雜記與文集 第 6 章

Your Brotherhood has sent us swords with pitch-black blades and boys shining with native fairness, weapons that even cut through other arms, richer in their iron than in the price of gold. There gleams a polished brightness, so that they restore the faces of those who gaze upon them with faithful purity; their edges run down to so even a sharpness that they seem not to have been shaped by files but poured out from fiery furnaces. Their middle part, hollowed with beautiful channels, seems able to ripple with certain little worms (patterns): there so great a play of shadowy variety sports together that you would rather believe the gleaming metal to be inwoven with diverse colours.

This your whetstone diligently cleans, this your most brilliant powder so industriously wipes away, that it makes of the iron's light a kind of mirror for men; which was granted to your country by the bounty of nature, so as to give you a singular renown for this thing: swords that might be thought to be of Vulcan's making by their beauty, who was seen to refine the smith's craft with such elegance that what was fashioned by his hands was believed to be not the work of mortals but divine. Therefore, through such and such your envoys, discharging the affection of due greeting, we declare that we have gladly received your arms, which the pursuits of good peace have transmitted:

granting a return of gift in consideration of your outlay, gifts which shall be rendered to you as welcome as yours have been most pleasing to us. May the divine powers grant concord, so that, doing these things between us with grateful mind, we may join the goodwill of our peoples and, mutually attentive, may be bound to one another by reciprocal services. When such and such your envoys came, we learned that you had a great zeal for our acquaintance, so that, set on the shores of the Ocean, you might be joined with our mind: a very sweet and welcome petition to us, that our fame should reach you, to whom we had been able to send no messages. Love now as known one whom you sought eagerly while unknown.

For among so many nations, to venture upon the road is no easy thing to have desired. And therefore, seeking you with affectionate greeting, we make known that the amber which was sent by you through the bearers of these letters was received with grateful heart. The wave of the Ocean, descending to you, casts forth this most light substance, as your own report also contained: but whence it comes you said you held unknown—this you, before all men, receive as your homeland offers it. According to one Cornelius's account, it is read to flow from the sap of a tree in the inner islands of the Ocean, whence too it is called 'sucinum,' and little by little it hardens under the heat of the sun.

For it becomes a sweated metal, a transparent softness, now reddening with a saffron colour, now growing rich with a flame-like brightness, so that, when it has slipped down to the border of the sea, purified by the alternating tide, it is handed over, washed up upon your shores. This we judged should be made known, lest you suppose that our knowledge altogether escapes what you believe yourselves to hold hidden. Therefore seek us more often by the ways which your love has opened, since the obtained concord of wealthy kings is always profitable, for they, while soothed by a small gift, always look ahead with a greater recompense. Some things too we have charged by word through your envoys, by whom we declare we have sent what ought to be welcome. By custom indeed it comes about that the well-deserving receive our gifts:

but you by right of inheritance have claimed for yourself the prince's benefits. You attain your brother's honour, because in wisdom too you are his kin. From those same good things we do not repel one whom we prove to be like. Let parents and children now go and, by the spur of resemblance, vie in the pursuits of the noble arts. We have made a new law in you, that parents should be succeeded in administration. This advancement is not taken away or changed: for although the person be replaced, yet what the most beloved brother acquires does not fail to the family. O truly chosen by your merits and honoured by the auspice of your name! Parents in some measure have a presentiment when names are bestowed upon their offspring, and just as the course of things to come proceeds from the lofty command of the Divinity, so the thought of one foreboding is instructed:

it is granted to utter what we know not that we have perceived, but after the event we recall what, in our ignorance, we had truly spoken. By such an omen, then, Decoratus grew strong: he grew strong, I say, and, praised by our judgement, mingled himself among the palace honours, taking up a dignity such as we are wont to give to the prudent, attaining this plainly above the rest, that he was able to rise after the chosen. Beneath the light of our presence he stood, intrepid indeed yet reverent, opportunely silent, copious when need required, the chief relief of our cares; and although enriched with the favour of our power, content rather with the praise of his character, he set himself on a level with men of middle station. The memory of the good lives on among us, because a man's faithfulness knows not how to fail with death.

