Variae & Works 8

Although the offices of all dignities are debarred from the armed hand, and those who are taught to carry out public severity are seen to be clothed in civil garments, your dignity alone is adorned with terrors, you who are girded with the sword of war even in peaceful affairs. See by what judgment you have been advanced, when we see the vigor of the fasces entrusted to others, but to you it is established that the steel itself has been held forth by the very laws. They gave a bloody thing to a peaceful spirit, so that both the guilty might exceedingly fear and the injured might rejoice in the longed-for vengeance. Otherwise the earlier men would be blamed, had they not made all things tempered. But since you understand yourself to have been chosen for governance, do not readily covet human destruction. He who is called a defendant—let him also be proved one.

Know that the remedy of punishing has been given to you for the well-being of the many. These are the arms of law, not of frenzy. This display is surely instituted against the guilty, so that terror may correct more than penalty consumes. For he is not compelled to cut down with steel a robust audacity who still bends a tender one with words. This dread is civil, not warlike, which you will make to be glorious if it be not proved to have excess. You also have steel that is nonetheless bloodless. Let those be shut up in the bonds of chains whom the censure of light crimes assails. He who judges concerning life ought to be one who delays: another sentence can be corrected; what has been transacted concerning life suffers no change.

Let cattle-rustlers fear your standards, let thieves grow pale, let robbers shudder with horror; let innocence alone look on glad, while it believes that aid has come to it which the discipline of the laws has transmitted. Let no one turn your will aside by bribes: the sword is despised where gold is accepted; you render yourself unarmed if you depart from a manly spirit through greed. Wherefore through the said indiction we grant you the dignity of the countship in that province, so that you may carry out what pertains to your titles rather as one praiseworthy for civility, and presume to do nothing except what a private man might lawfully avenge. For that is right administration which is defended even without power, so that he may then be proved to have been just when an enemy can object to him whatever he would prefer.

Nor yet is your hope deserted as if with disdain: for if you preside well over the administrations of provinces, the laws have with good reason judged that you may hope for the most ample honors. Whence it now seems almost a debt, what is known to have been freely promised to you by so great an authority. Antiquity in all ways prudently considered that the dignities of provinces be renewed by yearly succession, lest one man should grow insolent through long-continued power, and that the advancements of many might find their joys. For it suffices each man to have departed praised, because while a prolonged time of power is sought, the reproaches of faults are not avoided. For it is marvelous to escape them even in a short span, since they frequently steal upon even those who depart from the fasces with swiftness.

A full year suffices both to declare the good things of a conscience and the more easily guards itself from error. Let it be in your purpose to undertake the administration of a single year: it is ours to increase the time for the deserving, because we do not readily wish to remove those whom we perceive to be just. Therefore, invited by the morals of your conduct, through the said indiction we grant you, by favoring divinity, the governorship in that province, so that you ought so to act that the landholder may seem to render thanks along with his tributes. Follow the good examples of your predecessors; sever yourself from the imitation of the vicious: let not every custom be reckoned worthy of approval. Another's error ought to render one cautious, not compliant. He betrays the fault of folly who follows one who has been accused.

But that is the better choice from which the reputation of one's predecessor is praised with admiration. Consider with how many nobles the province is full. You have those who both ought to speak well of you and presume to disparage, because there is no power which can take away the quality of its own reputation from the mouth of men. On the contrary, what a fruit it is to go through neighboring provinces with a praiseworthy reputation, and to find there the truest praise, where you do not rule by power! It is added that we do not leave unrewarded, if we hear that you have acted commendably. Shun vice, and you earn the affection of the prince. You have the royal will in the laws: obey them, and you are recognized to fulfill our commands.

Since, with God's help, we know that the Goths dwell intermingled with you, lest any indiscipline should arise among the partners, as is wont to happen, we have judged it necessary to send to you that sublime man, hitherto approved by us for his good morals, as count, who according to our edicts is to cut off any suit between two Goths; and if perchance any business should arise also between a Goth and a Roman, taking to himself a prudent Roman, he may settle the contest by even-handed reason. But between two Romans let the cognitors whom we direct through the provinces give audience as Romans, so that to each his own rights may be preserved, and under a diversity of judges one justice may embrace all alike.

Thus, in common peace, may both nations, divinity being favorable, enjoy a sweet leisure. Know, moreover, that our charity is one and equal toward all: but he will be able to commend himself the more to our heart who has loved the laws with a temperate will. We love nothing uncivil: we detest wicked pride along with its authors. Our piety execrates the violent. In a cause let rights, not arms, prevail. For why should those choose to seek violent means who are proved to have judgments at hand? For this reason we give emoluments to judges, for this reason we maintain so many offices with diverse largesses, that we may not allow to grow among you what might pertain to hatred. Let one desire of living embrace you, you for whom it is established that the empire is one.

Let each people hear what we love. Let the Romans, as they are neighbors to you in possessions, so be also joined to you in charity. And you, Romans, ought to love the Goths with great zeal, who both make numerous peoples for you in peace and defend the whole commonwealth through wars. And so it befits you to obey the judge appointed by us, so that whatever he shall decree for the preserving of the laws, you may fulfill in all ways, insofar as you may seem to have satisfied both our empire and your own benefit.

Although the honor of the rank of spectabilis seems to be one, and in these matters nothing else is wont to be set before another except time, yet when the quality of affairs is weighed, much is seen to be entrusted to those to whom border peoples are assigned, because it is not the same thing to pronounce law in pacified regions as to sit beside suspect nations, where not so much vices as wars are to be feared, nor only does the herald's voice sound, but the blare of trumpets frequently makes its onset. For the Raetias are the fortifications of Italy and the barriers of the province: which we judge not without reason to have been so named, since against fierce and most savage nations they are set out like certain obstacles of snares. For there the heathen onset is received, and by hurled javelins the raging presumption is wounded.

Thus the heathen onset is your hunting, and you carry on as sport what you perceive yourselves to have continually done with happy success. And therefore, hearing that you are strong in talent and might, through the said indiction we yield to you the dukedom of the Raetias, that you may both rule the soldiers in peace and, with them, traverse our borders with solemn alacrity, since you perceive that no small matter has been committed to you, when the tranquillity of our kingdom is believed to be guarded by your solicitude. Yet so, that the soldiers committed to you may live with the provincials by civil law, and that the spirit which feels itself armed may not grow insolent, because that shield of our army ought to furnish quiet to the Romans. They are clearly stationed for this purpose, that within, a happier life may be plucked in secure freedom.

