Letter 5022: Although care must always be taken in choosing a man to present for your approval -- since the judge whose own...

XXII. King Theoderic to the Senate of the City of Rome. [1] Although the man who is sent to you for approval must always be chosen with care, since he himself is the more subjected to scrutiny whose pronounced opinion is known to be weighed, nevertheless we desire that those dignities be associated with prudent men which are fixed to the Roman citadels like noble gems. For where could an eloquent man more worthily advance than in the city of letters, so that he might display his merit there where he nourished his talent? Every good thing is suited to its own place, and all praiseworthy things grow base unless they obtain a fitting seat. Battle requires strong hands, a ship desires a spirited heart: so your record-offices require a faithful purpose, so the eloquent senate-house requires a skilled man. With much deliberation, therefore, must he be weighed who is daily set before your perceptions. [2] Our judgment accordingly looked upon Capuanus, a man of distinguished rank [spectabilis], who eloquently declares the opinion of your senate-house with the authority of the elders and preserves the records of the senate with purity of conscience, so that by his integrity he renders those acts, most famous throughout the world, worthy of praise. It is a great office, conscript fathers, to be chosen for the keeping of integrity, and no ordinary conscience is approved to which the truth of the ages is entrusted. For if a witness is praised who has spoken the truth in a present matter, with what praise can he be esteemed who transmits things made certain for all times? But although, being your own pupils, you have all these things most fully known, it pleases us the more to repeat those things which the agreement of all can acknowledge. [3] There is always present to the chosen man a certain grace of speech: it charms the ears, draws the mind, employs that clarity of eloquence which it is fitting should flow from a pure conscience. For the speech of the man acting is a kind of mirror of his character, nor can there be any greater testimony of the mind than the quality of his words when inspected. For, to describe what is peculiar to him, in simple matters he suffers the restraints of the tongue: yet by these very things he is the more striking when he speaks at length; and this has been granted to him for grace by provident nature, that the man whom you had seen hesitating before the doors you should be astounded to find eloquent in contests. [4] But that memory, which is rightly called the treasury of orators, has settled in him with such firmness that you would think what was once heard is stored away with him in writing. It is a great benefit to know no failure of forgetfulness: and it is a certain likeness of things truly celestial always to hold present the things that have run their course in time. These things we now declare for this reason: that you may recognize that we hold dear the virtues of our subjects, and that we may show that our judgment was conceived not through a chance wish but through zeal for choosing. [5] To this man, therefore, conscript fathers, to Capuanus, endowed with these good qualities, we command from the present indiction to be rector of the decuriae, and we even raise him by the authority of the elders, so that he who has conducted himself with the gray maturity of character—which is the most ample kind of reverence—may rejoice in your order in the honor of age. He will increase his eloquence, enriched by a better office, since he is far more eloquent who dictates the opinion than he who supplicates. Liberty nourishes words, but fear frequently cuts off their abundance. The very office too is far different, so that he who lately stood attendant even upon middling and humble fortunes may now introduce consulars into your senate-house.

XXII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX. [1] Licet caute semper eligendus sit qui vobis mittitur approbandus, quia ipse magis traditur examini, cuius sententia noscitur prolata pensari, illas tamen prudentibus viris sociari cupimus dignitates, quae Romanis arcibus quasi gemmae nobiles affiguntur. ubi enim dignius eloquens quam in civitate proficiat litterarum, ut ibi declaret meritum, ubi nutrivit ingenium? aptum est omne bonum locis suis et laudabilia quaeque sordescunt, nisi congrua sede potiantur. requirit pugna validas manus, desiderat navigium pectus animosum: sic scrinia vestra fidele propositum, sic curia facunda disertum. multa ergo deliberatione pensandus esse creditur, qui cottidie vestris sensibus offeratur. [2] Capuanum igitur spectabilem virum aestimatio nostra respexit, qui curiae vestrae sententiam maioris natu auctoritate facundus ediceret et senatus scrinia conscientiae puritate servaret, ut actus illos mundo celeberrimos sua reddat integritate laudandos. magnum munus est, patres conscripti, ad integritatem deligi, nec mediocriter probatur conscientia, cui est veritas commissa saeculorum. nam si praedicatur testis qui in praesenti negotio vera dixerit, qua laude censeri poterit, qui cunctis temporibus certa transmittit? sed quamvis alumni vestri habeatis cuncta notissima, iuvat magis illa repetere quae omnium consensus possit agnoscere. [3] Adest semper electo quaedam sermonum gratia, blanditur auribus, mentem trahit, utitur perspicuitate facundiae, qualem de pura, conscientia decet emanare. est enim quoddam speculum morum agentis oratio nec maius potest mentis esse testimonium quam qualitas inspecta verborum. nam ut eius propria describamus, patitur in simplicibus rebus linguae retinacula: his eo tamen terrentior cum perorat: et hoc illi ad gratiam datum est providente natura, ut quem prae foribus haesitantem videras, eloquentem in certaminibus obstupescas. [4] Illa vero memoria, quae oratorum thesaurus iure vocitatur, tanta in eum firmitate consedit, ut semel audita scripto apud eum putes esse recondita. magnum beneficium oblivionis nescire defectum: et quaedam similitudo vere caelestium est tempore decursa semper habere praesentia. quae nunc ideo declaramus, ut cognoscatis subiectorum gratas nos habere virtutes et iudicium nostrum non per casuale votum, sed per electionis studium doceamus esse conceptum. [5] His ergo, patres conscripti, Capuanum bonis dotatum a praesenti indictione decuriarum rectorem esse praecipimus, maioris etiam natu auctoritate subvehimus, ut, qui se morum cana maturitate tractavit, quod est amplissimum reverentiae genus, in vestro ordine aetatis honore gratuletur. augebit eloquentiam officio meliore ditatus, quoniam multum facundior est qui sententiam dictat quam ille qui supplicat. libertas verba nutrit, metus autem copiam frequenter intercipit. actus quoque ipse longe dissimilis, ut qui pridem assistebat etiam mediocribus humilibusque fortunis, nunc introducat vestrae curiae consulares.