He concealed our secrets as though he had forgotten them; he retained our commands as though he were writing them down in order, serving without greed and seeking our favour with the highest eagerness. We have turned aside indeed to the praises of one well-deserving, but in the brevity of the discourse undertaken, when we speak of him, we instruct you. He was assuredly so pleasing that with us even after his death he does not cease to be: we sorrowfully seek him whom we grieve to have lost. But the bitter loss is softened, because you succeed him with a substitute's virtue, since no one feels he has lost what he knows he has found again in another. Do not pursue foreign examples, you to whom domestic praises so great are at hand. You, Decoratus, are from him; he, Honoratus, is from you. Let merits be united, since names have so joined themselves.

For of you we more justly believe better things, you who follow, because the imitator of his predecessor is always the more diligent, since you may choose the good of the one who precedes you and heap up new things besides. And therefore from the third indiction we raise you to the dignity of the quaestorship and cause Honoratus to live by the renown of our council, so that you may now begin to be what you were formerly called. Come now, by cleaving to justice, so that we, who gave honour to the untried, may confer better things upon you when most approved. It is certain, conscript fathers, that your council flourishes with prudent men: but this too is proved excellent, that the dignity of letters is mingled among you.

For all those whom we raise to the summit of the quaestorship we esteem most learned, such as it befits interpreters of the laws and sharers of our council to be: a dignity which is found neither by riches nor by birth alone, but only learning joined with prudence can obtain it. For although in other honours we confer benefits, from this one we always receive. It is assuredly a happy portion of our cares: it enters the door of our deliberation; it has knowledge of the breast in which the general cares are turned over. Estimate what ought to be judged of him who becomes a sharer of so great a secret. From him is demanded skill in the laws: thither flow together the prayers of suppliants, and—what is more precious than every treasure—within his keeping is laid up the reputation of our civility.

With a just quaestor, the conscience of the innocent becomes secure, only the prayers of the wicked are rendered anxious, and when the hope of stealing is taken from the bad, zeal is applied to good morals. He guards for each his own rights, restrained as to money, lavish of equity, knowing not how to deceive, most ready to come to aid. He serves the genius of the prince, which surpasses all things: he is compelled to speak by the mouth of one to whom no one is found like. Is not he who has been able, under our presence, to administer this office, void of vices and full of virtues, worthy to be your colleague? For you know by what stock he was advanced in glory. Remember, then, Decoratus sweating at the labours of advocacy, with what probity he joined himself to each of the good.

He stood by your causes a faithful pleader: pressing upon necessary matters, he carried the mind of the judge to the benches of the assessors; to him deservedly frequent victory fell, because he handled wisely what was to be alleged. For those know not how to suffer the loss of modesty who correct themselves before the judge has done so. Lower in rank, he showed himself a patron to men of consular standing, and although he was held unequal to your honours, he was called patrician, received into the most celebrated proceeding. It is exceedingly rare, conscript fathers, to speak solidly and, when one must say much, to bring forth no faltering. In Decoratus this was most certain, this too you approved even before our judgements.

For who in his time could fail to know him as it were the helmsman of lawsuits, who strove to pass over the reefs of cases? He surely had less need of the laws who did not seek their consolations. Now we no longer complain of his hastened death: from his fruitful stock a brother has sprouted. For he who before was covered by his brother's shade, once that brother was withdrawn by the law of nature, spread out the tresses of his own fame through the open spaces. He has justly brought forth, precociously, the good things of the branch, who in the order of birth first grew strong: but the noble offspring preserved in the successor the fruit which it lost in the one departed. To this family agrees that richest bough which in Virgil's song is ever born anew: for when this is torn away, another golden one fails not, and the rod puts forth leaf with like metal.

Indeed this man too nourished eloquence by advocacy: yielding the renown of the city of Rome to his brother, he preferred to engage in the affairs of the Spoletines—an undertaking as hard as it is known by your prudence to be set apart. For among the well-mannered it was very easy to assert what is just; but among provincials handling themselves with roving licence it was exceedingly arduous. He is seen to have urged moderation of the law where the judges themselves too are for the most part carried off by wicked greed, and the more they think themselves pre-eminent amid mediocrity, the more they suffer not their own wishes to be opposed. Among such people it is hard to vindicate the laws, and great is the force of persuasion needed to recall the venality of a judge to the purpose of the right.

