e
of the death of Athalaric. Notwithstanding the obscurity of many of
the allusions in it, this document is one of our best authorities for
the history of Amalasuentha's regency, and is therefore translated
almost verbatim.]

[Sidenote: Cassiodorus on his promotion to the Praefecture.]

'If I can only be sure that my advancement is acceptable to you,
Conscript Fathers, I shall not doubt of its being approved by God and
popular with all good men.

'It is in the nature of things to love a colleague, and you are in
fact exalting your own honour when you approve of a dignity given to a
_Senator_[713].

[Footnote 713: Partly a pun on his name, partly an allusion to his
rank.]

'After our Sovereigns there is none to whom I so much desire to
commend myself as you. To me honour will ever be the sole test of
advantage. Justice, like a handmaid, will wait upon my actions; and
the power, which I have not myself bought from our virtuous Sovereign,
I in my turn shall sell to no man. You have heard, noble Sirs, the
panegyrics[714] passed upon me at my entrance into office. These
praises I will not dare to call false, but I will say that they lay
upon me a heavy responsibility to show that they are not unmerited.

[Footnote 714: The letter written by Cassiodorus himself, in the name
of Athalaric, to announce his elevation to the Praefecture (Var. ix.
25).]

'Happy fortune of our time in which, while the Sovereign himself takes
holiday, the love of his mother rules and covers us all with the robe
of her universal charity! Happy for the young Ruler, who in this
difficult position learns first to triumph over his impetuous
impulses, and attains in the springtime of his life that self-control
which hoary age with difficulty acquires!

[Sidenote: Praises of Amalasuentha.]

'As for the Mother whom he so dutifully obeys, her most fittingly do
all kingdoms venerate, whom to behold is to adore, to listen to is to
witness a miracle. Of what language is she not a perfect mistress? She
is skilled in the niceties of Attic eloquence; she shines in the
majesty of Roman speech; she glories in the wealth of the language of
her fathers. She is equally marvellous in all these, and in each the
orator in his own especial tongue feels himself surpassed by her. A
great safeguard and a great excellence is this in the ruler of so many
nationalities. None needs an interpreter with his accomplished
mistress. No ambassador need wait, or hear his wor