Page 221 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Cassiodorus and Senarius

Ille ego sum mundi quondam sine fine viator
Senarius, membris tumulo, non nomine clausus,
principis invicti semper sublimis amore,
cuius in orbe fui vox regum, lingua salutis,
5 foederis orator, pacis via, terminus irae,
semen amicitiae, belli fuga, litibus hostis.
Novitethoc Oriens, hoc ultimus axis Iberi,
hoc scitbruma rigens, scitetAfrica solibus usta.
Bis denas et quinque simul legatio nostra
10 signatin orbe vias etnumquam strata labore.
Cursus eratvolucer, namque anno pervigil uno
bis maris Oceani, bis Pontica litora vidi
Europamque Asiamque sequens duo limina mundi.
His etiam meritis sociavimus agmen honorum:
15 aulica quippe comes rexi patrimonia clarus
etmea patricio fulseruntcingula cultu.
Me pietas, me sancta fides, me fovit honestas.
Saecla canant titulos: nam moribus astra tenemus.
I am that former, ceaseless wayfarer of the world,
Senarius, my limbs, butnotmy name, imprisoned by the tomb,
forever distinguished by the love of my unvanquished prince.
In the world I was his voice of kings, the language of security,
5 the orator of alliance, the path of peace, the boundary of wrath,
the seed of friendship, the banishment of war, the foe of strife.
This the East also knows, this the furthest clime of Spain,
this the numb North knows, this knows sun-scorched Africa.
Twice ten and five times our embassy
10 marked its paths upon the world and never failed in its task.
My passage was fleet, for, ever-watchful, in one year
twice I saw the shores of Ocean, twice those of Pontus,
traversing both Europe and Asia, the two limits of the world.
To these services we also joined the host of honours:
15 for,tomyrenown,as comes I guided the patrimonia of the palace
and my belt of office shone with patrician splendour.
I was fostered by piety, by sacred faith, by honesty.
Let the ages sing my titles: for by our virtues we grasp the heavens.

4 regum] legum: Francois Juret, letter to Pithou, Paris, Biblioth` eque Nationale Collection Dupuy
¸
vol. 700, folio 128, cited apud Pithou, p. 463; wrongly seeing Senarius as a quaestor;cf. F. Juret,
Symmachus: Epistolarum (Paris 1580) 11–12; Burman I 318.
8 scit et Africa] Mommsen omits et, following Hirschfeld, uncited (possibly private communication),
but et is required by the metre.
10 strata] Pithou; fracta Hensius; Burman I 319.
13 sequans] Pithou, preferring however secans (Epigrammata 463); Mommsen’s proposed secantia is
unnecessary, cf. Burman II 723–24.
195