Receive then, conscript fathers, our judgements willingly, and let your bosom gladly take in Honoratus, advanced to the summit of the quaestorship. For he is worthy to be loved by you who has deserved to be found equal to honours so great. It is praiseworthy in that department to double the guard which is established as sought out for the necessities of the commonwealth. For through it both the usefulness of the legations and the swiftness of our ordinances is carried out: this too furnishes effect to the courtly powers through various commands: this enriches our treasury with frequent contributions, so that almost whatever is transacted in the commonwealth is accomplished by the service of the public post.

It therefore befits that there be always ready what is proved suitable for public uses, lest what was devised for swiftness should rather bring an unfitting slowness upon those who hasten. And therefore, where the praetorian prefects and masters of the offices have, for the public benefit, by ordinance assigned men to their posts, we charge you to cut short with such severity the wicked presumption of those who exceed bounds, that whoever—be he Goth or Roman—presumes to lay hands upon a post-horse without a warrant from us or from those whose concern it is, be at once compelled by you to pay a hundred solidi per horse. And concerning those too we decree with equal severity who presume to usurp post-horses beyond the number of their warrants.

On the side-horses, moreover, we order no more than a hundred pounds to be imposed. For it is exceedingly absurd that one from whom swiftness is demanded should be oppressed with great weights. The very bird, burdened with a load, grows sluggish. Keels which feel no toil when full are moved more heavily. What can a quadruped do which, pressed by excess, sinks down? But if anyone be found to carry more than the fixed limit, let him be struck with the penalty of two ounces of gold. This sum, exacted forthwith—as has already been established by earlier edicts—we decree ought to go to the benefit of the post through the office of the masterial dignity. For it is just that she be compelled to sell, who is known to have wickedly burdened the public horse:

let him be stripped bare and unencumbered who by his own will was unwilling to be most swift. Besides, we admonish you not to presume upon the perquisites of the superintendents, nor by any usurpation to debase whatever power venerable antiquity has sanctioned them to have. For we wish through you to double the guard, not to remove the safeguard of ancient custom. A petition is to be received which does not war against public uses, and the desires of private persons are to be embraced which so seek a remedy that they seem to us to engender no loss.

And so, from the complaint of John, a most distinguished man, we have learned that Thomas received certain estates of our household—that is, this one and that one—and now has stood as a debtor of ten thousand solidi to our interests, and through various trickeries does not pay the due amount; which has also become clear to us by the suggestion of our nobles. Therefore we believed the case ought to be safeguarded by such a remedy, that you should attach to the public domain the entire substance of the aforesaid Thomas under this condition, by fixed titles: namely that, if before the Kalends of September what is reasonably set forth shall in no way have been paid by Thomas, the aforesaid substance be handed over to John, a most distinguished man, who has promised that his debt shall accrue to our treasury.

But if the aforesaid Thomas shall perchance have been able to discharge his obligation within the prefixed time, let all that was taken from him be restored to him untouched, so that neither does our fisc seem to sustain disadvantage nor are we found to have failed to render to our subjects the accustomed justice. For we could yet defer further, if it profited anything to bear with one most negligent, whom over so long a span of time we have ever found unprepared. It befits us to ratify the wishes of those who prefer to hold together the public benefits: nor do we allow them to be anxious about their own loss who have made us secure from waste.

By your suggestion, then, we have learned that, in such-and-such an indiction, we committed estates of our patrimony situated in the province of Apulia—that is, this one and that one—to the honourable man Thomas under a leasehold title; but that he, administering ill what he had received, stood as a debtor to the public accounts up to ten thousand solidi from such-and-such indictions: who, though frequently admonished by our nobles to render his debts, neglected them with detestable cunning. And, lest any question should arise for you hereafter, you testify that you are willing to satisfy the due amount to the public uses on this terms, if the estates of the aforesaid debtor be handed over to you in place of a pledge.

Hence it is that we confirm by present command your desire, conceived on just grounds: first, that you should fear no question on this matter in the public name; next, that under this condition we adjudge to you the entire substance of the debtor Thomas—whether that which he now holds or which he possessed at the first time when he had already begun to be liable to our accounts—which substance we earlier caused to be claimed in our name by fixed titles: relaxing this only out of regard for humanity, that he have a span until the Kalends of September for repaying the due amount: unless, when on the aforesaid day you shall have paid in to the illustrious count of our patrimony the money that is owed, his entire estate, as we have said, be applied to your gains.