Wherefore answer to our judgment, pleasing us by faith and diligence, so that you neither receive foreigners without examination nor transmit our people to the nations without care. Indeed, recourse to arms comes more rarely where an attempted surprise is felt to be capable of being guarded against. But the privileges of your dignity you shall vindicate by our commands. Our hall (aula), as it is acknowledged to have been established by skilled arrangers, so there ought to be in it the diligent care of learned men, since that marvelous beauty, if it be not refreshed from time to time, is spoiled as old age steals upon it. These are the delights of our power, the comely face of empire, the heralding testimony of kingdoms:

these are shown to envoys with admiration, and at first sight such a lord is believed to be as his dwelling is proved to be. And therefore it is a great pleasure of a most prudent mind continually to rejoice in a most beautiful habitation, and amid public cares to refresh the wearied spirit with the sweetness of buildings. These the Cyclopes are first said to have founded in Sicily, most spacious, after the manner of caverns, after Polyphemus had borne in the hollows of the mountains, at the hand of Ulysses, the lamentable bereavement of his single eye. Thence the skill of building is read to have been transferred to Italy, so that what was invented by such great and such (skilled) founders, an emulous posterity might preserve to its own advantage.

Hence it is that we judge your spectability ought, from the said indiction, to undertake the care of our palace, so that you may both keep the old things in their former brightness and bring forth new ones with a similar antiquity: because, just as it befits a comely body to be clothed in one color, so the brightness of the palace ought to be diffused alike through all its members. For these tasks you can be found suitable, if you frequently read the geometer Euclid, if you store up his diagrams, described with marvelous variety, in the contemplation of your mind, so that at the hour, being prompted, copious knowledge may serve you. Let Archimedes too, that most subtle investigator, with Metrobius ever stand by you, so that you may be rendered most ready for new things, you who are proved learned in the books of the ancients.

For no small care is delegated to you, since you are proved to fulfill, by the ministry of your art, our spirit most desirous of the zeal for building. For if anywhere we either restore a city or wish to found the newness of strongholds, or if the pleasantness of a praetorium to be constructed should allure us, by your ordering there is brought before the eyes what is found amid our thinking. A comely mastery, a purpose altogether glorious, to send into ages so long that whereby posterity ought to praise you in admiration.

For whatever the builder of walls, or the carver of marble, or the founder of bronze, or the turner of vaults, or the worker in plaster, or the mosaicist does not know, he prudently asks of you; and that whole great army of craftsmen runs back to your judgment, lest it should produce anything confused. See, therefore, how much he ought to know who is able to instruct so many. You assuredly reap the most abundant fruit of your good management, since you are praised for their labor, if you display works diligently executed by them. Wherefore, whatever pertains to you, we wish it to be carried out so becomingly, so firmly, that the only difference from the work of the ancients should be the newness of the structures. But you make these things possible, if you suppress none of our gifts through any greed.

For he commands the craftsman effectively who does not allow him to be defrauded of due remuneration. A generous hand nourishes the talents of the arts, since he who need not think about his sustenance hastens to accomplish what is commanded. Consider too with what favor you are treated, that, adorned with a golden staff, you are seen to march first among the numerous attendants before the royal feet, so that by this very testimony of nearness to us it may be recognized that we have entrusted the palaces to you. Although the buildings of Rome, set side by side, can scarcely be found that surpass one another—since everything that is seen to have been founded there is acknowledged to have been wrought to a marvel—nevertheless we judge there to be this difference: that necessary usefulness gratifies, while the other commends itself only for the sake of beauty.

To behold the Forum of Trajan even with constant gazing is a marvel; to ascend the lofty Capitol is to have seen human genius surpassed. But is life sustained by these, or is any health of the body refreshed by such delight? In the aqueducts of Rome, however, both are foremost: the construction is wondrous, and the wholesomeness of the waters singular. For how many rivers are led there as if upon constructed mountains! You would believe their channels natural, by the solidity of the stone, since so great a force of water could for so many ages be firmly upheld. Hollowed mountains often collapse, the courses of torrents are scattered; yet that work of the ancients is not destroyed, if it is preserved with supporting diligence.

Let us indeed observe how great an adornment the abundance of waters affords to the walls of Rome. For what would that beauty of the baths be, if it did not possess certain most sweet expanses of water? The Aqua Virgo runs with the most pure delight, which is believed to be so called for this reason, that it is defiled by no impurities. For while other waters are violated by an excess of rains through the admixture of earth, this, flowing most purely, counterfeits an air ever serene with its limpid wave. Who could set forth such things in fitting words?—how the Aqua Claudia is led through so great a mass of arches up to the height of the Aventine, so that, when it has fallen there, slipping down from on high, that lofty summit seems to be watered as though it were the deepest valley.

The Egyptian Nile, swelling at fixed seasons, when its flood is poured over the lying fields, rages turbid beneath a serene sky; but how much more beautiful it is that the Roman Aqua Claudia has sent forth most pure waters through so many dry mountain heights from the teeming pipes to baths and houses, and flows so evenly that it can never withdraw itself when desired! For the one, while it recedes, is mud; while it comes unexpectedly, is a deluge. Who then would not judge that the famous Nile is surpassed by the rivers of our city—seeing that it either terrifies its own dwellers by its coming or forsakes them by its receding? But we have related these things not by superfluous recital, that you may perceive what diligence is required of you, to whom so great a beauty is committed.

Wherefore, by this indiction we have entrusted to you, after great deliberation, the office of count of the aqueducts, that with utmost zeal you may strive to accomplish what you see to be expedient for things so great and of such kind. First of all, the harmful trees, which bring about the ruin of the structures—being like certain irresistible battering-rams of the walls—we decree to be cut down by the roots; for no injury is removed whose origin is not taken away. But if anything has been demolished by the action of age, let it be repaired with vigilant speed, lest, as the decay grows, our occasion of loss be increased. The aqueduct's conduit is your fortune: while you remain unharmed, if you have made it solid; and you advance with us in such measure as you shall prove yourself to have labored for them.

Let then your skill and fidelity act so that both the construction of the fabric may remain unimpaired, and the distribution of the water may not be diverted by any venality of the keepers. Although your very name ought to rouse you to the vigils of the city, that you may fulfill what you are called, nevertheless our wonted forethought and caution do not desert us, but rather we sweetly invite to obedience those whom we choose for action. For what is more beautiful for you than to expend the labor of your diligence zealously in that city, where such witnesses are seen to stand by? Indeed, your caution, as soon as it has been applied, runs through the mouths of patricians and consuls: you scarcely do anything carefully, and you hear the nobles praise you with admiration.

