Variae & Works 5

Desiring to join you to our kindred, we associate to you, by a propitious divinity, a granddaughter as a dear pledge, so that you who descend from royal stock may now shine even more widely with the brightness of Amal blood. We send to you the ornament of a courtly house, an increase to your race, the solace of faithful counsel, the most delightful sweetness of wedlock—one who may both rightly fill the lordship together with you and order your nation by a better discipline. Happy Thuringia shall have what Italy has nurtured: a woman learned in letters, schooled in morals, comely not only in birth but as much in feminine dignity, so that your fatherland may shine no less by her manners than by its own triumphs.

Wherefore, greeting you with fitting grace, we make known that, upon the coming of your envoys, we have received the appointed prices for a thing indeed beyond price—yet after the manner of the nations—namely horses clad in a silvery colour, such as befitted nuptial horses. Their breasts and legs are gracefully adorned with fleshy rounds; their ribs spread out to a certain breadth; their belly is drawn together in shortness; their head renders the likeness of a stag, imitating the swiftness whose resemblance they seem to bear. These are gentle beneath their great plumpness, exceedingly swift for so great a bulk, pleasant to behold, and more welcome in use: for they advance softly, nor do they weary their riders with mad haste:

in them one reposes rather than labours, and, composed by a delightful moderation, they know how to endure with continual agility. But this most noble herd, and the docile beasts and the other choice things which you have sent, you know to be surpassed, since he overcomes all by right who adorns the glory of royal power. We too, indeed, have appointed what the princely order demanded: but we have rendered nothing greater than that we have united you with the comeliness of so great a woman. May the divine powers attend your wedlock, so that, as the cause of affection has joined us, so too may parental grace bind our posterity. That a son can be made through arms is established to be a great proclamation among the nations, since none is worthy to be adopted save he who deserves to be acknowledged most valiant.

In offspring we are frequently deceived; but those whom judgements have begotten know not how to be cowardly. For these have favour not from nature but from merits alone, since strangers are bound by a bond of the soul, and so great is the force in this act that they would sooner wish to die than that anything harsh should seem to be inflicted upon their fathers. And therefore, after the manner of the nations and by the condition of manhood, we beget you a son by the present gift, that you may fittingly be born through arms, you who are recognized to be warlike. We give you indeed horses, swords, shields, and the remaining instruments of war: but what are in every way stronger, we bestow upon you our judgements. For you shall be believed greatest among the nations, you who are approved by the verdict of Theoderic. Take up, therefore, arms that will profit both me and you.

He asks devotion from you who rather disposes himself to defend you: prove your spirit, and you will have no need of submission. Such a one adopts you, of whose nation you should rather be feared. For the supports of the Goths, by God's help, are known to the Heruli. We have given you arms: but the nations long ago furnished one another with pledges of valour. Greeting you accordingly with fitting grace, we entrust the rest, in our native tongue, through such-and-such, our envoys, who may both plainly expound to you our letters and add what is to be said for the confirming of grace. To the adornment of the palace we believe it pertains to choose persons fit for dignities, since from the renown of those who serve grows the fame of their lords.

For it befits a prince to advance such men, that as often as he has deigned to look upon his nobleman, so often may he recognize that he has had right judgements. For he ought to be conspicuous in morals who is given to be imitated. It is easy for anyone to live for himself: but it befits the chosen man to live for the many. Take up, therefore, in the third indiction, the dignity of the illustrious comitiva of our patrimony, which royal authority bestows on you not undeservedly. For long since you, having received in our administrations a twofold obligation, were both a sharer of counsel and used to complete what was arranged with praiseworthy assumption. You have often undertaken the office of an arduous embassy:

you withstood kings as no unequal advocate, compelled to show our justice even to those who could scarcely perceive reason by reason of their raw obstinacy. The royal authority, inflamed with contentions, did not frighten you; rather you subdued audacity to truth, and, obedient to our ordinances, you struck the barbarians in their own conscience. Why should we recount your zeal, diligent in long night-labour, and the blameless obedience of your continual toil? You used, under the office of recording, the genius of an eloquent man: he himself, your delighted auditor, applauded, while you made better what you began to recite. Your delivery delighted our judgement, since you refreshed the mind of those dictating as much as the care of those pondering could weary itself.

There was also in you another part of a praiseworthy life: that you kept our secrets shut by the probity of your morals, privy to many things, yet not, though you knew more, puffed up. By grace you pleased your colleagues, by humility your superiors. Thus the one mind of all was made on your behalf, associated out of great diversity. You shall surely pluck the most pleasing fruit of a proven training, since your advancement was able so to make all glad that all should judge their own desires to have prospered in you. Guard, therefore, this lovable and most illustrious constancy of virtues, and, upheld by the authority of our house, seek favour so much the more zealously as you perceive that you have found a place open to benefits.

Stretch on, therefore, by good deeds, your successes toward yet greater things, knowing that our favour is always increased in him who desires to be found worthy of the height he has attained. Glorious indeed it is for us, conscript fathers, to bestow honours far and wide, but more praiseworthy to grant fitting rewards to the well-deserving. For whatever we grant to such men, we bestow rather for the general good. For one who is tenacious of the right profits all by his advancement, nor is room left for injury, when the rule of discipline reaches good men.

With this illustrious desire, therefore, we have raised the illustrious man Senarius to the dignity of the comitiva of the patrimony—one who, by the brightness of his soul, shrinks from the obscurities of venality, who does not rejoice in calumny, nor, upheld by the authority of the patrimony, make for himself gain out of fear of us, but who can hold an equitable justice with the rest, whence he sees to it that those who serve us are pleasing. That these things shall come to pass concerning him, the trustworthiness of past times makes us promise.

For in the very flower of his youth he entered our palace, mature in merits, and—what wearies even robust ages—deceived by no error of novelty, turned to the will of the one commanding, he rendered the effect of good commands; now worthy of conferences, now most apt for the recording of replies, frequently also chosen for the honour of an embassy, whose manifold merit rendered his office among us undefined. For he ought not to be called a man of one place from whom many things are seen to be fulfilled. But these things humility commended the more, which is as renowned as it is rare. For it is a new thing to keep modesty under a prince's love, since joys always disquiet minds: for moderation is rarely imposed upon glad circumstances, which is found rather in sorrowful ones.

But amid these astonishing merits, he also shines forth with a like brightness of origin, so that you would hesitate in which part he is richer, since he possesses each more abundantly. They have therefore, distributed singly, their proclamation; joined, a marvel. Wherefore, conscript fathers, let hoary Liberty rise up for these youths entering. Nothing is withdrawn from your dignity, when the novelty of those coming is honourably invited. Public parents, named from clemency, let a twofold reasoning of kindness invite you: let the beginner earn grace, the advanced man favour. It befits none to receive our commands grudgingly, which are known rather to extol the advantages of the devoted.

