I, swearing, call to witness Almighty God, and His only-begotten Son our God Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and also the holy and glorious Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, and the four Gospels which I hold in these hands, and the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel: that to our most sacred and most pious lords Justinian, and Theodora the consort of his power, I will, on the occasion of the office granted me by their piety, render a pure conscience and genuine service. And that, for their empire and commonwealth, in the office granted me by them, with the utmost readiness of mind, without guile and without fraud, I will undergo every effort and labor.
And that I hold communion with the most holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God, nor do I ever in any thing or manner labor against it, nor (as far as it shall be in me) will I permit any other to do so. By the same oath I testify that neither on the occasion of the office handed to me, nor on the pretext of patronage, or of support rendered with the Lord, have I given, nor will I give, nor have I promised, nor have I made a compact to send anything at all out of the province to anyone whatsoever, or to a deputy—whether they be the most glorious prefects, or other most renowned men existing in power, or those wont to be conversant about them, or any one of all men:
but, just as I have undertaken the office free of charge, so also will I show myself entire and sincere toward the contributors of our most pious lords, content with the allowances appointed me from the public funds. And above all I will indeed take pains diligently to attend to the tributes, and the undevout and those needing compulsion I will exact with all vehemence, in nothing yielding to them, nor at all out of any eagerness to snatch gain, whether through favor or hatred, more than is fitting—whether I demand from anyone, or remit to anyone—but the devout I will embrace with a kind of fatherly affection. And the subjects of our most pious lords (as far as it shall be in me) I will everywhere keep free from harm and loss.
And showing myself fair to either party, both in adjudicating controversies and in maintaining public discipline, I will be addicted to neither party beyond right and divine law, but will prosecute all offenders, and will preserve equity wholly and on every side, and as shall seem just to me. At once I will protect the innocent, that they may suffer no loss, and at once I will inflict punishment upon guilty defendants according to the laws. And (as has been said) both in public and in private contracts: moreover, even if injury be brought to the treasury, I will observe justice. Nor will I only myself accomplish this, but those also who ever sit beside me, and whoever takes up duty about me, such will I be zealous to take on, that not only I may seem to live innocently, while those who are about me seem to plunder and offend.
But if anyone about me be found such, I will furnish what he himself committed, and will drive him away. But if I do not observe all these things, as I have said, I shall be exposed to all calamities, both here and in the age to come, in the terrible judgment of the great Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and I shall have my portion with Judas, and the leprosy of Gehazi, and the trembling of Cain, over and above this—that I shall also be liable to the penalties comprehended in the law of their piety. A copy of this was written to Dominicus, most glorious praetorian prefect throughout Illyricum.