You hold a middling rank from the king, yet you move in the highest repute. You are called the guardian of the Roman state, since you defend it from the domestic enemy. Wherefore be vigilant concerning thieves. Although the laws by no means bid you punish them, nevertheless they did not deny you the license of tracking them down—I believe in order that, although they were detestable robbers, yet because they were called Romans, they might subject them to a greater dignity. Use therefore, through this indiction, the dignity of prefect of the watch. The terror of penalties has been taken from you, not the power: for the law judged that one to be feared all the more by whom it willed the wicked to be seized.

You shall therefore be the security of those who sleep, the safeguard of homes, the protection of locks; an unseen investigator, a silent arbiter, for whom it is right to deceive those who lie in ambush, and a glory to outwit them. Your activity is a nocturnal hunt, which by a marvelous manner, if it is not seen, then is it caught. You commit thefts the more upon thieves, while you strive to circumvent those whom you know to be able to delude all men. It is a kind of conjuring trick that you perform, that you may entangle the cunning of robbers. For we reckon that the riddles of the Sphinx could more easily be grasped than the fugitive presence of a robber be discovered. He, circumspect to all things, unstable for what is to come, fearful of ambushes—how can he be caught, who, like the wind, is seen to be held in no fixed place?

Keep watch unwearied with the birds of night: let the night reveal to you its sights, and as they find their food in the darkness, so may you be able to discover renown. Be now attentive to the duties enjoined. Let no venality take from you what your industry grants. For although these things may seem to be carried on beneath a deep gloom, yet there is no act that can be hidden. Your privileges too, and those of your appointed office, you shall reasonably claim by our authority, since it is necessary in so great a city that matters be conducted by various judges, which cannot be dispatched by one.

Although you are adorned at first sight with the dignity of a great name—since the prudence of the ancients could not designate the highest and the lowest things by a like appellation, lest it should pollute by another's baseness the splendor it gave to the highest—nevertheless from this it is understood what the authority of our forebears could have intended, when they willed those to be called prefects of the watch who go their rounds for the general repose. For to you is committed the security of fortunes, the adornment of the city, the advantage of all; that is, that you may wage a peaceful war against domestic prowlers, should you perceive any citizen to be in danger of harm. Guard the fortunes of all. Untroubled sleep is enjoyed while you keep watch, and no annoyance is felt. Set in peace, you take victories over the thief of the night.

At morning the defended city rejoices in your laurels, which, when it beholds the captives, then knows itself to have been freed from a hidden enemy. Daily you triumph, if you keep good watch; and although the glory of warlike contest is rare, yet it serves you continually in the robbers you have found. O office of leadership undertaken with too great affection for the citizens! You undertake to seek out plunderers whom the master cannot find for himself, and, beneficent by a double reckoning, you either forestall thefts to come or shut off those already committed. Is not this a certain ineffable grace of the city—to take upon itself the one thing which it sees to be expedient for all? Deservedly did prudent antiquity assign to you the glorious name of prefect, since that one could not do this, except who loved the citizens more than his own advantages.

Your office too stands relieved by no small reward, since the rights of even those of lower station have been extended, who are known to perform military service for the security of the citizens. Since these things are so, we grant you, well pleased with your repute, the prefecture of the watch for that indiction, on this condition: that you carry out in every way both the care of this dignity and the privileges befitting you. But although a general consent pursues the most hateful name of thieves, nevertheless, because the shedding of human blood is at issue, we command that nothing be undertaken suddenly or without deliberation. Follow moderation, you who condemn rashness; love restraint, you who condemn thefts.

Let those who are brought to trial be heard, as they are about to say something for their safety, since whatever is not examined is not deemed justice. But for those convicted and confessed, let the secrets be kept: since he does nothing cruel who follows the laws. It is a more delightful than laborious service to hold the dignity of count in the Roman Port. For there a copious arrival of ships is observed; there the sail-bearing sea sends across foreign peoples with the diverse merchandise of the provinces, and amid so many spectacles of pleasant things, it is to your advantage that those who come have escaped peril. By these jaws first are the delights of Rome perceived, and through the Tiberine waves, as if through a gullet, pass the things that ascend to the commerce of the city.

A well-devised dignity, which is seen to adorn the supplies of Rome! For what could be done more elegant than that whence that people is proved to be sustained? O the inventions of our forebears! O the refined discoveries of the prudent! that, because Rome seemed set somewhat far from the shore, it might begin to exist more fully from where it possessed a seemly entrance for ships. For the two channels of the Tiberine bed received most adorned cities, like two eyes, so that what supplied the costs for so great a city might not be void of grace. A surpassing matter therefore is committed to you, if it is carried out with moderation. You provide abundance, when you have treated the incomers justly. A greedy hand shuts the harbor, and when it draws in its fingers, it at once furls the sails of the ships.

For deservedly do all merchants flee from that which they perceive to be costly to themselves. Wherefore the adverse wind there is immoderate presumption: for he condemns the calm sea who heaps up the waves of greed. Let each one, admonished according to custom, offer a voluntary gift. For these are presents, not debts. He receives from few who seeks too much; and he himself nourishes the gifts of life who moderates what is offered. Let your chief care therefore be not only to abstain yourself, but also to restrain the hands of those who would presume; since it is no light thing to transgress in that plenty which it becomes all men unceasingly to desire.

Wherefore, by that indiction, we adorn you with the honor of count of the Port, that, as the dignity ministers sweet delights to you, so you too may leave behind for the honor a praiseworthy repute. Although the slippery arts are removed from honorable conduct, and the wandering life of actors might seem capable of being carried off into license, nevertheless governing antiquity provided that they should not flow loose altogether, since they too were to endure a judge. For the exhibition of pleasures must be administered under a certain discipline. Let an order of judgment, if not real, yet at least shadowy, hold the players in check. Let these affairs too be tempered by the quality of the laws, as if honesty commanded the dishonorable, and let those live by certain rules who know not the way of upright conduct.

For those men study not so much their own pleasure as the merriment of others, and by a perverse condition, while they hand over the mastery to their own bodies, they have compelled their souls rather to serve. It was fitting therefore that they should receive a governor, who know not how to conduct themselves by lawful behavior. For your office is set, as it were, a certain guardian for these herds of men. For as those keep watch over tender ages with applied caution, so by you must fervid pleasures be bridled by a bestowed maturity. Do by good institutions what excessive prudence is established to have invented in our forebears. A light desire, even if modesty does not restrain it, a forewarned severity moderates.

