Your Brotherhood has sent us swords with pitch-black blades and boys shining with native fairness, weapons that even cut through other arms, richer in their iron than in the price of gold. There gleams a polished brightness, so that they restore the faces of those who gaze upon them with faithful purity; their edges run down to so even a sharpness that they seem not to have been shaped by files but poured out from fiery furnaces. Their middle part, hollowed with beautiful channels, seems able to ripple with certain little worms (patterns): there so great a play of shadowy variety sports together that you would rather believe the gleaming metal to be inwoven with diverse colours.
This your whetstone diligently cleans, this your most brilliant powder so industriously wipes away, that it makes of the iron's light a kind of mirror for men; which was granted to your country by the bounty of nature, so as to give you a singular renown for this thing: swords that might be thought to be of Vulcan's making by their beauty, who was seen to refine the smith's craft with such elegance that what was fashioned by his hands was believed to be not the work of mortals but divine. Therefore, through such and such your envoys, discharging the affection of due greeting, we declare that we have gladly received your arms, which the pursuits of good peace have transmitted:
granting a return of gift in consideration of your outlay, gifts which shall be rendered to you as welcome as yours have been most pleasing to us. May the divine powers grant concord, so that, doing these things between us with grateful mind, we may join the goodwill of our peoples and, mutually attentive, may be bound to one another by reciprocal services. When such and such your envoys came, we learned that you had a great zeal for our acquaintance, so that, set on the shores of the Ocean, you might be joined with our mind: a very sweet and welcome petition to us, that our fame should reach you, to whom we had been able to send no messages. Love now as known one whom you sought eagerly while unknown.
For among so many nations, to venture upon the road is no easy thing to have desired. And therefore, seeking you with affectionate greeting, we make known that the amber which was sent by you through the bearers of these letters was received with grateful heart. The wave of the Ocean, descending to you, casts forth this most light substance, as your own report also contained: but whence it comes you said you held unknown—this you, before all men, receive as your homeland offers it. According to one Cornelius's account, it is read to flow from the sap of a tree in the inner islands of the Ocean, whence too it is called 'sucinum,' and little by little it hardens under the heat of the sun.
For it becomes a sweated metal, a transparent softness, now reddening with a saffron colour, now growing rich with a flame-like brightness, so that, when it has slipped down to the border of the sea, purified by the alternating tide, it is handed over, washed up upon your shores. This we judged should be made known, lest you suppose that our knowledge altogether escapes what you believe yourselves to hold hidden. Therefore seek us more often by the ways which your love has opened, since the obtained concord of wealthy kings is always profitable, for they, while soothed by a small gift, always look ahead with a greater recompense. Some things too we have charged by word through your envoys, by whom we declare we have sent what ought to be welcome. By custom indeed it comes about that the well-deserving receive our gifts:
but you by right of inheritance have claimed for yourself the prince's benefits. You attain your brother's honour, because in wisdom too you are his kin. From those same good things we do not repel one whom we prove to be like. Let parents and children now go and, by the spur of resemblance, vie in the pursuits of the noble arts. We have made a new law in you, that parents should be succeeded in administration. This advancement is not taken away or changed: for although the person be replaced, yet what the most beloved brother acquires does not fail to the family. O truly chosen by your merits and honoured by the auspice of your name! Parents in some measure have a presentiment when names are bestowed upon their offspring, and just as the course of things to come proceeds from the lofty command of the Divinity, so the thought of one foreboding is instructed:
it is granted to utter what we know not that we have perceived, but after the event we recall what, in our ignorance, we had truly spoken. By such an omen, then, Decoratus grew strong: he grew strong, I say, and, praised by our judgement, mingled himself among the palace honours, taking up a dignity such as we are wont to give to the prudent, attaining this plainly above the rest, that he was able to rise after the chosen. Beneath the light of our presence he stood, intrepid indeed yet reverent, opportunely silent, copious when need required, the chief relief of our cares; and although enriched with the favour of our power, content rather with the praise of his character, he set himself on a level with men of middle station. The memory of the good lives on among us, because a man's faithfulness knows not how to fail with death.