In the Gallican region, then, we have learned of a dearth of victuals, toward which trade always hastens, prompt, so that things bought at a narrower price may be sold off more largely. Thus it comes about that both the sellers are satisfied and our provision relieves those others. And therefore let your devotion recognize, by the present authority, that all the shippers of Campania, Lucania, or Tuscany ought to commit themselves to suitable sureties, so that, setting out for Gaul only with provisions of food-stuffs, they shall have licence to sell off as may be agreed between buyer and seller. It is a great advantage to bargain with the needy: since hunger is wont to despise everything, that it may be able to fill its own necessity.

For when he is in service to his own ambition, he who sells when entreated seems almost to give. To go with wares to the well-fed is a struggle: but he sets a price at his own discretion who can bring victuals to the fasting. We gladly embrace the reasonable petitions of suppliants, who even unasked devise just things. For what is more worthy that we should turn over by assiduous deliberation day and night, than that our commonwealth, just as arms protect it, inviolate equity should guard? Accordingly the respectable Valerianus, residing in the city of Syracuse, has supplicated to return to his own household-gods—he who for the sake of studies brought his children to the city of Rome.

Whom let your illustrious Magnificence, restraining by our command, cause to abide in the aforesaid city: nor let it be permitted them to depart before, unless our address should pronounce it. For thus both the advancement of studies is acquired for them, and the reverence of our command is guarded. Let him not, then, think imposed upon him what ought to have been a thing to be wished. Let Rome be ungrateful to none—Rome that cannot be called foreign—that fruitful mother of eloquence, that most spacious temple of all the virtues. Let it plainly be perceived, what is manifest: he is not believed to be without grace, to whom so great a dwelling-place is granted. The purpose of our piety is to relieve the fortunes of those imperilled unjustly, since what is established to be imposed by another's force, we cannot draw into a fault.

For it is unjust that what is not governed by his own will should be reckoned to a man's vice; and that it should be imputed to one in peril, from which one is rarely granted to escape. And therefore let your Sublimity recognize that the escorts of the grain, who had been dispatched from Sicily to Gaul, have appealed to us with a tearful approach—how, having advanced their undertaken cargo into the deep, it was overtaken by adverse winds: where, the framework of the timbers giving way, the force of the waves swallowed up everything, and nothing remained to the wretched men out of the excess of the waters except their tears alone. Whence let your illustrious Sublimity, admonished by the present authority, cause the measure of wheat which they shall have proven to have perished under this lot to be reckoned to the aforesaid escorts without any delay.

For it is a kind of cruelty to wish to rage beyond shipwreck and to drive to losses those to whom the vast elements are proven to have yielded a destitute life. It ought not to seem grievous, what is assessed by our ordinance, since we know how to estimate what it behooves you to fulfil. By us, indeed, you can reasonably be guarded, you who have profited unburdened. Accordingly we decree to your devotion by the present authority that, a suitable price being received, you shall convey timbers from your places to Alfuanum without any delay, so that both our ordinance may obtain its effect and, the wages being received, you too may not seem to sustain loss.

It is a profession of innocence to have chosen our presence, where no room is given to violence and the vices of avarice are not to be feared. Maurentius and Paula, stripped of their father's protection, testify that they are exposed to the injuries of many; for their youth seems open to every harm, since they may easily be crept upon, being young people left without support. And therefore they deserve our protection, since the cunning of wicked men does not refrain from them. Accordingly, let Your Sublimity, taking note of the tenor of the present command concerning the aforesaid young persons, know that, if any quarrelsome party should choose to harass them, they are to be directed to our court, where innocence may find a refuge and slanderers may find a strict tribunal of law.

It is shameful, amid public laws, to grant licence to private hatreds; nor should the rash heat of men's passions be allowed to take vengeance at its own discretion. For what delights an angry man is exceedingly unjust. Those who rage do not perceive what is just, because while in their agitation they vent their fury for revenge, they do not seek moderation in their affairs. Hence the sacred reverence for the laws was devised, so that nothing should be done by one's own hand, nothing by private impulse. For what difference will there be between the confusion of war and tranquil peace, if disputes are ended by force? We have therefore learned, from the representation of the provincials of Campania and Samnium, that some, neglecting the discipline of the times, have turned to the practice of distraining pledges, and, as though by an edict published among the common folk, the licence of vices has grown.

To these they joined far more bitter practices: that some are dragged to pay the debts of others, and that the only cause deemed plausible is if the person can in any way be linked by neighbourhood to the debtor. O the wicked error of such a persuasion! Causes are divided even among brothers: a son, if he is not the heir, is freed from his father's obligations; a wife is not held to her husband's debts except through the bonds of succession; and yet audacity drags strangers to payment, when the laws release even close kindred. Up to now, perhaps the ignorance of our authorities has allowed this to be done; now it is necessary that the matter find a remedy from the laws, since it has been able to come to our notice.

Accordingly, the contents of this edict having been made known, let Your Excellency cause it to come to the notice of all, so that whoever, by zeal for distraint, has perhaps seized what he ought rather to have sought by due process, shall by the voice of the law lose his claim; nor shall it be lawful for anyone of his own accord to carry off a pledge, unless perhaps one duly pledged to him. But if anyone should choose to distrain one person for another, which is unspeakable, let him restore double to the one against whom he used force, since crimes restrain losses the more, and only those think of losses who have suffered the ruin of their honour. But whoever is excused from this restitution by the base plea of poverty, let him be punished, according to the quality of the offence committed, with the penalty of the cudgel. For we do not suffer to go unpunished what we are unwilling to have permitted.

There is sure hope of a remedy in having referred the prayers of suppliants to the judgement of a prudent man, so that by the benefit of an ordinance the uncertainty of confusion may be abolished. Accordingly, let Your Greatness, to whose ordering the province seems to be subject, examine the case between the landholders of Volia and the curials with diligent scrutiny, so that, the justice you have laid open being applied, the quarrel between them may be put to rest. For it is not fitting that, after your hearing, a matter should be dragged out which ought to have been heard by you after other judges. It is our purpose that the provinces subject to us, by God's help, we should, just as we defend them with arms, so also order with laws; for observed justice ever increases rulers, and as much as one lives by a worthy institution, so much is added even to the highest advancements.

Arcotamia, therefore, an illustrious lady, mournfully lamenting the calamity of her grandson, deplored it with such a complaint—since a grandmother's care for her own is ever more tender—asserting that Aetheria, her daughter-in-law, having set aside love for her husband, had joined herself to a certain Liberius by the bond of marriage, and that, since she desires to appear more adorned in a new wedlock, she has striven to overthrow the resources of her former husband, alleging that she is enriched with the spoils of her children, by whom they ought rather to have been gathered together.