Let the spectacles be conducted, ordered by their own customs, since not even they can find favor unless they have imitated some discipline. Wherefore our choice makes you tribune of pleasures for that indiction, that you may so act in all things as to win to yourself the good wishes of the city, lest what is established to have been devised for merriment should seem in your times to have been turned to faults. Conduct yourself, your repute safe, among matters of diminished honor. Love chastity, you to whom prostitutes are subject; that it may be said with great praise: 'He pursued virtues, who mingled among pleasures.' For we desire that through a sportive administration you may attain to a serious dignity.

If for accomplishing the business of any private person such a one is chosen as is praised for counsel and gravity, how much more excellent ought you to be, who undertake the business of the city? For if it is a peril to deceive one man, what will it be to have shown oneself unequal to the judgments of so many? For the cause of many well managed ennobles, since he is believed to do everything with good purpose, who is perceived to be present to the general desires. By that indiction, therefore, moved by the supplication of your citizens, our authority grants you the office of defender of that city, that you may will to do nothing venal, nothing dishonest, you who are called by such a name. Arrange the commerce for the citizens with even moderation according to the quality of the times.

Keep as fixed the things you shall have ordained, since there is no labor in setting the totals of selling, except to guard the appointed prices most uprightly. For you truly fulfill the office of a good defender, if you suffer your citizens neither to be oppressed by the laws nor consumed by exactions under the guise of love. Although he is held honorable in himself who is seen to spend even the slightest care upon his own city, and enjoys great reverence among his own who has professed that he loves the citizens, nevertheless that honor is beyond doubt which is conferred by our choice, since he is believed endowed with good institutions to whom anything is delegated by the prince's authority.

And therefore, from that indiction, we wish the care of that city to pertain to you, that you may wisely govern the praiseworthy orders of the curia, and cause moderate prices to be kept by those very persons whom it concerns. Let not the price be in the power of the sellers alone: let a welcome equality be preserved in all things. For a most opulent grace of the citizens is gathered hence too, if prices are kept under moderation, so that you may truly fulfill the office of curator, when your concern shall be for the advantage of all. The customs, moreover, which your forebears are established to have held in that same place, you shall defend for yourself by our authority.

If a most wicked desire is wont to lie in wait for closed and fortified houses, how much more is he seen to be enticed in the Roman city, who finds in the open streets something precious that he can carry off? For a most copious population of statues, and likewise most abundant herds of horses, are to be preserved with such caution as the care with which they are seen to have been set up—where, if there were any consideration in human affairs, not the watchmen, but reverence alone ought to guard Roman beauty. What shall we say of marbles, precious even beyond metals? Which, if one were at leisure to snatch away, rare is the hand that could refrain from such things. Where they are exposed, which the general riches and the labor of the world were able to produce—who would it become to be negligent amid these things?

Who in such a cause would suffer himself to be venal, when the gravest loss can be inflicted upon a singular beauty? Wherefore by that indiction we grant you the dignity of the count of Rome, with its privileges and just emoluments, that with faithful zeal and great effort you may seek out wicked hands, and cause those who lie in wait either for the fortunes of private persons or for the walls to come to your judgment; and, the truth of the matter being examined, let them undergo a fitting penalty from the laws—since the public indignation justly pursues such men, who defile the beauty of the ancients by the mutilation of its members, and inflict upon public monuments what they themselves ought to suffer. Compel your office and the accustomed soldiers rather to keep watch by night: but by day the city guards itself.

For he who is watchful through zeal needs no other man's help. Thieves indeed persuade themselves; but then is the presumptuous one easily caught, when the guard is least felt to come upon him. The statues are not wholly mute, since, when struck by thieves, they are seen to warn the guards by their ringing. Accordingly, may we perceive your diligence with praiseworthy devotion, so that to you, on whom we now lay laborious burdens, we may afterwards confer untroubled honors. If dignity is to be valued from labor, if praiseworthy concern for public matters begets grace for one who serves liberally, your office must be held with the highest gratification, since it is proved to take away delay from your necessities by our ordinances. For who would not know how great an abundance of ships you readily procure when admonished?

From the dignitaries of our palace it is scarcely written down in the warrants of transport, and already it is completed by you with the utmost speed. For amid the anxious haste of those dispatched, scarcely does another have time to take note of what you swiftly chance to fulfill. The accustomed labors of the traders you shall neither exact excessively nor abandon to venality. Let there be a measure that cannot burden the toiling, so that, when you have managed troublesome matters without complaints, you may merit greater things from our examination. Accordingly, our Serenity grants you the countship of Ravenna for that indiction, that you may undergo both the privileges and the labors of your dignity. Govern your office with consideration of equity. For he who is engaged in public actions always finds occasions both of harming and of bestowing benefit.

But as much as your administration is conducted among persons of middling means, with so great an equality ought it to be weighed in the balance, since it is rather expedient for him to keep due measure who is known to govern a depleted substance. The wealthy scarcely feel losses, but the slender are wounded by a slight expense, since by even a moderate injury he seems to lose everything who is known to possess but little. The glory of Roman architecture befits to have a skilled guardian, that that wondrous forest of walls may be preserved with diligence coming to its aid, and the modern face of the work may be constructed with cunning arrangements. For our bounty yields not in this zeal: that we may both renew the works of the ancients, their defects being shut out, and clothe the new with the glory of antiquity.

Accordingly, let your Illustrious Magnitude know that so-and-so has been given, from that indiction, as architect to the Roman citadels. And because by just emoluments the studies of the arts must be nourished, we wish to pertain to him whatever his predecessors are established to have reasonably obtained. He will assuredly see better things than he has read, more beautiful than he could conceive: those statues, namely retaining still the likenesses of their authors, so that, as long as the repute of praiseworthy persons should survive, so long too should the image of the body preserve the likeness of living substance. He will behold veins expressed in bronze, muscles swelling with a certain effort, sinews as if strained in a stride, and man so poured into diverse likenesses that you would believe him rather to have been begotten.

These the Tuscans are reported to have first invented in Italy, which posterity, embracing them, gave to the city a people almost equal to that which nature procreated. One will marvel that even ardor is present in the forms of horses. For with their nostrils crisped and rounded, their limbs taut, their ears laid back, one will perhaps believe them eager for the course, when one knows that the metals do not move. What shall we say of the reed-like loftiness of the columns?