He concealed our secrets as though he had forgotten them; he retained our commands as though he were writing them down in order, serving without greed and seeking our favour with the highest eagerness. We have turned aside indeed to the praises of one well-deserving, but in the brevity of the discourse undertaken, when we speak of him, we instruct you. He was assuredly so pleasing that with us even after his death he does not cease to be: we sorrowfully seek him whom we grieve to have lost. But the bitter loss is softened, because you succeed him with a substitute's virtue, since no one feels he has lost what he knows he has found again in another. Do not pursue foreign examples, you to whom domestic praises so great are at hand. You, Decoratus, are from him; he, Honoratus, is from you. Let merits be united, since names have so joined themselves.
For of you we more justly believe better things, you who follow, because the imitator of his predecessor is always the more diligent, since you may choose the good of the one who precedes you and heap up new things besides. And therefore from the third indiction we raise you to the dignity of the quaestorship and cause Honoratus to live by the renown of our council, so that you may now begin to be what you were formerly called. Come now, by cleaving to justice, so that we, who gave honour to the untried, may confer better things upon you when most approved. It is certain, conscript fathers, that your council flourishes with prudent men: but this too is proved excellent, that the dignity of letters is mingled among you.
For all those whom we raise to the summit of the quaestorship we esteem most learned, such as it befits interpreters of the laws and sharers of our council to be: a dignity which is found neither by riches nor by birth alone, but only learning joined with prudence can obtain it. For although in other honours we confer benefits, from this one we always receive. It is assuredly a happy portion of our cares: it enters the door of our deliberation; it has knowledge of the breast in which the general cares are turned over. Estimate what ought to be judged of him who becomes a sharer of so great a secret. From him is demanded skill in the laws: thither flow together the prayers of suppliants, and—what is more precious than every treasure—within his keeping is laid up the reputation of our civility.
With a just quaestor, the conscience of the innocent becomes secure, only the prayers of the wicked are rendered anxious, and when the hope of stealing is taken from the bad, zeal is applied to good morals. He guards for each his own rights, restrained as to money, lavish of equity, knowing not how to deceive, most ready to come to aid. He serves the genius of the prince, which surpasses all things: he is compelled to speak by the mouth of one to whom no one is found like. Is not he who has been able, under our presence, to administer this office, void of vices and full of virtues, worthy to be your colleague? For you know by what stock he was advanced in glory. Remember, then, Decoratus sweating at the labours of advocacy, with what probity he joined himself to each of the good.
He stood by your causes a faithful pleader: pressing upon necessary matters, he carried the mind of the judge to the benches of the assessors; to him deservedly frequent victory fell, because he handled wisely what was to be alleged. For those know not how to suffer the loss of modesty who correct themselves before the judge has done so. Lower in rank, he showed himself a patron to men of consular standing, and although he was held unequal to your honours, he was called patrician, received into the most celebrated proceeding. It is exceedingly rare, conscript fathers, to speak solidly and, when one must say much, to bring forth no faltering. In Decoratus this was most certain, this too you approved even before our judgements.
For who in his time could fail to know him as it were the helmsman of lawsuits, who strove to pass over the reefs of cases? He surely had less need of the laws who did not seek their consolations. Now we no longer complain of his hastened death: from his fruitful stock a brother has sprouted. For he who before was covered by his brother's shade, once that brother was withdrawn by the law of nature, spread out the tresses of his own fame through the open spaces. He has justly brought forth, precociously, the good things of the branch, who in the order of birth first grew strong: but the noble offspring preserved in the successor the fruit which it lost in the one departed. To this family agrees that richest bough which in Virgil's song is ever born anew: for when this is torn away, another golden one fails not, and the rod puts forth leaf with like metal.
Indeed this man too nourished eloquence by advocacy: yielding the renown of the city of Rome to his brother, he preferred to engage in the affairs of the Spoletines—an undertaking as hard as it is known by your prudence to be set apart. For among the well-mannered it was very easy to assert what is just; but among provincials handling themselves with roving licence it was exceedingly arduous. He is seen to have urged moderation of the law where the judges themselves too are for the most part carried off by wicked greed, and the more they think themselves pre-eminent amid mediocrity, the more they suffer not their own wishes to be opposed. Among such people it is hard to vindicate the laws, and great is the force of persuasion needed to recall the venality of a judge to the purpose of the right.
Receive then, conscript fathers, our judgements willingly, and let your bosom gladly take in Honoratus, advanced to the summit of the quaestorship. For he is worthy to be loved by you who has deserved to be found equal to honours so great. It is praiseworthy in that department to double the guard which is established as sought out for the necessities of the commonwealth. For through it both the usefulness of the legations and the swiftness of our ordinances is carried out: this too furnishes effect to the courtly powers through various commands: this enriches our treasury with frequent contributions, so that almost whatever is transacted in the commonwealth is accomplished by the service of the public post.
