinare conspectus. [6] Vide quo te antiquitas voluerit collocari: undique conspiceris, qui in illa claritate versaris. proinde ad nostra monita aures animumque converte: fige menti omnia quae iubemus: non te tamquam vacuam fistulam dicta perexeant, quae tamdiu plena conspicitur, quamdiu in eam undae influere posse noscuntur. esto potius conceptaculum, quod audita custodias, quod suscepta non fundas: quia nihil proderit, si auribus tuis transitura placeant et in cordis sinibus se omnia non defigant.