Those most lofty masses of buildings held up as if by certain upraised spears, and hollowed out with concave channels under such great evenness that you would rather reckon them to have been poured forth; you would judge to have been made in wax what you see polished from the hardest metals; you would call the joinings of the marbles natural veins, where, while the eyes are deceived, praise is proven to have grown by marvels. The narrators of the former age relate that to the lands were assigned only seven marvels of buildings: the temple of Diana at Ephesus; the most beautiful monument of king Mausolus, from which mausolea are named; the bronze statue of the Sun at Rhodes, which is called the Colossus; the image of Olympian Jove, which Phidias, first of craftsmen, formed with the highest elegance of ivory and gold;

the house of Cyrus, king of the Medes, which Memnon built with prodigal art, with stones set in gold; the walls of Babylon, which queen Semiramis constructed with baked brick, sulphur, and iron; the pyramids in Egypt, whose shadow, consuming itself within their own stance, is in no part seen beyond the bounds of the construction. But who will deem those things any longer pre-eminent, when in one city he shall have beheld so many things to astound? They had honor because they came first in time, and in a rude age whatever new thing had emerged was rightly carried as supreme through the mouths of men. But now it can be truthful, if all Rome be called a marvel.

Wherefore it befits a most skilled man to undertake such things, lest among those over-ingenious works of the ancients he himself should seem to be a mere metal-worker, and be unable to understand what the craftsman antiquity wrought in them, that they might be perceived. And therefore let him give attention to books, let him have leisure for the instructions of the ancients, lest he should know anything less from them, in whose place he is known to have been substituted. It is established that for the most part matters can be well conducted where there has been no lack of a person to admonish. For all things without a leader are confused, and while each one thinks to live according to his own will, he is known to omit the rule of discipline. And so, following the manner of ancient custom, our authority yields to you, as judge over the islands of Curitana and Celsina, by that indiction.

For it is just that those who are separated from the company of the rest of men should have one go to their dwellings who may compose them by reasonable judgment, lest there be a certain necessity of injustice in being ignorant of common acts that are situated far off. You have therefore, you aforesaid, one who ought both to hear and to settle the cases arising among you. And if anything has also been decreed by our Piety, carry it out at his admonition, since occasion for errors is removed when it is declared to you whom you ought to heed. Him we believe so to study good deeds that he may be able to receive increases of our grace. For it is necessary that he take remuneration from us, if he disposes for you the things that will be profitable.

It is a glorious work for one serving, whereby the Roman city is proved to be adorned, since each one advances with us as much as he shall have contributed to the aforesaid City by his own labor. There is no doubt that burnt lime, which is of the same color as snow and lighter than sponges, is the greatest instrument of buildings. As much as it is dissolved by the burning of fire, so much thereafter is the firmness of the walls strengthened: a soluble stone, a stony softness, a sandy rock, which is then the more kindled when it is drenched with most copious waters; without which neither are the stones fixed nor the grains of sand made solid. And therefore it deserves to receive the greater zeal, which is known to hold the first place in the Roman walls.

Wherefore our authority sets your industry, celebrated by the talk of many, over the burning and distribution of lime from that indiction, that, abundantly provided, it may suffice for public buildings as well as private, and the minds of all may be roused to building, when they shall have seen that what is sought is ready at hand. The privileges of your office, moreover, you shall reasonably claim by our commands, that you may be able to merit greater things, if you shall have fulfilled well what is delegated to you. Consider what you undertake, and you understand that you ought not to give place to sins. For to construct arms well is to wish to safeguard the welfare of all, since at first sight the enemy himself is terrified and begins to yield in spirit, if he knows that he does not possess the like.

And therefore, from that indiction, we have set you over the soldiers and the smiths of arms, invited by the repute of your character, that you may exact from the craftsmen such a work as you know can please us. Let not security make you presume upon our absence. Whatever you do, we see. Act—we who, by very experience, can at first sight detect the errors of craftsmen by the most subtle investigation, and judge what is praiseworthily wrought. See therefore with what diligence, with what zeal, that must be done which is established to come to our examination. Act then so that no venality, no fault may sink you, since that cannot be venial which is transgressed in such a cause, lest you be punished for the very part in which you have sinned.

A work which generates both death and safety: the destruction of the guilty, the safeguard of the good, an aid ever necessary against the wicked. Phoroneus is said to have first offered this to Juno, that he might consecrate his invention under the auspices, as they thought, of a deity. These things are necessary in war, comely in peace; these, in fine, make weak and frail mortals stronger than all wild beasts. By the report of many we have learned that that man, established in upright character, can faithfully discharge the things committed to him.

For that reason let your Illustrious Magnitude know that we have chosen him, that he may both preside over the soldiers according to the ancient manner and be able to give orders to the craftsmen of arms, so that they may so elegantly fulfill their customary tasks that no offense can be found in them. For although fault injures everywhere, here nevertheless it strikes gravely, if he should neglect the instruments of wars. For it is, as it were, the likeness of treason to withdraw from the army that which is established to arm it. To them your Providence will assign their customs, so that, while the excuse of provisions is taken from them, the necessary things may be exacted more vigorously.

We believe it pertains to the genius of your dignity, if we should seem to enjoin upon you fitting things, since each one is rendered the more agreeable, the more he is shown to have undertaken occasions for obeying. And therefore the levies of the binio and ternio, which ancient authority decreed to be exacted from the provincials, you shall, by that indiction, your office procuring it, hasten to transmit to the bureaux of the Count of the Sacred Largesses, so that the whole sum may be solemnly completed before the day of the Kalends of March—lest you be compelled to render from your own what you have neglected to procure. For it would touch upon your injury, if another were seen to exact those levies which the most sacred laws have ordained to pertain to you.

Although ancient custom has ordained the exaction of the binio and ternio to pertain to you, nevertheless, lest a manifold occupation should overburden you and a doubled solicitude should hinder you, we have judged that such-and-such bureaucrats of our office should be assigned, that they may attend upon you and your office, so that, with their assistance, the solemn sum may be conveyed to that Illustrious man, the Count of the Sacred Largesses, before the day of the Kalends of March, lest you be made guilty before public opinion, if you should think that the sacred largesses might be delayed by any postponement. So that you should not suppose yourself to be exempted, whom we have believed to be aided. For if anything less than was fitting should be paid in, know that this is to be extracted from your own resources.

