Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus,  Variae  4.51 - King Theoderic to the Patrician Symmachus  (A.D. 507-12):


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1. Cum privatis fabricis ita studueris, ut in laribus propriis quaedam moenia fecisse videaris, dignum est, ut Romam, quam domuum pulchritudine decorasti, in suis miraculis continere noscaris, fundator egregius fabricarum earumque comptor eximius, quia utrumque de prudentia venit, et apte disponere et extantia competenter ornare. 2. Notum est enim, quanta laude in suburbanis suis Romam traxeris, ut, quem illas fabricas intrare contigerit, aspectum suum extra urbem esse non sentiat, nisi cum se et agrorum amoenitatibus interesse cognoscat: antiquorum diligentissimus imitator, modernorum nobilissimus institutor. Mores tuos fabricae loquuntur, qui nemo in illis diligens agnoscitur, nisi qui in susi sensibus ornatissimus invenitur. 3. Et ideo theatri fabricam magna se mole solventem consilio vestro credimus esse roborandam, ut quod ab auctoribus vestris in ornatum patriae constat essse concessum, non videatur sub melioribus posteris imminutum. Quid non solvas, senectus, quae tam robusta quassasti? Montes facilius credere putarentur, quam soliditas illa quateretur: quando et moles ipsa sic tota de cautibus fuit, ut praeter artem additam et ipsa quoque naturalis esse crederetur. 4. Haec potuissemus forte neglegere, si nos contigisset talia non videre: caveas illas saxis pendentibus apsidatas ita iuncturis absconditis in formas pucherrimas convenisse, ut cryptas magis excelsi montis crederes quam aliquid fabricatum esse iudicares. Fecerunt antiqui locum tantis populis parem, ut haberent singulare spectaculum, qui mundi videbantur obtinere dominatum. 5. Sed quia nobis sermo probatur esse cum docto, libet repetere, cur antiquitas rudis legatur haec moenia condidisse. Cum agri cultores feriatis diebus sacra diveris numinibus per lucos vicosque celebrarent, Athenienses primum agreste principium in urbanum spectaculum collegerunt, theatrum Graeco vocabulo visorium nominantes, quod eminus astantibus turba conveniens sine aliquo impedimento videatur. 6. Frons autem theatri scaena dicitur ab umbra luci densissimae disciplinae improborum consortia fugientes verecunda se exinde consideratione subtraherent.

7. Tragoedia ex vocis vastitate nominatur, quae concavis repercussionibus roborata talem sonum videtur efficere, ut paene ab homine non credatur exire. Erigitur autem in hircinos pedes, quia si quis inter pastores tali voce pacuisset, capri munere donabatur. Comoedia a pagis dicta est: comus enim pagus vocatur, ubi rustici gestientes humanos actus laetissimis carminibus iridebant. 8. His sunt additae orchestarum loquacissimae manus, linguosi digiti, silentium clamosum, exposito tactia, quam musa Polymnia repperisse narratur, ostendens homines posse et sine oris affatu suum velle declarare. Musae vero Eoa lingua quasi homousae dicuntur, quod invicem sicut, virtutes necessariae sibi esse videantur. His levium pinnarum acumina ideo in fronte pinguntur, quoniam earum sensus celeri cogitatione subvectus res altissimas intuetur. 9. Pantomimo igitur, cui a multifaria imitatione nomen est, cum primum in scaenam plausibus invitatus advenerit, assistunt consoni chori diveris organis eruditi. Tunc illa sensuum manus oculis canorum carmen exponit et per signa composita quasi quibusdam litteris edocet intuentis aspectum, in illaque leguntur apices rerum et non scribendo facit quod scriptura, declaravit. Idem corpus Herculem designat et Venerem, feminam praesentat in mare, regem facit et militem, senem reditt et iuvenem, ut in uno credas esse multos tam varia imitatione discretos. 10. Mimus etiam, qui nunc tantummodo derisui habetur, tanta Philistionis cautela repertus est, ut eius actus poneretur in litteris, quatenus mundum curis edacibus aestuantem laetissimis sententiis temperaret. 11. Quid acetabulorum tinnitus? Quid dulcissimi soni referam varia percussione modulamen? Quod tanta gratia iucunditatis accipitur, ut inter reliquos sensus auditum sibi ad munus summum tunc homines aestiment fuisee collatum. Ubi aetas subsequens miscens lubirca pirscorum inventa traxit ad vitia et quod honestae cuasa delectationis repertum est, ad voluptates corporeas praecipitatis mentibus impulerunt. 12. Hos ritus Romani sicut ceteras culturas ad suam rem publicam inutiliter trahentes aedificium alta cogitatione conceptum magnanimitate mirabili condiderunt. Unde non inmerito creditur Pompeius hinc potius Magnus fuisse vocitatus. Et ideo sive masculis pilis contineri sive talis fabrica refectionis studio potuerit innovari, expensas vobis de nostro cubiculo curavimus destinare, ut et vobis adquiratur tam boni operis fama et nostris tempribus videatur antiquitas decentius innovata.