And therefore we, who are accustomed to refer the desires of petitioners to the provisions of the imperial sanctions, so that we neither reject the appeal of suppliants nor condemn the adversary's case by credulous facility, commit this cause to the judgement of Your Sublimity to be heard according to the laws; so that, every incivility being removed, in the presence of the most holy Gospels, together with three men of honour whom the consent of the parties shall choose—men able to have knowledge of the laws—you may set forth whatever the form of ancient law established between them, the discipline of our times being taken into account; for it is not fitting that those should do anything by force who have merited to come under our governance.

Rewards ought not to be lacking to those who labour, so that both an entrance to good hope may be opened and the just complaint of those who toil may be closed by fair compensation. And therefore know that our providence, which surveys all parts of the commonwealth under heavenly favour, has ordained that to Colosseus, an illustrious man dispatched to Sirmian Pannonia for his labours and merits, provisions be furnished according to ancient custom, so that, while what is needful is prepared for the said man, no room may be left for unjust presumptions. For a hungry army cannot keep discipline, since the soldier always lays hold of what is wanting. Let him have something to buy with, lest he be forced to think of what he may seize.

Restrained need does not love excess, nor can that be commanded of the many which the very few cannot keep. It is a great kind of sin to burden one man with the debts of others, so that he who can be exacted upon does not deserve to be heard. Let each man look to his own losses, and let him pay the tribute who is known to have the profit of the possession. And therefore by present authority we delegate to you that the Goths residing throughout Picenum and both Tuscanies be compelled, under your pressing, to discharge the dues they owe. For at the very beginnings the excess must be checked, lest base imitation, like a foul scabies, gradually lay hold of the rest.

If anyone therefore, puffed up with a boorish spirit, casts off our commands, you shall claim his dwellings, by affixed notices, for the resources of our treasury; so that he who justly refused to pay small things may reasonably be seen to have lost the greatest. For who ought to be more promptly devoted to the treasury than those who receive the advantages of the donative, since they receive more from our humanity than is rendered by the right of pay? For if the matter of our liberality be considered, it is rather we who pay voluntary tributes, since we relieve the fortunes of all. From the representation of the illustrious and magnificent Count of the Patrimony we have learned that twenty-one of the appointed number of fast-galley oarsmen have been removed by the misfortune of death.

Wherefore know that our providence, whose property it is to recover by counsel what is taken away by chance, has determined this: that you hasten without any hesitation to approve the aforesaid oarsmen—such, however, as can be found fit for this work. For the toilsome labour of rowers seeks men strong in spirit and in strength, so that with confidence of mind they may be able to meet the billowy storms. For what is more daring than to enter that faithless and most vast sea in a small vessel, which only the presumption of desperation makes one struggle through? Wherefore it befits you to apply this caution to our commands, that you make no complaint about feeble men being gathered, since you know that we have sought the most robust.

For the sake of the public benefit, which our mind ever regards, we judged some time ago that the illustrious man Count Arigern, almost your own fellow citizen, should be dispatched to the Gauls, so that by the maturity of his counsel the hearts of the wavering might be strengthened. For prudent governors ought to take charge of an anxious novelty, so that, in whatever manner the order of life has been shaped, so the established devotion may run its course. These matters having been arranged according to our wishes, he has both brought back the glory of civility, diligently displaying what he learned among you, and has carried home the insignia of wars. Him, longed for as we suppose, we have restored to your assembly, so that he who has pleased you over a long age may now become more welcome, since added good qualities commend him.

Wherefore let the Roman order restore itself to the discipline of the aforesaid man, and let what is enjoined for love of quiet be fulfilled with devoted minds; so that both licence may be taken away from excesses and—what we most desire—vengeance may find no place. If any fault also has arisen during his absence, correct it among yourselves with consideration of justice, as it befits your nobility to act, to whom uprightness is ever pleasing; since you should know that we have especially enjoined this, that an error which has not at all been amended by its own authors should be cut away by the strictness of the laws.

Let obedience therefore be rendered, conscript fathers, to a man already proven over many seasons, whose praiseworthy ways must needs be followed, who has hitherto conducted himself under the praise of you all, and in so great a throng has met with no one's adverse judgements. A matter settled by an ancient king, which nevertheless is agreed to have been reasonably decreed, we wish to waver under no ambiguity, since what is commended by a sound enactment ought to stand firm. For why should we shake former arrangements where there is nothing that we ought to correct?

And therefore by present authority we command you that the possessions of the church of Narbonne, according to the precepts of Alaric of exalted memory, being held seized by whatsoever invaders, you cause to be restored by consideration of equity; since we do not wish unlawful presumptions to be engaged in to the church's loss, while it befits our times to settle what is disordered. Be altogether watchful against such things, so that you who are renowned in war may also be rendered excellent in civility. Thus too you strengthen your arms, with God's help, if you strive to preserve justice for the lowly. For you cannot excuse yourself by pleading that you were unable to resist the wicked, since all willingly yield to you, whom they have known to be glorious in the contest of wars.

A coward perhaps can command nothing to the bold: no one rules over the presumptuous more than he whom his own deeds commend. It is the custom of our clemency to commit matters to be handled to those of proven fidelity, so that when we delegate judges endowed with mature deliberation, fraudulent deception may find no place. For some time ago it came to us, by the representation of many, that Laurentius the presbyter, having dug up ashes, searched out deadly riches among the corpses of men and inflicted extortion upon the dead—he who ought to preach quiet things to the living. He is reported not to have kept hands consecrated to pious dedications free from so cruel a defilement:

he is said to have sought gold with an accursed passion—he who ought rather to have given his substance to the needy, or what he had gathered under equity. We command you to investigate this with diligent examination, so that, if you perceive the allegations to accord with the truth, you may confine the man's ambition only to this end, that he may not be able to suppress what it was not lawful for him to find. For the crime which we leave unpunished out of respect for the priestly honour, we believe must be avenged with a greater weight. It befits princely providence to refresh the weary, so that the gentleness of its commands may mitigate the harshness of misfortunes. For no hardship is felt if a granted prosperity shows raised up again what is acknowledged to have been crushed by adversity.

For we command that the payment of the siliquaticum, which provident antiquity appointed for all things put up for sale, be not given at the present time on grain, wine, and oil, so that this remission of payment may furnish abundance to the provinces, and that the weary may breathe again somewhat by the healthfulness of the present decree. For who would not be incited to sell more generously, from whom the customary expenses are withdrawn? Let the ship coming to our ports not be afraid, so that there may be a sure refuge for sailors, if the hands of the exactors do not assail them—men whom losses often afflict more than shipwrecks are wont to strip. Let this perhaps be borne in time of quiet; but now, while we desire to provide for the provincials, let us meanwhile take thought also for the owners of merchandise.