This we do not believe to be sad for the one losing, since he is not seen to lose it altogether, when he knows that you, his son-in-law, acquire it: for what you could have attained by right of succession, is possessed by you under a purchaser's condition. It befits Your Sublimity to render to our commands a diligent steadfastness of obedience, so that what is disposed by a wholesome ordinance may be brought to effect. For prudence knows how to fulfil what is enjoined upon it with moderation, and to provide for things delegated by an unfolding counsel without the blemish of ingratitude.

And therefore we charge you to despatch a civil execution to the city of Faventia, so that, without the extortion or harm of anyone, squared stones be conveyed by our command to the city of Ravenna, so that both we may rejoice at our desire fulfilled and the occasion of clamouring be cut off from complainers. A public necessity ought to be fulfilled by the devotion of many, because it is not fitting that a few undertake what is established as expedient for very many, lest royal commands grow lukewarm and slacken while a useful matter is delegated to the weak. In the region of Trent, then, our authority has commanded a city to be built.

But since the smallness of the territory cannot sustain the magnitude of the work, our solicitude has provided this, that, having received suitable wages, you all who are joined by neighbourhood should undertake in common the measured length of the walls, so that, by the assistance afforded, what is perhaps known to be unmanageable for a few may be more securely fulfilled: with this condition fixed, namely, that none be excused from these burdens, from which not even the divine household is exempted. When, with God's help, a most fortunate army is brought forth for the general defence, provision must be made lest either they themselves be wearied by ill-considered want or (a thing it is impious to say) our province be seen to suffer devastation.

For the first step of prosperity is not to be harmful to one's own, so that we may not seem to have afflicted the fortunes of those for whose advantage we labour. And therefore we delegate to your devotion by present authority, that you should cause the multitude of the Gepids, whom we have made to hasten to the Gauls for the sake of garrison duty, to pass through Venetia and Liguria under all moderation. And lest any occasion of going beyond bounds be offered to them, our bounty has directed three solidi per company as their allowance, so that with our provincials they may have not the will to plunder but the opportunity of commerce.

This indeed our indulgence grants, to the quiet of those who labour for all: that if either their wagons are shaken to pieces by the longer journey or their beasts grow faint, worn out, with you as guardian and mediator they may be exchanged with the proprietors without any oppression—so that they who are about to give beasts better in body or quality may be content even with small but sound animals, since the life of those exhausted by excessive fatigue is uncertain. Thus it comes about that neither does the necessary transport fail them, nor does anyone find himself harmed by such an exchange. It had indeed been our disposition that, as you journeyed, we should order rations to be expended:

but lest the provisions themselves be either spoiled or furnished with difficulty, we chose to assign you three solidi in gold per company, so that you may both choose your lodgings, as the abundance of pasture supplies, and ought to buy what is more suitable for you. For this very thing makes the proprietor come to meet you, if he knows that you are buying your necessities. Set out happily, go moderately. Let your journey be such as befits those who labour for the safety of all. If we bid that all should cultivate and love justice, how much more those who glory in their nearness to us, whom it befits to conduct everything with praise, so that they may be able to show forth the splendour of their royal kinship. For this is undoubted nobility, which is proved adorned with good morals:

because it is a fine thing to have neglected the foul gains of money for the advantage of one's fame. And so the heirs of Argolicus, an illustrious man, and of Amandianus, a most distinguished man, have complained to us in suppliant approach that the Pallentian estate, which our bounty had transferred to them by way of compensation, that they might console themselves with this convenience for the loss of the Arbitana farmstead, has been unbecomingly seized by your men, with no causes existing, and that from this the fault of a blameworthy usurpation has arisen, whence an example of glorious moderation ought to have been given. Wherefore, if the things asserted are vitiated by no falsehood, let Your Greatness restore what has been taken away:

and, if you believe anything can fall to you, despatch by every means a duly instructed person to our court, so that the controversy, civilly planted, may receive its end from the laws. For there whatever is transacted is rather imputed to your odium, and you incur greater detriments of fame, while you strive not to avoid such things: but here causes contend by their own strength, and without disparagement any man of middle station is adjudged, when he is overcome with justice as witness. You ought to expend your zeal upon the commonwealth with grateful mind, because you have recognized that we bestow much upon the well-deserving. For out of regard for piety we promise a return, while yet for your sake we command all things.

