orrupt
profit of the tax-collector. For the officials who in this way
professed to relieve the burdens of the people, really imposed upon
them a heavier and more hateful weight in the shape of douceurs[745]
to themselves.

[Footnote 742: 'Dicationis tuae.' A peculiar and untranslatable form
of respect.]

[Footnote 743: September 1, 533.]

[Footnote 744: 'Trina illatio' (See Var. ii. 24). So called because it
was collected three times in the year. See Dahn, Koenige der Germanen
iii. 140; and Sartorius, Regierung der Ostg. 200. The latter seems
however to confuse it with the 'tertiae,' from which Dahn very
properly distinguishes it.]

[Footnote 745: 'Nundinationes.']

'Let then this hateful swindling be henceforth banished. Let the
cultivator pay nothing more than his lawful debt to the Treasury, and
let him pay it at the appointed time, thus removing the confusion in
which the slowness of collection has involved our accounts.

'Make up, therefore, the abstracts of accounts[746] at the stated
times, and forward them to the proper bureaux[747], according to old
law and the authority of this present edict; and if you neglect any of
these injunctions, know that you do so at your peril. To quicken your
diligence we have appointed A and B, persons of tried merit in the
past, to supervise the proceedings of yourself and your staff, that
this double check may prevent the possibility of negligence.

[Footnote 746: 'Breves.']

[Footnote 747: 'Scrinia.']

'Act then with justice if you wish to receive further promotion. Only
those gains are to be sought for which the cultivator gladly offers
and which the public servant can securely accept. If you take bribes
you will be miserable ever after, through fear of discovery; but if
you act uprightly, you will have in me a willing spectator and
rewarder of your merits. I am most anxious to be your friend; do not
force me against my will to become your enemy.'

8. EDICT PUBLISHED THROUGH THE PROVINCES BY SENATOR, PRAETORIAN
PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Edict announcing Cassiodorus' principles of
administration.]

'The custom of the ancients was for a new ruler to promulgate a new
set of laws to his subjects, but now it is sufficient praise to a
conscientious ruler that he adheres to the legislation of Antiquity.

'Do you all study to perform good actions, and shrink from deeds of
lawlessness and sedition, and you will have nothing to fear from your
Governors. I know that some