If we desire to find a place for benefits, so that we may raise up the titles of our piety, how much more do we wish the benefits of others to be defended intact—we who desire of our own accord to bestow our own—especially when this too is laid up to the account of our conscience, that it is granted from the treasury under ancient solemnity! Accordingly, from the supplication of the venerable man, Bishop Constantius, we have learned that one yoke of land belonging to his most holy church, conferred by the piety of former princes, is now held back by the violent usurpation of certain persons.

But since we wish no one to profit from his frauds, especially when he is engaged with a detestable mind in the loss of the poor, by present authority we decree that those things which of old were assigned by the humanity of princes the aforesaid church should receive without any diminution, the penalty remaining also against the invader, who is proven to have violated both the gifts of the ancients and the church's advantages. Although we believe that your efficiency presses on with what is enjoined and studiously turns aside from what you have known to displease us, nevertheless our admonition does not desert one who is solicitous, so that you may be rendered more instructed, when you receive the matters defined in the brief written below. Accordingly, our ordinance ought to seem ungrateful to none, since the necessity of the time excuses the burdens of the command.

Be therefore solicitous about what is enjoined, since, although vigilance must always be applied, it is most useful in time of necessity. You will obey then, being admonished, so that you may be able to deal with the provincials in such a way as you see us willing to grant to them, so that, secure of our favour, you may obtain whatever, being solicitous, you have scorned to gain from base zeal. It is an intolerable excess that aims at injury to the supreme Majesty and, forgetful of piety, pursues the cruelties of error. For what place of pardon will he hope for, who has despised the reverend Author? Let the profane rite now depart from our midst: let the penal murmur of souls fall silent. It is not permitted to engage in magic arts in Christian times.

Accordingly, from the report of Your Greatness we have learned that Basilius and Praetextatus, long since polluted by the contagion of the sinister art, have been brought to accusation in your examination by the intention of certain persons. Concerning which matter you assert that you await our sentence, so that what the authority of our piety enjoins may be done with greater confidence. But we, who know not how to disagree with the laws, and to whose heart it is to hold moderate justice in all things, by present authority decree that you weigh this cause by a lawful examination together with five senators—that is, the magnificent and patrician men Symmachus, Decius, Volusianus, and Caelianus, as well as the illustrious man Maximianus.

And, the order of law being preserved in all things, if the crime that is charged shall have been proven, let it be punished also by the strictness of those same laws, so that, by this kind of vengeance, the hidden and secret defendants may be deterred from such faults—men whom uncertain knowledge cannot drag to the laws. Concerning this matter we have directed precepts to the illustrious man Count Arigern, that, all violent defence being removed, if they hide themselves, he may drag the accused to judgement and, sitting with you in this cause, may neither cause the harmless to be oppressed nor suffer the criminous to escape the laws.

Although it behoves the discipline of the Roman city committed to you to be kept in all things, nevertheless you ought to be the more studious in those matters which you know to have been delegated to you by our authority, so that preserved justice may increase favour around you and you may take increases from our judgement—you who have hitherto pleased us by your integrity. The prefect of the city, therefore, has declared to us by his report that Basilius and Praetextatus, entangled in magic arts, are assailed by the accusation of many; whom he intimates to have escaped by the mental derangement of their guards.

We command that you lead them, wherever they are found, to the court of five men which our authority has delegated in the present business, where we decree that you sit, so that, all violent defence being removed, you may cause this cause to be examined and concluded by the laws. And if they shall have been convicted of the crime of which they are accused, let them undergo the sentence which the established laws have sanctioned. But if their innocence is assailed by detestable envy, suffer them by no reasoning to be oppressed, since in all causes we wish that to be done, by divine consideration, which augments the repute of our piety. They turn to gain which are conferred on the well-deserving, and from the very gift more is acquired, when worthy things are bestowed on the best.

Accordingly, from the tenor of your petition we have learned that certain places in the city of Spoletium, which the squalor of long-standing antiquity had already overshadowed, seek the splendour of restoration, so that, things being confused by age, a grown-up face of newness may be restored, and by your benefit those things may rise again revived which, inclined by their years, had fallen. This, out of regard for your merits and for the service rendered with long diligence, we have judged to be granted with a willing mind, so that both the just effect may be granted to the wishes of those who ask, and the adornment of restoration may grow for the city. And therefore we grant strength to your petition by present humanity, that you may possess, by absolute liberality, the portico with the little open plot behind the baths of Turasius, provided, however, that it does not serve public use:

since in the licence of restoration rewards are rather received than given. Supported therefore by this authority, take confidence to build in the aforesaid places, and fear no question in the future, since both the city's advantage protects you and the revered will of the prince. It is agreed that he presumes well of himself who desires to reach the summits of the sacred order. For merits suggest the striving of a good aspiration, and in the quality of desire an honourable mind can be known. For who, ignorant of the wrestler's art, would enter the stadium to wrestle? Or who would mingle in a contest which the consciousness of valour does not advise? In their very efforts those things grow sickly and languish which are not aided by the presumption of merits.

It is therefore a profession of praiseworthy things to have desired the fellowship of the highest, and he hands down a good judgement of himself who seeks the steps of lofty dignity. To these desires our piety willingly indulges itself, we who even in hope raise up languishing wishes, so that, while advancement is sought, the pursuits of uprightness may be the more loved. Accordingly, let Your Illustrious Magnificence take care to have Petrus—conspicuous by the light of his parents and already by his own gravity a senator—enrolled in the register of the sacred order according to ancient custom, so that both the number may profit so great an assembly, and the adornment of the candidate may grow from the sacred order. With a willing mind we preserve the ancient benefits around you, since we desire to bestow new ones for your advantages.

For humanity knows not how to keep bounds, and it is fitting to favour with new benefits things restored after long times. Accordingly, we grant by this authority the immunity which your region is agreed to have obtained by the privilege of princes, nor will we suffer anything of new presumption to be imposed on you, whom we wish to be vindicated from every grievance. Moreover, the princely munificence relaxes for you the census of the present year, so that you may receive even those things which it has not befallen you to request. For that is perfect piety which, before it is bent by prayers, knows how to consider the wearied. Every injury indeed is detestable, and whatever is committed against the laws is condemned by just execration:

but the worst of all evils is proven to be this, to suffer losses from the very quarter whence aids were believed to come. For cruelty turned to the contrary aggravates the fault, and unexpected deception adds a greater weight to the guilt. The respectable man Petrus, therefore, with a marvellous fate, has complained to us that the protection of the saio Amara, which we granted to him against violent men, was rather perpetrated upon himself, so that the obstruction of the doorposts somewhat retarded the blow of the sword plunged into him: a hand was exposed to the wound, which, that it might not fall wholly severed, the struck timbers of the doors preserved; where, the assault having spent itself, the flashing edge of the iron grazed the extremities of his body. O execrable mischance!