And therefore we have believed you ought to be admonished by present command, that you ought to furnish the rations appointed to the army, so that neither may they be neglected against their desire, nor ought a ruinous plundering to weigh down the provincials. For an army is more conveniently held under the law of allowances than if it had been permitted to lay waste all things. Presumption knows not how to keep measure, nor can it be reduced within measure, to which licence has seemed to be granted. Wherefore let the army obtain the assigned sustenance, lest any part be able to sustain the aforesaid annoyance. The reason of justice persuades us to repress those who go beyond bounds, so that the sweetness of quiet may be able to reach all. For how is equability conducted, if the strength of the lowly is not suffered to rise up?

And so from the frequent complaint of our provincials we have learned that the able proprietors of Savia not only have shifted the tributary obligation of their own farmsteads onto slender fortune, but even, by a wicked traffic, apply something thence to their own gains, so that a public obligation becomes a private convenience. This indeed we have desired to be corrected through very many persons, but hitherto it seems to have been able to be deferred to your praise, so that a more acceptable trust might be had, when after many negligent ones you most effectively prove your zeal.

And therefore by the prudence for which you are known, we bid you, with justice considered, to inspect every proprietor and to regulate the equality of tribute on this principle: that, what was done under others having been cancelled with all bribery, the public assessment be imposed according to the quality of the possessions and of the men. For thus both justice is perfected and the strength of our provincials is relieved. But those who shall be found to have imposed a tax without our command and, at their own pleasure, to have cast the burdens of some upon others, let the severity of the laws pursue them, so that they make good all the losses to those upon whom they have improperly inflicted damages.

That too we charge to be inquired into: that among the defenders, the curials, and the proprietors the account of the contributions be traced out, and whatever, from the eighth indiction lately exempted, the proprietor shall have proved himself to have paid in over and above the tributary solidus—and it is not established to have been brought in to our treasury, nor by just reckoning made clear to have been disbursed on the necessary expenses which were incurred in the province—let the iniquitous presumption be corrected by every means. This part too do not deem to be neglected: that if what the registrar received from our chamber be not reasonably shown to have been expended, it be restored by the unjust withholder. For what is so absurd as that our liberality, which we wish to profit all, should now be oppressed by a few for furtive gain?

The judges of the province too, as well as the curials and the defenders, are said to inflict unlawful losses upon the landholders, both in the matter of the public post and in other affairs: this we resolve that you investigate and correct under the rule of the laws. As for the ancient barbarians who have chosen to be joined to Roman women by the bond of marriage, and have acquired estates under whatever title, let them be compelled to pay to the fisc the tax of the soil they hold and to submit to the burdens of extraordinary levies. But let the Roman judge, on account of the expenses of the provincials—which are reported to weigh heavily upon the poor—come into each municipality but once a year; and to him let no more than three days' provisions be furnished, just as the safeguards of the laws have allotted.

For our forefathers willed that the circuits of judges should be not a burden but an advantage to the provincials. The count's household officials of the Goths, and likewise the vicedomini, are said to have taken certain things from the provincials by means of contrived terrors: when these men have been brought to examination by your justice, whatever you recognize to have been done unjustly in this matter, you shall set in order according to law, all delays removed. When, therefore, these and such-like matters, which pertain to the public good or to the provincials, have been examined under every reckoning, we wish you in all things so to act as ought not to displease our clemency. This indeed our providence has regarded: that, when all things have been ascertained by your careful and impartial inquiry, they be ordered to be entered in the public registers,

to the end that the proofs of your fidelity may shine forth, and that hereafter no seeds of fraud—which we wish abolished—may be sown again. Although our court, with God's help, grants justice to all who labor, and from here remedies descend to our subjects throughout the remaining parts of the realm as from a living fountain, nevertheless, moved by frequent petitioning, we have with ingenious piety found means both to grant you equity and to abolish the toil of a long journey; for sweeter are those benefits which are obtained with no difficulties. We have therefore sent the illustrious and magnificent Severinus, trained in our institutions, that he may carry out among you that which he knows has always pleased us.

For he has seen how honorable the just man is held among us, and how the clemency of our serenity smiles upon good deeds. Assuredly he practices what he judges we receive with gladness: nor can rapacity be loved by a self-restrained prince, since it can please by no ransom. Let therefore the throng of the injured boldly come together to him; let everyone oppressed by any wrong hope for a remedy. We remove from you the difficulty of complaint, since crimes committed are cut off in their very cradle: let the man burdened by the load of another's tribute cry out without any fear, sure to receive the remedy which he has from the laws. For thus we trust that, through those whom our institutions appoint, no losses shall come upon the innocent.

