'And not only so, he helped the beginning of our reign both with his arms and his pen. For when the care of our shores[627] occupied our royal meditation, he suddenly emerged from the seclusion of his cabinet, boldly, like his ancestors, assumed the office of General[628], and triumphed by his character when there was no enemy to overcome. For he maintained the Gothic warriors[629] at his own charges, so that there should be no robbery of the Provincials on the one hand, no too heavy burden on the exchequer on the other. Thus was the soldier what he ought to be, the true defender, not the ravager of his country. Then when the time for victualling the ships was over, and the war was laid aside, he shone as an administrator rather than a warrior, healing, without injury to the litigants, the various suits which arose out of the sudden cessation of the contracts[630]. [Footnote 627: Probably from some expected descent of the Vandals, in connection with the affair of Amalafrida.] [Footnote 628: 'Par suis majoribus ducatum sumpsit intrepidus.'] [Footnote 629: 'Deputatos.'] [Footnote 630: A conjectural translation of a difficult sentence: 'Mox autem ut tempus clausit navium commeatum, bellique cura resoluta est, ingenium suum legum potius ductor exercuit: sanans sine damno litigantium quod ante sub pretio comstabat esse laceratum.' I conjecture that by the sudden stoppage of the warlike preparations several of the contractors were in danger of being ruined, and there was a general disposition to repudiate all purchases.] 'Such was the glory of the military command of a Metellus in Asia, of a Cato in Spain--a glory far more durable than any that can be derived from the varying shock of war. [Sidenote: His religious character.] 'Yet with all these merits, how humble he has been, how modest, how benevolent, how slow to wrath, how generous in the distribution of that which is his own, how slow to covet the property of others! All these virtues have been consolidated by his reading of the Divine Book, the fear of God helping him to triumph over baser, human motives. Thus has he been rendered humble towards all, as one imbued with heavenly teaching. 'Him therefore, Conscript Fathers, we make, under God's blessing, Praetorian Praefect from the twelfth Indiction [Sept. 1, 533], that he may repress by his own loyalty the trafficking of knaves, and may use his power for the good of the Republic, bequeathing eternal renown to his posterity.' BOOK X. CONTAINING THIRTY-FIVE LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS: FOUR IN THE NAME OF QUEEN AMALASUENTHA. TWENTY-TWO IN THAT OF KING THEODAHAD. FOUR IN THAT OF HIS WIFE GUDELINA. FIVE IN THAT OF KING WITIGIS. 1. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO JUSTINIAN THE EMPEROR (A.D. 534). [Sidenote: Association of Theodahad in the Sovereignty.]