His own aid assailed the man, and, the prosperity of solace being withdrawn, the peril grew out of the defence; adding to these things far more bitter ones, so that, as though the injury came at a price, so his own crime was taxed by an enormous exaction. And therefore the anger of our piety justly rises against those who have turned kindly commands into truculent services. For what refuges will there be for suppliants, if even our benefits wound them? Accordingly, by present command we decree that whatever the aforewritten Amara received under the name of profit from the cases of the said suppliant, being constrained by you as an ungrateful assailant, he be compelled to pay him double; for it is fitting that what is agreed to have been extorted by wicked rashness be restored under penalty.

But concerning the wound which the rash presumer inflicted with a drawn sword, let the oft-named saio, under your compelling, come to the judgement of Count Duda to be heard, so that, according to the series of the edicts, he may, without any delay, make amends for what shall have become clear to have been wickedly committed. But to the one petitioning for protection against uncivil assaults, you shall, by our command, grant it with civility preserved—not by the example of the accused, but by consideration of one fittingly chosen. We approve the conscience to which we commit things to be judged, since he is worthy among others to decide what is to be followed, who is seen to have imposed upon himself the measure of a lawful manner of life.

Petrus therefore, a respectable man, asserts that our saio Amara, who was dispatched—with a contrary omen—for his protection, wounded him with a drawn sword and made himself a defendant in a way scarcely an enemy could have dared. This we wish you both to ascertain by lawful disputation and to conclude by a sound sentence, so that no one may dare to attempt what he knows to displease us. If the authority of your place were considered, if the regard for Roman reverence, you ought of your own accord to have sought after those things in which you are blamed. For what at the present time could you have thought so proper to the urban summit as the increases of the senate, since it profits the fame of the prelate, what the sacred order acquires?

But, as much as the report sent by the most renowned man Armentarius testifies, on the contrary, with base ambition you seek advantages from delay—you whose part it was agreed to be to wish for the senate's increases. For what could be more unfitting than, our commands having been dispatched, to suspend the wishes of suppliants, and, after the utterance of a sacred precept, to have—if it is right to say it—still suspended the royal judgement? But we, to whose heart it is, after a first fault, not at once to desire vengeance, turn our commands rather into an admonition, lest our strictness be excessive, which gentle patience does not precede.

And therefore by present authority we decree that no craftiness of delay be brought against our commands, since he who, being admonished, transgresses has no place for pardon. It befits indeed all men to think of the increases of their fatherland, but most of all those whom the commonwealth has bound to itself with the highest honours, since it is the reason of things that he must needs owe more who is seen to have undertaken greater things. By the supplication you have put forth, you have testified that licence be granted for structures to be superimposed upon the Curved Portico, which, placed next to the House called Palmata, fittingly encloses the forum in the manner of an open court, so that both the dwelling of private houses may be extended and the appearance of newness may grow upon the ancient walls.

So it comes about that what could decay through neglect is seen to be sustained by the diligence of those who remain; for the ruin of buildings is easy when the watchfulness of inhabitants is withdrawn, and quickly is dissolved, by the seething decay of age, what the presence of men does not protect. Wherefore we, who desire the city to be adorned with the brightness of rising structures, grant the requested faculty—provided, however, that the thing requested neither obstructs the public utility nor the decorum. Wherefore lean securely upon the things you hope for, so that you may appear a worthy inhabitant for Roman structures, and the completed work may praise its author. For there is no thing through which both the genius of a prudent man and the effect of liberality can be better recognized.

What the intention of prudent men is seen to have undertaken ought to be brought to completion, since, just as completed things bring forth praise, so those things generate reproach which are sickly abandoned in the midst of their efforts. For a failure of things proves either that counsel wavered or that strength was lacking. Wherefore let Your Sanctity, fleeing from such detraction, cause speedily to come to completion what, in restoring the aqueduct with praiseworthy care, you undertook by our authority. For what is more apt than that a most holy priest should provide waters for a thirsting people, and that human providence should satisfy those whom he ought even to have fed with miracles?

For you imitate most ancient Moses, who, for the Israelite people dried up by long aridity, drew copious streams from the barrenness of the rock and, to fulfil the miracle, made moist liquids run from where there was dry hardness. But you, if you lead in irrigating springs by the construction of stonework, bestow on the peoples by this labour of yours what he bestowed by miracles. Since in all causes we wish justice to be preserved, because the love of equity is the glory of the realm, in those especially which are set forth in the name of our treasury let no detestable calumny afflict us who reign with odium. For we suffer ourselves to be overcome, with equity preserved, by the laws, so that amid arms we may ever be able to be victors. For he whom a subject lawfully surpasses, one does not conquer in war against oneself.

From the report of Marinus, therefore, we have learned that the property of Tufa was deposited with one John, formerly, under the issue of a written bond. And since it is manifest that what could pertain to the proscribed belongs to us, therefore by present authority we command that you, with moderate execution, summon the wife of the aforesaid John and his son Januarius. If they acknowledge that they unjustly retain what is claimed, let them restore it by consideration of equity; otherwise, a suitable bond having first been given, let them come to the consular of Campania to be heard according to the laws, so that, the parties being set in place before him, with you pressing on, what the form of the imperial sanctions contains may be adjudged:

yet in such a way that by no prejudgement, by no injury, by no loss may innocence be burdened, lest you seem to make another's odious accusation your own offence. The keeping of the laws is the token of civility, and reverence for former princes attests also the example of our devotion. For what is better than that the common people should wish to live under the precept of justice, so that the assembly of many disciplined men may be a uniting of wills? For this it was that gathered peoples from a wild life into the rule of human society. This principle divided them from savagery, lest those whom the Divine willed to be governed by counsel should wander by chance discretion.

By the petition you have presented you ask that the privileges be preserved for you which the foresight of ancient law decreed for Jewish observances; and this we gladly grant, for we desire that the rights of the ancients be kept in reverence among us. And therefore by the present authority we decree that whatever the statutes of the laws established concerning you shall be observed unimpaired, so that what has been found to serve the practice of civil order may be held with unbroken devotion. It is the way of wisdom to recall to human use the treasures hidden in the earth, and to assign commerce to the living rather than to the dead, since when buried these things perish even for us, and are left to those others to no advantage. For the wealth of mines is a solace to mankind.

