rior
article to that which our cellars will have supplied[836].'

[Footnote 836: Baronius (Ad Ann. 591) quotes this letter of
Cassiodorus to explain an allusion in the life of Pope Gregory the
Great, who refused to receive a present of 'Palmatiana' from the
Bishop of Messina, and insisted on paying for it.]

13. AN EDICT.

[Sidenote: Frauds committed by the revenue officers on the Churches of
Bruttii and Lucania.]

'The generous gifts of Kings ought to be respected by their subjects.

'Long ago the constitutions of the Emperors enriched the holy
Churches of Bruttii and Lucania with certain gifts. But since the
sacrilegious mind is not afraid of sinning against the Divine
reverence, the Canonicarii (officers of the Exchequer) have robbed
these ecclesiastical positions of a certain portion of their revenue
in the name of the Numerarii of the Praetorian Praefect's staff; but
these latter, with righteous indignation, declare that they have
received no part of the spoils thus impiously collected in their name.

'Thus have the Canonicarii turned the property of the clergy into a
_douceur_ for the laity[837]. Oh, audacity of man! what barriers can
be erected against thee? Thou mightest have hoped to escape human
observation, but why commit crimes which the Divinity cannot but
notice?

[Footnote 837: 'Facientes laicum commodum substantiam clericorum.']

'Therefore we ordain by this edict that anyone who shall hereafter
commit this kind of fraud shall lose his own private gains, and shall
forfeit his place in the public service[838].

[Footnote 838: 'Edictali programmate definimus, ut qui in hac fuerit
ulterius fraude versatus et militia careat et compendium propriae
facultatis amittat.' The last clause is perhaps purposely vague. We
should have expected to hear something about restitution, but the
words will not bear that meaning.]

'Let the poor keep the gifts which God has put it into the heart of
Kings to bestow upon them. It is cruel above all other cruelty to wish
to become rich by means of the scanty possessions of the mendicant.'

14. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ANASTASIUS, CANCELLARIUS OF
LUCANIA AND BRUTTII.

[Sidenote: Plea for gentle treatment for citizens of Rhegium.]

'The citizens of Rhegium (so called from the Greek word [Greek:
rhegnumi], to break, because their island has been broken off from
Sicily by the violence of the waves) complain that they are being
unfairly harassed by the tax