It therefore befits that there be always ready what is proved suitable for public uses, lest what was devised for swiftness should rather bring an unfitting slowness upon those who hasten. And therefore, where the praetorian prefects and masters of the offices have, for the public benefit, by ordinance assigned men to their posts, we charge you to cut short with such severity the wicked presumption of those who exceed bounds, that whoever—be he Goth or Roman—presumes to lay hands upon a post-horse without a warrant from us or from those whose concern it is, be at once compelled by you to pay a hundred solidi per horse. And concerning those too we decree with equal severity who presume to usurp post-horses beyond the number of their warrants.
On the side-horses, moreover, we order no more than a hundred pounds to be imposed. For it is exceedingly absurd that one from whom swiftness is demanded should be oppressed with great weights. The very bird, burdened with a load, grows sluggish. Keels which feel no toil when full are moved more heavily. What can a quadruped do which, pressed by excess, sinks down? But if anyone be found to carry more than the fixed limit, let him be struck with the penalty of two ounces of gold. This sum, exacted forthwith—as has already been established by earlier edicts—we decree ought to go to the benefit of the post through the office of the masterial dignity. For it is just that she be compelled to sell, who is known to have wickedly burdened the public horse:
let him be stripped bare and unencumbered who by his own will was unwilling to be most swift. Besides, we admonish you not to presume upon the perquisites of the superintendents, nor by any usurpation to debase whatever power venerable antiquity has sanctioned them to have. For we wish through you to double the guard, not to remove the safeguard of ancient custom. A petition is to be received which does not war against public uses, and the desires of private persons are to be embraced which so seek a remedy that they seem to us to engender no loss.
And so, from the complaint of John, a most distinguished man, we have learned that Thomas received certain estates of our household—that is, this one and that one—and now has stood as a debtor of ten thousand solidi to our interests, and through various trickeries does not pay the due amount; which has also become clear to us by the suggestion of our nobles. Therefore we believed the case ought to be safeguarded by such a remedy, that you should attach to the public domain the entire substance of the aforesaid Thomas under this condition, by fixed titles: namely that, if before the Kalends of September what is reasonably set forth shall in no way have been paid by Thomas, the aforesaid substance be handed over to John, a most distinguished man, who has promised that his debt shall accrue to our treasury.
But if the aforesaid Thomas shall perchance have been able to discharge his obligation within the prefixed time, let all that was taken from him be restored to him untouched, so that neither does our fisc seem to sustain disadvantage nor are we found to have failed to render to our subjects the accustomed justice. For we could yet defer further, if it profited anything to bear with one most negligent, whom over so long a span of time we have ever found unprepared. It befits us to ratify the wishes of those who prefer to hold together the public benefits: nor do we allow them to be anxious about their own loss who have made us secure from waste.
By your suggestion, then, we have learned that, in such-and-such an indiction, we committed estates of our patrimony situated in the province of Apulia—that is, this one and that one—to the honourable man Thomas under a leasehold title; but that he, administering ill what he had received, stood as a debtor to the public accounts up to ten thousand solidi from such-and-such indictions: who, though frequently admonished by our nobles to render his debts, neglected them with detestable cunning. And, lest any question should arise for you hereafter, you testify that you are willing to satisfy the due amount to the public uses on this terms, if the estates of the aforesaid debtor be handed over to you in place of a pledge.
Hence it is that we confirm by present command your desire, conceived on just grounds: first, that you should fear no question on this matter in the public name; next, that under this condition we adjudge to you the entire substance of the debtor Thomas—whether that which he now holds or which he possessed at the first time when he had already begun to be liable to our accounts—which substance we earlier caused to be claimed in our name by fixed titles: relaxing this only out of regard for humanity, that he have a span until the Kalends of September for repaying the due amount: unless, when on the aforesaid day you shall have paid in to the illustrious count of our patrimony the money that is owed, his entire estate, as we have said, be applied to your gains.