We do not doubt that it is most welcome when a man is reminded to fulfil the office he has undertaken; for it would be the heavier burden if a soldier were to live in idleness, since his employment is his livelihood and his very honour is a charge laid upon him. For a man who is left to ignoble sloth is reckoned no better than one ungirt for service. Wherefore by the indiction in question We command you to proceed to that province, so that, together with the judge or his staff, before the day of the Kalends of March you may forward to the treasury offices of the Count of the Sacred Largesses, all delay set aside, the sum that is by custom solemnly demanded at the rate of two and three; yet in such a way that neither does Our treasury receive anything less than is customary, nor does the landholder pay out beyond the measure of his declared assessment.

And do not doubt that you will bear the peril of Our admonition, if We should come to learn that anything has been done contrary to the ancient order. We bestow Our benefits especially upon your Grace, if We may approve that you have administered your charge with good reason. For you do not lie unrewarded, if you both prudently receive foreign peoples and arrange the dealings of Our own folk with even-handed fairness. For although prudence is everywhere necessary, in this office it seems the more fitting, since between two peoples contests are forever arising, unless justice be kept watch over. Wherefore those whose tempers most resemble the winds must be soothed by skill; for unless their spirits be first calmed, by their native impetuousness they rush headlong into utter contempt.

On this account, drawn by the reputation of your moderation, We decree that you hold the charge of that harbour through the said indiction, so that you may administer all things pertaining to your title in such manner that you may advance to better things. For it is in small matters that he is tested to whom greater things are to be entrusted. With high prerogative among his colleagues is he adorned, whoever discharges service in the name of the chief magistracy. For he is recognised to occupy the foremost place: since in human affairs a great part of the names asserts the excellence of dignities. This too is proved by the example of your own post, without which neither is admission to the council-chamber granted nor the ceremony of petition carried through; and the whole genius of the judge is by the laws so reckoned committed to you, that without you it cannot be made complete.

To the Count of the provinces indeed power has been given, but to you the judge himself has been committed. You hold the rod that threatens the wicked; you keep discipline within the laws; to you it is lawful to restrain the insolence of the pleader, which the presiding officer is not permitted to chastise; nay, the records of the whole proceeding are completed by your subscription, and your consent is sought after the will of the judge has been declared. Act, therefore, so that, being set over such matters, you may with merit be perceived to have fulfilled them. And so by the indiction in question We command you to hasten to that province, so that, joined with the judge's staff, you may perform what is fitting to your post, and that you who go forth from Us as a chief may not be accused of any meannesses.

For you make yourself most worthy of reverence to all, if what is believed of your name be also felt in your conduct. Solemn custom invites Us both to send you the adornment of office and to preserve the ancient ranks of those who keep the watches. For it is to Our praise if the Roman soldiery attends you, since with such ministers you can do what seems to accord with the ancient ordinances. For thus, with God's help, have We brought forth Our Goths, that they should be both equipped with arms and composed with fairness. This is what the remaining nations cannot possess; this is what makes you singular: if, accustomed to wars, you are seen to live by the laws together with the Romans.

Wherefore from Our staff We have judged that such-and-such men should be sent to you, so that, according to ancient custom, he who obeys your commands ought to be governed by reasonable antiquity. To him you shall, by Our command, extend your favour in the preserving of his provisions and his customary rights. For he ought to be cherished by you, who has deserved to be appointed by Us. The honour of this age is a manifest proof of the human mind, since freedom of spirit always displays its own will, while he disdains to conceal himself who has known that others are subject to him.

But happy is that condition of the human mind which confines the judgement of its own advancement within the bounds of moderation, and so passes through the very brief span of high office that it is rendered acceptable in all ages. Wherefore now and again, O judges, descend to gentle ways. It is laborious indeed, yet not impossible, to persuade mortals of that justice which the gift of the Divinity has so imparted to the perceptions of all, that even those who know not the laws nonetheless recognise the reasonableness of truth. For it must needs be that what is granted by nature should, at her further prompting, be heard again with sweetness. And therefore labour not to impose upon the peoples what they are agreed to feel even of their own free will.

For they easily follow the footsteps of another's word who can be impelled by an admonisher. Therefore by the indiction in question, in that city, We grant you, by the favour of the Divinity, the honour of a countship of the second rank, so that you may both govern the citizens committed to you with fairness and steadfastly fulfil the orders of the public ordinances, in order that We may bestow better things upon you when Our presence has perceived that you have acted commendably. It is useful always to choose one to whom the rest ought to render obedience, since, if the will of divers persons is left to wander, a confusion that is the friend of faults is begotten.

And so know that We have, by the indiction in question, bestowed the countship of your city upon such-and-such a man, to whom lend your most wholesome compliance, that he may bring a remedy to your causes and procure effect for the public commands; and you shall know that, if anyone conducts himself with commendable devotion, he will not vainly request the like from Our disposition. We are confident that it is pleasing to you when We appoint judges over your soldiery, since you then exercise your ranks whenever the presence of one who judges is not lacking to you. These are names relative to the understanding: if you take away the presiding officer, you leave no soldier; for the attendant service is abolished whenever he who could command is done away with.

To you, therefore, We yield the administration, while We direct dignities to you and make you serve as soldiers for so long as until We appoint judges; nor count this a slight benefit, that, whereas you constitute the attendant body, the choice of those who are to take cognisance falls to you. And therefore know that, by the indiction in question, such-and-such a count of your soldiery has been appointed. We think he will so conduct himself, both in public causes and in private, that the praise desired may attend him. Lending him your most just devotion, solemnly obey in those things which he shall command you, since We believe that Our reverence is honoured if We perceive that Our judges are well treated.

In no way is the fidelity doubted of him who is chosen for the guarding of a city, since it stands proved that what is appointed for the safety of many must be entrusted to a tried conscience. And therefore by Our authority We grant you the care of the gate of that city, so that it may neither lie open to the comings of the wicked nor delay the access of the good. For if the gate be always barred, it is like a prison; if again it be perpetually thrown open, the city will profit nothing by having the defences of its walls. Let both therefore be tempered, so that you may both satisfy the nightly watch and not presume to close it unfittingly. You will surely be the road of the citizens and the entrance of every kind of merchandise, a friend, that is, of the abundance which you desire to enter. Strive therefore to invite the comers with provisions.

It is no contemptible thing that has been entrusted to you. You are set over certain throats of the city, you who are shown to preside over the victuals that enter in. This you ought to accomplish without complaint, so that in small things We may recognise to whom We ought to entrust greater. It accords with fairness that each one, when his term of service is run out, should attain to the fruit of his soldiering and receive the reward of his labour in recompense of his merits. Whence, since the reason of ancient custom persuades that he ought to be designated by Us who deserves to be tribune over you, We therefore by this authority decree that he whom the post seems to require shall preside over you in the aforesaid honour, in order that, when the appointed time has come, he may obtain the desired honour.

