'Guard then the secrets of our Consistory with incorruptible fidelity. Through your intervention the petitioner for justice has to approach me. On your acts depends in great measure the opinion which men shall form of me; for as a house is judged by its front towards the street, and men by the trimness or shabbiness of their raiment, so are we high officials judged by the demeanour of our subordinates who represent us to the crowd. Therefore, if such officials do anything which redounds to their master's dishonour, they put themselves altogether outside the pale of his clemency.
'Remember your title, Cancellarius. Ensconced behind the lattice-work (cancelli) of your compartment, keeping guard behind those windowed doors, however studiously you may conceal yourself, it is inevitable that you be the observed of all observers[741]. If you step forth, my glances range all over you: if you return to your shelter, the eyes of the litigants are upon you. This is where Antiquity ruled that you should be placed, in order that your actions should be visible to all.
'Attend now to this advice which I have given you, and let it not merely filter through your mind, like water through a pipe, but let it sink down into your heart, and, safely stored up there, let it influence the actions of your life.'
[7.] Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to all the Judges of the Provinces.
Duties of the Collectors of Taxes.
'It is an excellent thing that the yearly taxes should be regularly paid. What confidence does the consciousness of this give to the taxpayer, who can march boldly through the Forum, feeling that he owes nothing to anybody and need not fear the face of any official! One can only enjoy an estate if one has no fear of the process-server making his appearance upon it.
'Therefore, in the Diocese of your Excellency[742], we desire you and your staff at the beginning of this twelfth Indiction[743], with all proper gentleness, to impress upon the cultivator of the soil that he must pay his land-tax[744] and end those long arrears, which were introduced not for the assistance of the taxpayer, but for the corrupt 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.
'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.
'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.'