This we do not believe to be sad for the one losing, since he is not seen to lose it altogether, when he knows that you, his son-in-law, acquire it: for what you could have attained by right of succession, is possessed by you under a purchaser's condition. It befits Your Sublimity to render to our commands a diligent steadfastness of obedience, so that what is disposed by a wholesome ordinance may be brought to effect. For prudence knows how to fulfil what is enjoined upon it with moderation, and to provide for things delegated by an unfolding counsel without the blemish of ingratitude.
And therefore we charge you to despatch a civil execution to the city of Faventia, so that, without the extortion or harm of anyone, squared stones be conveyed by our command to the city of Ravenna, so that both we may rejoice at our desire fulfilled and the occasion of clamouring be cut off from complainers. A public necessity ought to be fulfilled by the devotion of many, because it is not fitting that a few undertake what is established as expedient for very many, lest royal commands grow lukewarm and slacken while a useful matter is delegated to the weak. In the region of Trent, then, our authority has commanded a city to be built.
But since the smallness of the territory cannot sustain the magnitude of the work, our solicitude has provided this, that, having received suitable wages, you all who are joined by neighbourhood should undertake in common the measured length of the walls, so that, by the assistance afforded, what is perhaps known to be unmanageable for a few may be more securely fulfilled: with this condition fixed, namely, that none be excused from these burdens, from which not even the divine household is exempted. When, with God's help, a most fortunate army is brought forth for the general defence, provision must be made lest either they themselves be wearied by ill-considered want or (a thing it is impious to say) our province be seen to suffer devastation.
For the first step of prosperity is not to be harmful to one's own, so that we may not seem to have afflicted the fortunes of those for whose advantage we labour. And therefore we delegate to your devotion by present authority, that you should cause the multitude of the Gepids, whom we have made to hasten to the Gauls for the sake of garrison duty, to pass through Venetia and Liguria under all moderation. And lest any occasion of going beyond bounds be offered to them, our bounty has directed three solidi per company as their allowance, so that with our provincials they may have not the will to plunder but the opportunity of commerce.
This indeed our indulgence grants, to the quiet of those who labour for all: that if either their wagons are shaken to pieces by the longer journey or their beasts grow faint, worn out, with you as guardian and mediator they may be exchanged with the proprietors without any oppression—so that they who are about to give beasts better in body or quality may be content even with small but sound animals, since the life of those exhausted by excessive fatigue is uncertain. Thus it comes about that neither does the necessary transport fail them, nor does anyone find himself harmed by such an exchange. It had indeed been our disposition that, as you journeyed, we should order rations to be expended:
but lest the provisions themselves be either spoiled or furnished with difficulty, we chose to assign you three solidi in gold per company, so that you may both choose your lodgings, as the abundance of pasture supplies, and ought to buy what is more suitable for you. For this very thing makes the proprietor come to meet you, if he knows that you are buying your necessities. Set out happily, go moderately. Let your journey be such as befits those who labour for the safety of all. If we bid that all should cultivate and love justice, how much more those who glory in their nearness to us, whom it befits to conduct everything with praise, so that they may be able to show forth the splendour of their royal kinship. For this is undoubted nobility, which is proved adorned with good morals:
because it is a fine thing to have neglected the foul gains of money for the advantage of one's fame. And so the heirs of Argolicus, an illustrious man, and of Amandianus, a most distinguished man, have complained to us in suppliant approach that the Pallentian estate, which our bounty had transferred to them by way of compensation, that they might console themselves with this convenience for the loss of the Arbitana farmstead, has been unbecomingly seized by your men, with no causes existing, and that from this the fault of a blameworthy usurpation has arisen, whence an example of glorious moderation ought to have been given. Wherefore, if the things asserted are vitiated by no falsehood, let Your Greatness restore what has been taken away:
and, if you believe anything can fall to you, despatch by every means a duly instructed person to our court, so that the controversy, civilly planted, may receive its end from the laws. For there whatever is transacted is rather imputed to your odium, and you incur greater detriments of fame, while you strive not to avoid such things: but here causes contend by their own strength, and without disparagement any man of middle station is adjudged, when he is overcome with justice as witness. You ought to expend your zeal upon the commonwealth with grateful mind, because you have recognized that we bestow much upon the well-deserving. For out of regard for piety we promise a return, while yet for your sake we command all things.
