may weld nations together under his equal rule. In short, there is no
condition in life the credit whereof is not augmented by the glorious
knowledge of literature.

'Your new Sovereign is moreover learned in ecclesiastical lore, by
which we are ever reminded of the things which make for our own true
honour, right judgment, wise discretion, reverence for God, thought
of the future judgment. For the remembrance that we shall one day
stand at the bar to answer for ourselves compels us to follow the
footprints of Justice. Thus does religious reading not only sharpen
the intellect but ever tend to make men scrupulous in the performance
of their duties.

'Let me pass on to that most generous frugality of his private
household[634] which procured the means of such abundance in his
gifts, of such plenty at his banquets, that even the kingdom will not
call for any new expenditure in this respect greater than the old.
Generous in his hospitality, most pitiful in his compassions, while he
was thus spending much, his fortune, by a heavenly reward, was ever on
the increase.

[Footnote 634: 'Veniamus ad illam privatae Ecclesiae (?) largissimam
frugalitatem.' 'Ecclesiae,' if it means here 'the Church,' seems to
spoil the sense. Can Cassiodorus mean to compare the household of
Theodahad to a 'private Ecclesia?']

'The wish of the people should coincide with our choice of such a man,
who, reasonably spending his own goods, does not desire the goods of
others[635]. For moderation in his own expenditure takes away from the
Sovereign the temptation to transgress the precepts of justice and to
abandon the golden mean.

[Footnote 635: 'Talem universitas debuit optare, qualem nos probamur
elegisse, qui rationabiliter disponens propria, non appetat aliena.'
And this of Theodahad!]

'Rejoice then, Conscript Fathers, and give thanks to the Most High,
that I have chosen such a ruler, who will supplement my justice by the
good deeds which spring from his own piety. For this man is both
admonished by the virtue of his ancestors and powerfully stimulated by
the example of his uncle Theodoric.'

4. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We announce to you, Conscript Fathers, the Divine favour which has
been manifested unto us, in that our sovereign Lady[636], who is
renowned throughout the whole world, has with generous affection made
me partaker of her throne, so that she may not lack loyal