1. Since you have taken such care for private buildings as to create public works of a sort in your own dwelling, it is right that you should be known as he who maintains in its wonders Rome, which you have embellished by the beauty of your houses. You are an outstanding founder, and a great adorner of buildings, since each springs from wisdom, good design, and the tasteful decoration of existing works. 2. For the praise you won by extending Rome into its suburbs is well known: should a man enter those buildings, he does not feel that he looks on them outside the city, save when he notices that he stands among the pleasures of the countryside as well. Of antiquity, you are the most careful imitator; of modern works, the noblest founder. Your buildings proclaim your character, for the devotee of such work must be rich in sensibility.

3. And therefore, I have decided that the fabric of the Theater [of Pompeius], yielding to the pressure of its vast weight, should be strengthened by your counsel. Thus, what your ancestors evidently bestowed for the glory of their country will not seem to decay under their nobler descendants. What can old age not disintegrate, when it has shaken so strong a work? You might think it would be easier for the mountains to fall than to shake that solidity. For that very mass is so entirely formed from vast blocks that, but for the added craftsmanship, it too might be thought the work of nature. 4. I might perhaps have neglected the building, if I had not happened to see it: those arched vaults, with their overhanging stonework and invisible jointing, are so beautifully shaped that you would suppose them the caverns of a lofty mountain, rather than anything made by hands. the ancients made the site equal to so great a population, intending those who held the lordship of the world to enjoy a unique building of entertainment.

5. But because my discourse is clearly with a man of learning, it will be a pleasure to recount why, as we read, uncultivated antiquity originated these monuments. When farmers, on the holidays, celebrated the rites of various deities in groves and villages, the Athenians were the first to raise this rustic beginning into an urban spectacle. To the place where they looked on, they gave the Greek name of theater, since the gathered throng, separated from the bystanders, could look on with no hindrance. 6. But the back-drop of the theater was called the scaena from the deep shade of the grove where, at the start of spring, the shepherds sang various songs. Musical performances flourished there, and the precepts of a wise age. But it gradually came about that the respectable arts, shunning the company of depraved men, withdrew from that venue out of modesty.

7. Tragedy owes its name to the impressive voice of the actor: fortified by echo-chambers, it produces such a sound that you would hardly think it issued from a human being. Tragedy in fact stands on goats' feet, for any shepherd winning favour by such a voice was rewarded with the gift of a goat. Comedy is named from villages; for a village is called a comus, and is where the rustic actors made fun of human doings in merry songs. To these were added the speaking hands of dancers, their fingers that are tongues, their clamorous silence, their silent exposition. The Muse Polymnia is said to have discovered this, showing that humans could declare their meaning even without speech. Now the Muses, in the eastern tongue, are so called as if Homousae [beings of the same essence] because, like the virtues, they depend on one another. They are depicted with light and pointed feathers on their foreheads since their perceptions are borne up on swift thought, and contemplate the loftiest matters.

9. Again, there is the pantomime actor, who derives his name from manifold imitations. When first he comes on stage, lured by applause, bands of musicians, skilled in various instruments, support him. Then the hand of meaning expounds the song to the eyes of melody, and, by a code of gestures, as if by letters, it instructs the spectator's sight; summaries are read in it, and without writing, it performs what writing has set forth. The same body portrays Hercules and Venus; it displays a woman in a man; it creates a king and a soldier; it renders an old man and a young: you would thus imagine that in one man there were many, differentiated by such a variety of impersonation. 10. The mime, too, which is now merely an object of scorn, was devised with so much care by Philistio, that its performances were set down in writing: a world boiling with consuming cares might thus be cooled by its humour. 11. And what of the ringing of the acetabula? Why mention that sweet sound modulated by a range of strokes? It yields such pleasure that, of all the senses, men think their hearing is the highest gift conferred on them.

The succeeding age corrupted the inventions of the ancients by mingling obscenities; their headlong minds drove towards bodily lusts an art devised to give decent pleasure. 12. As with other observances, the Romans uselessly imported these practices to their state, and founded that building— the fruit of lofty thought, and a marvelous greatness of soul. From it, we suppose, Pompeius was really called the Great, and not undeservedly.

And therefore, whether such a fabric should be held together by socketed rods, or whether it should be renewed and reconstructed, I have taken care to assign you expenses from my treasury. Thus, you may gain reputation from so excellent a work, while, in my reign, antiquity is fittingly renewed. (S. Barnish, trans.)