And therefore we have believed you ought to be admonished by present command, that you ought to furnish the rations appointed to the army, so that neither may they be neglected against their desire, nor ought a ruinous plundering to weigh down the provincials. For an army is more conveniently held under the law of allowances than if it had been permitted to lay waste all things. Presumption knows not how to keep measure, nor can it be reduced within measure, to which licence has seemed to be granted. Wherefore let the army obtain the assigned sustenance, lest any part be able to sustain the aforesaid annoyance. The reason of justice persuades us to repress those who go beyond bounds, so that the sweetness of quiet may be able to reach all. For how is equability conducted, if the strength of the lowly is not suffered to rise up?
And so from the frequent complaint of our provincials we have learned that the able proprietors of Savia not only have shifted the tributary obligation of their own farmsteads onto slender fortune, but even, by a wicked traffic, apply something thence to their own gains, so that a public obligation becomes a private convenience. This indeed we have desired to be corrected through very many persons, but hitherto it seems to have been able to be deferred to your praise, so that a more acceptable trust might be had, when after many negligent ones you most effectively prove your zeal.
And therefore by the prudence for which you are known, we bid you, with justice considered, to inspect every proprietor and to regulate the equality of tribute on this principle: that, what was done under others having been cancelled with all bribery, the public assessment be imposed according to the quality of the possessions and of the men. For thus both justice is perfected and the strength of our provincials is relieved. But those who shall be found to have imposed a tax without our command and, at their own pleasure, to have cast the burdens of some upon others, let the severity of the laws pursue them, so that they make good all the losses to those upon whom they have improperly inflicted damages.
That too we charge to be inquired into: that among the defenders, the curials, and the proprietors the account of the contributions be traced out, and whatever, from the eighth indiction lately exempted, the proprietor shall have proved himself to have paid in over and above the tributary solidus—and it is not established to have been brought in to our treasury, nor by just reckoning made clear to have been disbursed on the necessary expenses which were incurred in the province—let the iniquitous presumption be corrected by every means. This part too do not deem to be neglected: that if what the registrar received from our chamber be not reasonably shown to have been expended, it be restored by the unjust withholder. For what is so absurd as that our liberality, which we wish to profit all, should now be oppressed by a few for furtive gain?
The judges of the province too, as well as the curials and the defenders, are said to inflict unlawful losses upon the landholders, both in the matter of the public post and in other affairs: this we resolve that you investigate and correct under the rule of the laws. As for the ancient barbarians who have chosen to be joined to Roman women by the bond of marriage, and have acquired estates under whatever title, let them be compelled to pay to the fisc the tax of the soil they hold and to submit to the burdens of extraordinary levies. But let the Roman judge, on account of the expenses of the provincials—which are reported to weigh heavily upon the poor—come into each municipality but once a year; and to him let no more than three days' provisions be furnished, just as the safeguards of the laws have allotted.
For our forefathers willed that the circuits of judges should be not a burden but an advantage to the provincials. The count's household officials of the Goths, and likewise the vicedomini, are said to have taken certain things from the provincials by means of contrived terrors: when these men have been brought to examination by your justice, whatever you recognize to have been done unjustly in this matter, you shall set in order according to law, all delays removed. When, therefore, these and such-like matters, which pertain to the public good or to the provincials, have been examined under every reckoning, we wish you in all things so to act as ought not to displease our clemency. This indeed our providence has regarded: that, when all things have been ascertained by your careful and impartial inquiry, they be ordered to be entered in the public registers,
to the end that the proofs of your fidelity may shine forth, and that hereafter no seeds of fraud—which we wish abolished—may be sown again. Although our court, with God's help, grants justice to all who labor, and from here remedies descend to our subjects throughout the remaining parts of the realm as from a living fountain, nevertheless, moved by frequent petitioning, we have with ingenious piety found means both to grant you equity and to abolish the toil of a long journey; for sweeter are those benefits which are obtained with no difficulties. We have therefore sent the illustrious and magnificent Severinus, trained in our institutions, that he may carry out among you that which he knows has always pleased us.
For he has seen how honorable the just man is held among us, and how the clemency of our serenity smiles upon good deeds. Assuredly he practices what he judges we receive with gladness: nor can rapacity be loved by a self-restrained prince, since it can please by no ransom. Let therefore the throng of the injured boldly come together to him; let everyone oppressed by any wrong hope for a remedy. We remove from you the difficulty of complaint, since crimes committed are cut off in their very cradle: let the man burdened by the load of another's tribute cry out without any fear, sure to receive the remedy which he has from the laws. For thus we trust that, through those whom our institutions appoint, no losses shall come upon the innocent.