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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 5, 19. Of the Charities of Tiberius
When the emperor Justin lost his wits and became insane, and the empire fell under the sole rule of the empress Sophia, the people, as I have related in the previous book,1 chose Tiberius as Caesar,2 a man strenuous and helpful, wise, charitable, and the best defender of the poor. He gave great largess to the needy of the treasures which Justin had amassed, and the empress would often rebuke him for reducing the State to poverty, saying to him: ‘What I have brought together in many years thou in short space dost squander.’ To this he answered: ‘Our treasury shall not fail, if only the poor receive alms, and the captives are ransomed. For this is the great treasure, according to the word of the Lord: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”3 Therefore of that which God hath given let us lay up in heaven for the poor, that the Lord may deign to give us increase even in this world.’ And since, as I have said, he was a great and true Christian, all the time that he made distribution with a glad heart for the succour of the poor, the Lord supplied him with the means more and more. One day, as he was walking through the palace, he saw in the pavement a marble slab, upon which was graven the Cross of Christ, and he cried: ‘Thy Cross, O Lord, is the defence of our brows and of our breasts, and lo! we tread that Cross under our feet.’ No sooner had he spoken than he ordered the slab to be removed. But when they had dug about it and raised it, they found beneath it a second slab bearing the same sign. They sent and told him, and he bade remove that also. They did it, whereupon they found yet a third; and by his command this too was removed. And when it was taken away, they found a great treasure containing more than a hundred thousand pounds of gold. When it had been taken away, according to his custom he used it for yet more abundant largess to the poor; nor did the Lord ever suffer him to want because of this his good intent. I will not leave untold what the Lord sent him at a later time. Narses, the famous duke of Italy, possessed a large house in a certain city, and when he came with great treasures out of Italy he went to this city, and secretly dug out a great cistern within his house, in which he deposited many hundreds of thousands of pounds of gold and silver. Then he did to death on the spot all those who knew of the place, and gave charge of the hidden treasure to a single old man, from whom he exacted an oath of secrecy. On the death of Narses,4 this wealth still lay hidden beneath the ground. But when the aforesaid old man saw the emperor’s unceasing charities, he went to him and said: ‘If it may profit me but a little, I will reveal to thee, O Caesar, a great secret.’ The emperor answered: ‘Say on what thou wilt. For it shall profit thee, if thy tale show me any way of profit.’ ‘I hold concealed,’ replied the other, ‘the treasure of Narses, which being now at the end of my days, I may no longer keep hidden.’ Then the Caesar Tiberius was glad, and sent his servants to the place, who followed in amaze as the old man went before. They reached the cistern, and opening it, entered in, and there they found so much gold and silver that the men who carried it away could scarce clear the place in many days. In consequence of which the emperor went on dispensing to the needy as a joyful giver.
Notes
- IV. 27 (40).
- i. e. associate in imperial power.
- Matt. vi. 20. In the main agreeing with the Vulgate text, but with one or two verbal differences.
- In 568.