These are divine judgements, not human, that he whom the powers above have willed to lead through to his due time should rightly be seen to have received also the rewards of his labour. Let him therefore obtain the fitting privileges of his watch-keeping, since We desire that no man be defrauded of the customary emolument whom We know to have come to the first rank without faults. Wherefore obey in all ways him who orders matters for the public good, since his predecessors hold a share of the judge's authority, when it is required of them whether anything has been done by you too insolently.

Since We decree that very many things be done in the city of Rome, and since it is necessary that part of the count's staff be there, that the public utilities may be seen to be fulfilled, We have, after Our manner, provided that, because We do not suffer the principal officer to be absent from Our service, you ought, under the name of vicar, solemnly to occupy his place in the city of Rome, in order that he may both enjoy the labours of his subordinate primates and you may learn in another's honour what you ought happily to display in your own. If, too, you judge that any of the count's officers should be sent to the court, you shall, consulting Our service, leave it to your own discretion.

But those whom you shall judge ought to be retained shall enjoy the security granted them, yet in such a way that you moderate all things by turns, so that neither does continuous toil wear out those keeping watch, nor again does the rust of idleness, which must be shunned, consume the slothful. Every public utility indeed ought to be accomplished by faithful action, since the whole is conducted viciously where purity of conscience is not held; yet above all the integrity of the coinage ought to be sought, where both Our countenance is imprinted and the general advantage is found. For what will be safe, if there be sinning against Our image, and the sacrilegious hand hastens to violate her whom the subject ought to venerate with his heart?

There is added the fact that all sale is dissolved if the metals which serve as our sustenance are debased, since what is seen to be offered corrupted in trading must needs be rejected. Who then would suffer that the wicked losses of all should be the gain of one, so that a detestable vice could come to a price? Let that be clean which is brought to the form of Our Serenity; royal splendour admits nothing tainted. For if anyone's countenance is depicted in genuine colour, much more justly is the imperial grace guarded by the purity of the metals. Let the flame of gold whiten by no injury of admixture; let the colour of silver smile with the grace of its whiteness; let the redness of bronze remain in its native quality.

For if to injure one man is reckoned worthy of condemnation by the laws, what shall he be able to deserve who has sinned against so great a multitude of men? We command moreover that the established weight be preserved for the denarii, which of old were sold by weight rather than by number; whence antiquity, fittingly deriving the words from their origin, beautifully called them 'compendium' (gain) and 'dispendium' (loss). For 'pecunia' (money), named from the hide of cattle ('pecus') by Gallic originators, was transferred to the metals without as yet any stamp. This We do not allow to be made contemptible by foul admixture, lest it be found to return again to its ancient cheapness.

Accordingly, you, whose integrity of administration has been praised to Us, We command, from the said indiction throughout a continuous five years, to have the care of the coinage, which King Servius is reported first to have stamped upon bronze: in such wise that you should not doubt that inquiry will be made at your own peril, if any fraud can be discovered therein. For just as you will undergo harsh penalties if perhaps you have transgressed, so We do not leave you unrewarded, if We perceive that you have acted blamelessly. Who would doubt that it is in the interest of public utility that those upon whom We are agreed to confer gifts should be seen to suffer no injury of the journey, since they neither cause you the detriments of delays and they themselves recognise that they have been well treated?

And therefore you shall furnish without any delay to the envoys of that nation the kindness appended below, namely toward the horses, up to the fixed number of head, so that they ought not to reach their own seats unrewarded, since to those who hasten, swiftness in returning is more welcome than any greatness of gifts. We do not doubt that things offered unasked are gratefully received which are wont, when requested, to be conferred in place of a gift, since the remembrance of the master always grants increase, nor can the tokens of a prince's gratification be empty. Wherefore by these present commands We summon you to Our court, that you may enjoy no moderate gladness.

And therefore, the delight of leisure set aside, hasten to come to that city on that day, so that We may judge Our presence to have been welcome to you, when We learn that you have made haste. For Our court desires the presence of good men, since, by some compact I know not how, whatever is recognised as pleasing to royal wisdom is also approved by divine judgement; for He who governs our hearts Himself also grants what we ought to perceive. It is a manifestation of a good conscience to have sought the presence of a just prince, which he alone can desire who trusts in the great purity of his mind. Bright eyes alone require the sight of the sun, since they only can endure the gleaming rays whom it is agreed to have the purest eyes.

Thus they aspire to the presence of the prince who presume upon the sincerity of their heart. Hence it is that with a glad mind We bestow upon you the confidence of coming to Our court, lest the honour of the summons, which is found to be for your glory, be turned to injury, while it is retarded by any delay. Nay rather, We invite the desires of those who come, since We grow the more if We add noble men to Our service. No one doubts that men are refreshed by a pleasant variety, since in the continuance of things there is, it is agreed, a great weariness to minds. The sweetness of honey, if taken without ceasing, grows loathsome; bright skies themselves, however greatly they are desired, when continually attained grow cheap.

Not undeservedly, since, so long as man is changeable, he desires to have the qualities of his own nature. And therefore, to you who hasten, that you may be refreshed by provincial delight, We grant the opportunity of tarrying for so many months in the aforesaid province, since he is seen to be almost a recluse to whom it does not seem free to change his soil; yet in such a way that, when, with the Lord's help, you have spent out the merited respite, you hasten to return to your city seats. For if it is a weariness to live continually in the busyness of the city, how much more to have passed long periods in the fields! Gladly therefore We grant the respite of departure, not that Rome should be deserted, but that she may be more commended to one absent. We desire those subject to Us, by the help of God, to glory in the varied prerogative of dignities.

We desire to adorn the worthy class of men with the impressed favour of dignity, so that each one may live the more praiseworthily, when he has known that he has received reverend honours. For thus one both fittingly ascends to the pursuits of virtue, and the commonwealth is the more loved by good citizens. And therefore We adorn you with the lustre of the spectabilis rank, so that you may know that your opinion is to be regarded in public assemblies, when you sit comely among the nobles, in order that, if you handle these matters with commendable conduct, you may in future be increased with better rewards. It is agreed that there is a pleasant savour to good things and a useful pursuit of praise, which is sought through the increases of virtue.