For the vein of rich gold is like the rest of the earth if it lies idle: by use it grows in value, since even among the living those things are as if buried which are shut up in the hands of the grasping. And therefore by a measured command we decree that, under public attestation, you shall go to that place where many things are reported to lie hidden; and if gold, as is said, or silver shall be uncovered by your search, you shall faithfully claim it for the public benefit, yet on this condition: that you keep your hands from the ashes of the dead, for we do not wish gains to be sought which can be found through funereal crimes. Let buildings cover the ashes, let columns or marble adorn the tombs: but let not those hold treasures who have abandoned the commerce of the living.

For gold is justly drawn from tombs where it has no owner: indeed it is a kind of fault to leave it uselessly hidden with the dead, when by it the life of the living might sustain itself. For it is no greed to snatch away what no owner laments to have lost. For Aeacus is said to have first discovered gold, and Indus the king of Scythia silver, and to have handed them over to human use with the highest praise. We ought not, on the contrary, to neglect this, lest, just as these hidden things were brought to light with praise, so when found they should seem to be neglected with reproach. With deliberate foresight antiquity decreed that minors should not have binding contracts, so that both the snares of plotters might be frustrated, and the slippery age of those who fall might find relief.

For innocence would be overwhelmed if audacity were given free rein, and all would be intent on deceiving, if fraud could win a stealthy profit. And therefore, having submitted a petition according to ancient custom, you report that your patron, while still in his minority, rather heaped up losses for his own fortunes, since unknowing boyhood does the opposite of what it supposed would be beneficial; and that he is now of that age at which we may, on account of his ignorance, come to the aid of his fall, alleging that what the laws have granted, our benefits also should bestow.

And therefore, if your petition does not depart from the truth and falls within the span of years to which the most sacred laws have granted this benefit, and there is nothing that may justly be brought against it, our authority too permits that your patron, after the case has been duly examined, be solemnly restored to his full standing; yet on this condition: that everything be carried out according to justice and the laws, for we wish so to consult the interests of petitioners as not to oppress their adversaries by injustice. It belongs to a most provident prince to release from the tributary obligation those who have been gravely diminished, so that those who had failed, pressed by the bitterness of their losses, may be revived by renewed zeal to fulfil their dues. For if the burden is not at all lightened for the weary, by necessity he is seen to lie prostrate.

For it is better to disregard present losses than, for a meagre gain, to forfeit perpetual advantages. And therefore let your illustrious Magnificence know that we have remitted the public tax for the third indiction to the provincials of the Cottian Alps, whom our army, passing through after the manner of a river, oppressed while it watered. For although it broke forth in a roaring assembly for the general security, yet in passing it laid waste the cultivated fields of these people. For a river always scours its own bed, and although as it gently overflows it enriches the neighbouring lands, yet it renders barren the place into which, once gathered, it has flowed. Hence it was necessary to stretch out a saving hand to those cast down by the devastation of their community, lest the ungrateful should say that they alone perished for the defence of all:

Rather let those rejoice who afforded a road into Italy for its defenders. For tributes ought not to be exacted with sorrow from those through whom I have happily gained taxpayers. Let our spirit speak on their behalf what a subject cannot charge against his king. We bought the prosperity of the Goths at our own expense: we furnished what was needed, that the enemy might be conquered while we remained unharmed. It befits your prudence to apply diligent guardianship to the affairs of your subjects, since under your administration those things ought to be done which can display the royal presence. For we believe that, mindful of your birth, you cast from yourself all that is vicious, and can love those things alone which you know that we also love.

The examples of forefathers are perhaps blotted out, if the deeds of a long lineage are less recalled: but sons like their fathers soon follow upon their praises. Renatus, then, has complained to us with a tearful appeal that, by the judges you delegated, judgment was rendered in his favour against a woman named Inquilina after long intervals of time, and that, worn out by vigils and losses, he at last looked to your justice; yet that the litigant's shameless calumny does not cease, while with revived suits she pursues the poverty of the petitioner, so that she seems to have sought not so much the desire of winning as the ruin of her adversary.

Wherefore, if you recognize that judgment was given by your order and it is clear that the adversary did not lawfully appeal, cause the matter, lawfully concluded, to remain in its firmness, lest a long dispute of litigants not so much increase their patrimonies as overturn them, and what is done for the pursuit of gain should appear to be a cause of loss. Although we desire all parts of our commonwealth to be equally increased, yet the increase of fiscal tributes must be weighed with the most just judgment, since the diminution of those who serve is an addition to this contribution, and as much as that part profits, so much does this withdraw itself from stability.

But by us, who wish the advantage of the treasury to subsist with stable permanence, a costly excess must always be excluded, lest the sum, swollen with its own increase, should fail, and begin rather to be lacking, because it seemed to have grown monstrously. Accordingly let your illustrious Greatness know that the men of Gravasiana and Pontonata have petitioned us against Januarius, and also against Probus, unjust assessors, that they have been overburdened with imposts, since the hungry barrenness of their lands suffers no increases to be made for them. For when nature resists, any industry yields, nor does it profit to expend the zeal of labour where the richness of the soil is not known to assist it. There the assessment can be added where cultivation has prospered. Hence too come varied tributes, since the fertility of fields is not one and the same.

And therefore we decree that their former custom be restored to them, so that, just as in the time of Odovacar they paid their tributes, so now too let them serve the public needs by these; and if anything more is proved to have been added, in consideration of their failing strength we remove it. For we do not wish anything of the kind to be imposed which must needs be taken away. Among the other allurements by which the human race is solicited, the base ambition for the property of others is especially to be avoided, since, once flung out, it is borne into the immeasurable, unless it be pressed down by the weights of justice.

For divine Scripture too testifies that avarice is the root of all evils, which is punished by such a lot that, though it seizes much, it is always in want; and this, on account of the kinship of our race, we do not wish so to take root in your minds that we should grant it even its beginnings. For what do the filthiness of minds amid the splendour of birth? It rather befits you to choose that which can adorn us. Vulgar desire does not befit a man of Amal blood, since he beholds his lineage to be clothed in purple. Let us therefore correct you by the incitements of praise, in which we ought not as yet to be severe.

Domitius, then, a respectable man, has complained to us in a petition laid before us, that the possessions of his own right, that is, this one and that one, were seized by your men with disregard for the laws, when it ought to have been done in a civil manner, if it seemed by law to be demandable. But since we do not suffer that obscure reproaches be hurled longer against you, who shine with the brightness of your lineage, by the present authority we decree that, with our official Duda pressing the matter, if the circumstances of the moment support it, you cause the things lately seized, together with all that has been plundered, to be restored to the petitioner without any delay.