But what we have resolved should be arranged for your peace and for the equality of the tributes, our edicts, which we have given to the aforesaid illustrious man Severinus, will declare when published, so that each may clearly recognize whence he ought to seek redress. Although, by our constant custom, we decree things useful to the commonwealth, and on that account whatever we command can be most welcome to all, since it is known to be of profit to everyone, nevertheless it must be so handled that the prince's desire need prove burdensome to none. For even things excellently conceived, if not well carried out, are unwelcome: that alone is called perfect which is praised both for its intention and its execution.

Since, therefore, frequent care has been pricking our mind that Italy has no ships—where so great an abundance of timber lends support, so that it may even ship to other provinces what they seek—we have, by God's inspiration, decreed for the time being to take in hand the building of a thousand dromons, which may both convey the public grain and, should it prove necessary, meet hostile ships. But we believe that the accomplishment of so great a matter, such as we desire, must be procured by the diligence of Your Magnificence. Therefore, sending craftsmen throughout all Italy, seek out timber suited to the work; and wherever you find cypresses or pines in the neighborhood of the shore, let their owners be compensated by a fair price being given.

For these alone are the things which need be valued; the rest, by their cheapness, do not require to be appraised. But lest our provision, deserted in the midst of its efforts, should grow faint, we order you, with this moderation, even now to procure, by God's help, a suitable number of sailors. And if he who is judged necessary to us prove to be another man's slave, let his master either hire him out to serve in the fleets, or—if he himself should rather choose this—upon receiving a reasonable price let him cede his rights of ownership to the public. But if the chosen man enjoys liberty, let him know that he is to receive five solidi as a bounty and a suitable allowance of provisions.

In the same manner those too are to be dealt with who are stripped of their rights by their own masters, since it is a kind of liberty to serve the ruler (for often those prove patient of toils whose necks harsh masters have pressed down): yet on this condition, that the aforesaid sailors ought to receive from your office, by way of earnest-money, two or three solidi according to the quality of the men, so that each, when he has been summoned, may be found ready. But fishermen we do not order to be included in this enrollment, since he is lost with sorrow who is kept for procuring delicacies, seeing that it is another kind of practice both to face the raging winds and to furrow the fish-bearing shores.

One must press on eagerly with what has been begun, when now the nearness of completion has smiled upon us, when the hope of the result excludes the weariness of labor, and it is a great kind of incitement to believe that what is desired is being fulfilled. Some time ago, then, we ordered Your Magnificence to make ready crews of sailors from the shores of Italy, so that the dromons, which industry had been able to build, a foreseen force of oarsmen might man. But you, answering to our judgment and choice, have shown how undoubted is the achievement of having commanded the most effective men in what is sought. You report as forthwith finished what could scarcely be believed begun, so that almost with as great speed as ships are wont to be sailed, the construction of the ships has been completed. Nor have only words been related:

you have suddenly presented to our eyes a fleet-borne forest, water-borne houses, marching feet of the army that fail with no labor but bear unshaken men to their appointed goals—the trireme, a vehicle that displays so great a number of oars yet carefully hides the faces of men. This, we read, the Argonauts first established. And it is proved to be apt both for armed men and fitting for commerce, so that we, who used to long to behold foreign fleets, may now send to other provinces alike both terror and grace. You have adorned the commonwealth, restored by your enterprise. There is now nothing for which the Greek may reproach us or the African insult us. With us the envious behold thriving that whereby they used to fulfill their desires at great prices.

Now, for the aforesaid vessels, procure the rigging, and especially the sails that make wings for the ships—flying wood, a kind of breath of the running keels, the heralds of merchandise, the quiet helpers of sailors, by whose benefit men at their ease accomplish what can scarcely be proved to be done even by the swiftest birds. This Isis first hung upon a raft, when with daring feminine piety she sought her son Harpocrates over the seas. Thus, while maternal love hastens to fulfill her longing, the unknown regions of the world are seen to be unlocked. And therefore, with divine aid favoring us—whose virtue it is to fulfill the desires of men—on the day next before the Ides of June let the whole assembly of ships gather together at the city of Ravenna, so that affairs, rejoicing in their nearby close, may be brought to their fullest accomplishment.