This zeal of provident liberality We infuse, so that there may be a greater cultivation of morals while the desires of rewards grow. The royal authority therefore bestows upon you the honour of the clarissimate, the ornaments of Our judgement, which both affords the testimony of a well-spent life and promises the increase of future prosperity. Wherefore now suffer yourself to do nothing obscure, you who shine resplendent with the dignity of the clarissimate. For it is a great testimony of life to be called not so much 'famous' (clarus) as 'most famous' (clarissimus), since well-nigh everything best is believed of him who is named with the superlative title of so great a brilliance. It seems indeed superfluous to seek protection specially from a prince, whose purpose it is to defend all in common.

But because the execrable rashness of certain violent men disturbs your security, it does not irk Us to be drawn by the complaints of the suffering to this part of pity, so that what We desire to grant to all We may confer chiefly upon the suppliant. And therefore We mercifully receive you, wounded, as you complain, by the losses inflicted by divers persons, into the camp of Our defence, so that you may seem to contend with your adversaries not, as hitherto, in open-field combat, but with the protection of a wall. Thus it comes about that, oppressed by savage forces, you are rendered made equal by royal aids. Wherefore Our authority grants you the protection of Our name, as it were a most strong tower, against uncivil assaults and the detriments of litigation.

Yet in such a way that, raised up by these presumptions, you do not disdain to give a civil response, and you yourself do not seem insolently to trample the public laws, you whom a detestable audacity first oppressed. And because Our precept ought to have effective ministers, nor is it fitting for a prince to say what cannot seem able to be fulfilled, by the command of the present benefit, against the Goths this man, against the Romans that man, faith and diligence have easily guarded you; since no one labours to defend what is feared to be offended, while the lord who grants is dreaded to become ungrateful. Enjoy therefore Our clemency; rejoice in the benefit received. For if you be thereafter assailed by anyone under incivility, you will the rather fulfil your vows against your enemies.

Eternal is the benefit that shall be conferred by favour upon posterity, nor is anything more becoming to a king than if he should bestow it upon human origin itself. For he who is about to come into the light does not deserve to undergo adverse fortunes, lest he incur the burden of strict judgement before he finds the joys of the supernal light. Therefore in the petition offered you declare that the woman whom a pleasing embrace has bound to you ought, by Our benefit, to be associated with you in conjugal honour, so that the children born of her may obtain the name of heirs. For since a spontaneous union joins together all living creatures, and to each it seems fitting that which has pleased him, it is hard that liberty should not be held free there whence free children are procreated.

And therefore that woman who, as is rightly enjoined, is proved not to have been your equal in respectability, We decree shall become your lawful wife, and the sons from this same spouse, whether those who have been begotten or those who are to be begotten, We will to obtain the rights of heirs, so that you may, under no doubt, love those whom you know shall be your successors without qualification. For nature has bestowed sons upon you, but We make them most dear by such security. Glorious is the supplication which seeks an indulgence of age, when one professes to receive gravity from his morals, which the maturity of life has not yet chanced to bring in. Younger in birth, you desire to be aged in counsel.

Thus what in human affairs is most audacious, you contemn the benefit of years for the aid of error. Wherefore in the supplication offered you declare that, since you possess a firm reckoning of prudence, your actions may not be left in doubt, lest by law that be invalidated which cannot waver in respect of utility. This We, to whom it is at heart to fulfil good desires, gladly accept, since he professes that he wishes to catch at no snares, whoever steadfastly aims to have free contracts.

And therefore, if it stands that the time has elapsed within which the laws willed that this indulgence be approached, We too do not deny licence to commendable desires, so that in a competent court those things which in such causes the venerable antiquity of the laws dictates may be solemnly transacted, in such wise that, in alienating rural or urban estates, the authority of the constitutions be observed: lest, while We wish to grant according to opinion, We seem to injure the advantage of the suppliant. Take therefore by Our benefit an age stronger than your years, and what you ask from the oracle, display in your morals. For the profession of an unripe maturity denies the place of action, since the fault is far graver which the authority of one's own promise assails.

Frequently We have learned that the saiones, whom We believed to be granted by Us with pious intent, have been aggravated by the greatest complaints. Corrupted, alas for grief! is Our benefit, and calamity has rather grown out of the medicine, while they have been transferred to other uses by the malignity of the petitioners than that Our remedies have transferred them. Whence it became necessary for Us to oppose pestilential wishes with a wholesome remedy, lest, while We are drawn by the zeal of piety toward equable benefits, We suffer the most iniquitous of surreptitious frauds.

And therefore by an edictal proclamation We define that, whosoever desires perchance to deserve a saio against violent snares on account of his unavoidable necessities, shall bind himself to Our penal office by the bond of a recognisance, so that, if by his blameworthy instigation he, in whose favour he deserves it, shall have transgressed Our precepts, he himself shall under the name of penalty give so many pounds of gold and shall promise to make satisfaction for whatever detriments his adversary may have sustained, both of advantage and of journey. For We, when We wish to repress uncivil tempers, ought not to overburden innocence.

But the saio, who of his own will shall have exceeded the measure of the precept, shall know that he is to be stripped of his donative and can incur peril to Our grace, which is graver than all losses, and that he is no longer to be trusted, if he has stood forth as a violator of Our command, of which he ought to have been the executor. It is agreed that that soldiery is well discharged which is seen to be imposed upon proved morals, when a man can himself revolve within himself what the judge ought to have admonished him: especially when such a one deserves to come to the patrimonies of the divine house, so that he cannot be inflamed by detestable cupidity.

Then, since this most splendid office shines forth with a certain censorial gravity, and it is base for one to be mingled with it who cannot be approved by worthy morals, it seems fitting to seek out such men as ought in no respect to displease. And therefore, the suggestion of the tribune of the registrars having been ascertained, with whom rests the worthy reverence of the office, We will that from that day you obtain the name of registrar (chartarius), so that you who are promised to be about to act well for Us may be approved by laudable proofs. Shun avarice; flee far from iniquitous gains. Far better is the profit, if one serves by good works. I know not what great thing he seems to promise of himself, who desires to possess public offices.

For this ought so to be done, if a squalid thing be transferred into a better appearance of the place and what long ago seemed to lie uncultivated be recalled to adornment. And therefore to you, who desire it, We grant that place by proprietary right, save for bronze or lead or marbles, if any be found lying hidden there. Act therefore so that through you that may take on beauty which had lain neglected through careless antiquity, in order that you may deserve to win the praise of a good citizen, if you adorn the face of your city, secure too to transmit to any persons or to posterity what shall have been composed by your own labour. For each one shall possess such things the more firmly, the more he shall have proved that he and his predecessors have expended upon them.