And if you believe that anything of the laws can support your side, it befits you to dispatch an instructed representative to our court, so that, when the claims of the parties have been examined under equity, a sentence may be passed which the authority of the law dictates. For it befits noble men to conduct all things under measured civility, since the odium of injury grows for the powerful in proportion as he who proves to be inferior in fortune is believed able to be oppressed. We are compelled to command certain things more strictly out of love of justice, while toward humbler fortunes the dispositions of our heart are gentler.

For he who could be subdued draws us to mercy, and his lowliness has this benefit, that, with proof preserved, it meanwhile moves us to grief, since cruelty raises up the humble, but odium presses down the more powerful. Having therefore offered your prayers, you allege that Basilius, a respectable man, lately obtained our precepts, that the possession of Arcinatina, which your patron had purchased with due formality of right from his wife Agapita, should, all delay set aside, be restored together with all the documents to the aforesaid wife, since he complained with tearful lament that his wife had been solicited from her own chambers:

adding that afterwards, according to our manner of justice, a precept was issued that, if your patrons presumed anything concerning the nature of the case, they should more quickly dispatch the matter to our court, so that the things which could be settled by reason might flow forth as if from the fountains of justice. Wherefore, if the assertions are vitiated by no falsehood, we decree that Basilius be admonished through the office of our see, that, if there is anything he can object on behalf of his side, so as not to be prosecuted in this case, he present himself to answer your claims, whether he prefer to come to court or to litigate in the competent forum, since we impose the necessity of distance on none but those who recognize this to be expedient for their own advantage. For in place of a benefit we grant our presence:

and therefore what deserves to be desired ought not to be imposed on the unwilling. It is a royal purpose to come to the aid, with the remedy of piety, of those crushed by the ruin of fortune, and to change bitter mischances of injury into a better lot. For by a petition laid before us you complain that Vivianus, a respectable man, puffed up by the artifice of the laws in which he is skilled, pursued your person with charges hurled against it, and came so far that, undefended, against the order of law, you were condemned by the sentence of the vicar of the city of Rome: but now, by the disposition of a religious mind, he has condemned worldly hatreds, and your peril has displeased its own author. And therefore, if your assertions are weakened by no objections, we do not suffer an injury to cling to the wretched which is shown to have displeased even its own contrivers.

Wherefore, the sentence which is known to have been promulgated by the vicar of the city of Rome on this matter having been sent into abolition, our authority restores you to your homeland and to all your goods, and at no time need you fear calumny on this point. But lest perchance anyone's punishable rashness be able to renew attacks of audacity against you, the protection of the patrician Albinus, assigned to you with the laws preserved, shall fortify you, since we wish nothing uncivil to be done, whose daily labour is to treat for the general peace. Well does the clemency of the prince take up those whom a father's piety has forsaken, since under a public parent the loss of a begetter ought least to be felt. For destitute infancy rightly has recourse to us, for whom the increase of all men brings profit.

The complaint of the most distinguished young men Marcianus and Maximus, then, has assailed us: that, during the paschal days, they were wounded by the blow of a father's death and, in the very season of joy, were alone compelled to bear sorrow, and that they neglected their own advantage with pious disregard, since even for a man of firm age to ponder such matters amid tears would seem a kind of madness. For the pursuit of gain ceases when there is leisure only for mourning, nor does the mind take in anything else, when the quality of grief has filled it. Seizing upon this cruel surprise, they report that the tower of the circus and a place in the amphitheatre, belonging to their father of illustrious memory, were sought after by your office with detestable ambition. No feeling of humanity recalled the schemer against them, no like misfortune frightened him:

he burdened infancy, which not to relieve is rightly reckoned a loss of honour. But we, who keep the rules of the ancients, who preserve the weights of piety, decree by a wholesome ordinance that, if the once patrician and magnificent man Volusianus, the father of the petitioners, possessed the above-mentioned places by common right, they ought not to perish for his sons; especially since we desire to nourish the senatorial seed with new benefits rather than, in its very beginnings, to crush the hope of mature age by some injury. And therefore your illustrious Greatness, if it remembers that any such thing was done, shall straightway know that it must be corrected, lest the venerable assembly of the senatorial order be violated by unjust presumption.

The renowned reputation of the city of Rome is nonetheless to be preserved by its own institution, nor does it take on foreign vices, it which has always prided itself on the uprightness of morals. For the frivolities of seditions and to court the burning of one's own city is not to wish in a Roman manner. And therefore severity of the laws is to be observed upon the authors of the deed, lest the detestable sight of a fire seize the hearts of the common people for abominable imitation. We have learned, then, from the report of the illustrious count Arigern, that he was assailed by a complaint of the Jews, that servile audacity broke out into the slaughter of their masters:

and that, when in their case it had been cut short by public severity, immediately the inflamed strife of the populace, with a rash conflagration, led the synagogue to be burned, avenging the faults of men by the destruction of buildings; whereas, if any of the Jews were proved to transgress, he himself ought to have been subjected to the penalty, and it was not right to rush together to the foul deeds of seditions or to hasten to the burning of buildings. But we, to whom, by God's favour, it is a matter of the heart to set right what has been wrongly committed, that all may be able to agree with appeased manners, by the present authority decree that you investigate the aforesaid cause by lawful examination, and that, upon the few authors of this fire whom you can find, with severity duly observed, you cut them off:

since we do not wish anything detestable to be done, on account of which Roman gravity should be accused. Decreeing this likewise by equal reason, that, if anyone reasonably believes that something supports him against the Jews, let him come to be heard before your judgment, so that censure may condemn him whom guilt has involved. For know that this has displeased us vehemently, that the most empty intentions of the peoples should have proceeded to the very destruction of buildings, where we wish everything to be beautifully ordered. An odious complaint is that against him to whom the rights of reverence are to be preserved, since some grave offence is believed to have been committed, where silence is not kept against such persons.

Stephanus, then, has complained in a tearful appeal that a cottage of his own right, possessed for a long age before your predecessor and your predecessor's predecessor, was, about nine months ago, seized by the men of the church over which you preside, with disregard for the order of civil law. And if you recognize that it was so done, restore it, in consideration of justice, by the right of the moment, to the petitioner. For it is fitting that what ought not to have been admitted by your household be corrected by you.

However, if you recognize that justice is on your side in either the possessory or the principal case, having first diligently examined and inspected the matter—since it does not befit a priest to prolong an unrighteous suit—dispatch to our court a person instructed in the laws, where the nature of the matter ought to be ascertained and concluded. Wherefore let the mind of your Holiness not be burdened, nor grieve that it was accused with deceitful words: far greater is a reputation cleared than if, the complaints ceasing, it had not been assailed. We have ordered the suppliant Heruli, with God as author, to come to our court at our appointed places; to whom passage by ship is to be afforded, lest in our homeland they still seem to labour under the want of their own province.

