Bishops, Ecclesiastical Institutions, and the Ostrogothic Regime 459
God has no mercy for those who have made a man of such innocence and
holiness endure such a long journey... I see, he said, a face of an angel, I
see a man worthy of the Apostles: I judge it a crime to think anything bad
about such a venerable man.38While Caesarius’ Life is a hagiographic account,39 the words attributed to
Theoderic are not so different from those with which the Gothic king addressed
Eustorgius in praise of the bishop of Aosta, who was found innocent by judi-
cial inquiry. The same confidence in the sanctity of sacred office applies to
the man: a holiness before which even manifest evidence is scarcely credible
(manifesta proinde crimina in talibus vix capiunt fidem).40
This is not in fact an isolated situation. The letters of Theoderic to the bish-
ops of Italy are studded with references to the sanctity of the Christian minis-
terial office. Addressing Ianuarius, bishop of Salona, who did not want to pay
sixty large jars of oil to a landowner in the area, the king stated that “we order
that all practice and respect the law, but to the greatest degree are required to
do so... those who are elevated by divine office, so as to find themselves close
to heavenly grace, so long as they are kept away from greed”.41 Similarly, writing
to the bishop Aurigenes, whose men had invaded the property and kidnapped
the wife of a layman named Julian, Theoderic affirmed: “We have confidence
that, while every crime is unbearable, the most abhorrent for you is that which
attacks the affection of a legitimate marriage. In that spirit, in fact, does a reli-
gious man learn that which causes hatred, even among common people?”42
And years later, probably in December 533, the Prefect Cassiodorus echoed
this theme when he wrote that “the fasting of priests has removed the risk of
38 Vita S. Caesarii 1.36, ed. Bona, p. 104: “Non parcat illis Deus, qui huius innocentiae virum
atque sanctitatis frustra fecerunt itinere tam longo vexari.... Video—inquit—angelicum
vultum, video apostolicum virum: nefas arbitror mali quippiam de tam venerando viro
censere.”
39 And not alone in its portrayal of Theoderic; cf. Ennodius, Vita Epifani 109–10, 116, 136–41,
and 184–9, ed. Vogel, pp. 97–9, 101–2, 107–8, where the king not only recognizes the bish-
op’s holiness but is intimately involved in his ransoming of captives.
40 Supra, n. 7.
41 Cass., Va r. 3.7, ed. Fridh, p. 103, lines 3–6: “Omnes quidam iustitiam colere et observare
praecipimus, sed eos maxime qui divinis honoribus eriguntur, ut supernae gratiae fiant
proximi, dum a terrena fuerint cupiditate longique.”
42 Cass., Va r. 3.14, ed. Fridh, p. 108, lines 3–6: “Quamvis iudicio vestro credamus omnia
facinora displicere, maxime a vobis confidimus exsecrandum quod matrimonii genialis
impugnat affectum. Quibus enim animis a continentibus accipitur, quod etiam laicorum
detestatione damnatur?”