Therefore, admonished by the present command, prepare for them both the use of a ship as far as the city of Ravenna and provisions for five days, without any delay, and do not cause anything necessary to be lacking to them, so that they may know that they have left a hungry province by their discovery of abundance, and that a foreign land may be more bountiful to them than their own. It befits our piety to arrange the petitions of suppliants by a wholesome ordinance, since the minds of subjects are relieved whenever the complaint of the grieving is settled. The respectable man Liberius, then, has reported to us in a grievous appeal that his wife was, in your judgment, overburdened against the order of law.

And if it is so, with prejudgments set aside, let the case be heard according to the laws before arbiters whom the consent of the parties shall choose, with you pressing it forward. But if an end of the matter cannot be found there, through instructed representatives—if indeed they themselves do not choose to come—we do not deny to the parties the liberty of coming to our court, where neither bribery may perchance be suspected nor insidious calumny able to harm. Those things which are known to be subject to continual exertions must be cherished with assiduous solicitude. For how could the conveyance by post-horses suffice for necessary labour, if it were permitted to be exceeded? For neglected guardianship is an incitement to dishonest presumption.

From the report of our envoys, then, we have learned that the courier-horses are wearied by frequent misuse, and that those which we wish to be kept for public necessities are taken, as we have found, for the use of private will. And therefore, by the ordinance of the praetorian prefect and the master of the offices, we decree that you reside in the city of Rome, as long as the public advantage shall advise, so that you may suffer none of the Goths or Romans to go forth thence, except those whom the deputies acting in the place of the aforesaid dignities may perchance have dismissed.

And as for what is reported to us to have been frequently usurped—if anyone, against the will of those to whom this care has been entrusted, should perhaps presume to take post-horses, of whatever nation or rank he may be, let him be compelled to pay a hundred solidi by way of fine for each horse: not because the harm to a single beast is to be valued at so much, but because importunate presumption must be checked by a heavy penalty. Furthermore, suffer no saio to make excursions, but to the cause for which he has been directed let him be permitted to go and return by one journey only. Upon those let the prohibited frequency fall under the above-mentioned fine. Moreover let no one exceed loads of a hundred pounds for pack-horses. For we wish couriers to hasten unencumbered; we do not decree that they migrate.

Whoever carries much with him betrays his own sloth, nor does he who has preferred to handle himself with delicate ease give thought to speed. Cranes, in short, when about to cross the sea, grasp small pebbles with their hooked feet, so that neither may their lightness be snatched away by too strong a wind, nor their native swiftness be weighed down by unfair burdens. Can they imitate this who know that they have been chosen for public necessities? And therefore let now not the courier, but the cart-driver, incur a fine of fifty solidi, whoever shall have believed that a pack-horse is to be loaded beyond a hundred pounds.

But for those who preside in the city in place of the above-written dignities, we charge you to observe that any excess detected by them be punished, by your execution, with the aforesaid condemnation. And if intemperate fault should strike any down, we wish the amount collected to be applied, through the deputies, to the keepers of the relays, so that the courier-service may have its remedy from that source whence hitherto it has taken its harm. For in worldly affairs prosperity is often born of adversity, and men, when they desire to harm, frequently bestow benefits. But you shall fulfil all things so effectively and diligently that, provoked by your good deeds, we may owe it to commit greater things to your devotion.

After the wearisome cares of the tumultuous city and the burdensome troubles of supervisions, your Greatness desires to be refreshed by the pleasantness of the provinces, asserting that causes of occupation have arisen for you at the present times, which once discharged, you desire to enjoy rural sweetness. And because that security is true which is given by our commands, when the time of your occupation shall be ended for you, by our authority we grant a respite of eight months in the sweet retreats of Lucania, to be reckoned from that time when it shall befall you, by divine favour, to go forth from the city. These accomplished, hasten, to the desire of many, to come to your Roman seat, to be restored to the assembly of nobles and to a converse worthy of your character.

The strictness of the royal command ought not always to be withdrawn, so that it may both restrain the bold with fear and cherish the wounded with future hope. For very often a threat announced accomplishes more than punishment settles. And therefore, with God as our patron, we have decreed that Fridibad preside over your places, who may with lawful severity restrain rustlers of animals, cut off homicides, condemn thefts, and render you quiet from wicked outrages, by which now unjust presumption tears you apart. Live orderly, live trained in good morals; let no nation, no merited honour excuse anyone. He who yields to depraved morals must needs lie subject to vengeance.

The Campanians, laid waste by the hostility of Mount Vesuvius, have poured out suppliant tears to our clemency, that, stripped of the fruits of their fields, they may be relieved of the burden of the tributary obligation. That this ought to be done, our piety deservedly agrees. But since to us the unexamined calamity of each one is doubtful, we charge your Greatness to dispatch a man of proven trust to the territory of Nola or Naples, where the very necessity rages with a certain domestic injury, so that, the fields there being diligently inspected, in proportion as the advantage of the possessor has suffered, he may be relieved: so that the amount of the benefit may be measured out in due proportion, while the full extent of the injury is ascertained.

For this province, despoiled of its lands, labours under this one evil, which, lest it should enjoy perfect happiness, is frequently shaken by the bitterness of this fear. But that terrible event is not wholly harsh: it sends signs beforehand, that adversities may be borne more tolerably. For, with nature struggling under such great masses, the chasm of that mountain murmurs within, so that a certain spirit, aroused, terrifies the neighbourhood with a deep-sounding roar. For the airs of that place are darkened by a most foul exhalation, and it is known throughout almost all Italy when that indignation is stirred up.

Ash, baked to ash, flies through the great void, and, with earthy clouds stirred up, it rains down even upon provinces beyond the sea with dusty drops; and what Campania can suffer is recognized, when its evil is felt in another part of the world. You may see there, as it were, certain dusty rivers go forth, and barren streams of sands run down with seething rush like liquid currents. You may be amazed that suddenly the ridges of the fields have swelled up to the very tops of the trees, and that suddenly, by a mournful heat, those things have been laid waste which had been adorned with the gladdest greenness.

That perpetual furnace vomits forth sands that are indeed of pumice, yet fertile, which, although they have been dried by long burning, when received into various offspring soon bring forth seedlings, and with a certain great swiftness restore what a little before they had laid waste. What is this singular exception, that one mountain should so roar within as to be proved to terrify so many parts of the world by a change of air, and so to scatter its own substance everywhere, that it does not seem to feel any loss? Far and wide it bedews with dusts, but for its neighbours it belches forth certain masses, and through so many ages it is held to be a mountain, which is spent by such great outpourings.