But since, with God's help, we desire the number of dromons to be enlarged, if any timber necessary for their building can be found along either bank of the Po, we order it to be cut, no one opposing, since without prejudice to the owners we wish only what is found to be granted to the present work. Let our Po send forth native ships to the deep, and let the fir, which grew up nourished by the river's streams, learn to surmount the heaped-up billows of the sea. This too we have thought ought by all means to be cut away, which we have learned by your report comes to pass: that no one, in the navigable rivers running through diverse territories—that is, in the Mincio, the Oglio, the Auser, the Arno, the Tiber—dare, in his zeal for fishing, often to block off the channels of the rivers in a most shameful manner; and let whatever has been thus presumed be straightway removed.

Let the river lie open for the course of ships: let it suffice for human desire to seek delicacies by the accustomed arts, not to impede the freedom of the river by some rustic contrivance, lest—what it is impious to say—private pleasure should seem to have stood in the way of the public good. Public utility, just as it looks to the preservation of all, so ought to be perfected by the zeal and labor of all, since it is an occasion of great praise if, in a common cause, something should appear to be singularly accomplished. For he does that whereby he may be commended to the rest, who nonetheless knows that he has also profited himself. You remember, then, that we long ago ordered that, through our household, craftsmen of seamanship be sought out.

These men, provided by God's help, we command to present themselves at the city of Ravenna without delay on the day of the Ides of June, so that their arrival may opportunely be seen to be offered for the construction of the ships, lest matters divided should seem to engender for themselves some delay, and lest it be too little to complete the one, unless it chance that both be procured. If, too, along the bank of the river Po any timber suited for the building of dromons can be found on the royal estates, let license to cut it be granted to the craftsmen assigned to this work by the magnificent man Abundantius, praetorian prefect. For we wish to begin this example from our own estates, so that the command which constrains even the prince may be burdensome to none.

Whoever has effectively carried out what was enjoined makes greater things be entrusted to himself, since without doubt something is committed to him who is best approved; and an honorable recommendation is the proof of a second judgment from the first. And therefore, by the ordinance of the magnificent men Abundantius, praetorian prefect, and Wilias, count of the patrimony, we order you to hasten to that province, so that, both from the royal household and from those dwelling in other places, you may, according to the former precepts, compel the provided sailors to hasten, with God's help, to the city of Ravenna on the day of the Ides of June, so that no delay be brought to such illustrious commands.

Beware, therefore, lest venality stain you or shameful negligence enwrap you, and lest you be crushed by the weight of so great a matter falling upon you, should you prove unequal to so great and such affairs. We have learned that along either bank of the Po there is to be found timber suited for the building of dromons, and therefore by the present command we commit it to you, that, according to the ordinance of the magnificent men Abundantius, praetorian prefect, and Wilias, count of the patrimony, you go without delay with the craftsmen to the designated places, and—whether they be found on a royal estate or on private property—you cause them to be procured without any delay, since we believe it grievous to none to furnish what is being prepared, with God's help, for the common good.

But we wish you to carry out what is enjoined in such a way that nothing may seem to be deliberately sought out for the injury of the landholder, but only those things necessary to our advantage be taken in advance. Let nothing be exacted from the owner that is not afterwards said to have been received for the public. We order the woodland timber to be cut, not anything to be violently lopped from another's possessions. Such things profit us as cannot burden our subjects—things which, did not the present cause require them, that man would believe himself not to possess. In the rivers Mincio, Oglio, Auser, Tiber, and Arno we have learned that certain men have, with hedges, cut off the course of the river so far as pertains to the practice of navigation.

This we wish you, by the ordinance of the magnificent man Abundantius, praetorian prefect, to cut away by all means, nor to permit anyone to presume any such thing further, but let the stretches of the inviolate channel be left for the passage of ships. For we know that one must fish with nets, not with hedges. For from this too a detestable greed is betrayed, that one hastens to shut in for himself alone as much as could have reached to many. If our judgment had chosen you as a raw recruit, if you had come to the scales of examination unknown, we should think you ought to be admonished with what prudence, with what grace you should conduct yourself. But you are believed to have the understanding of all virtues, who have deserved to be trained in the warfare of letters.

For you judge with what modesty you ought to restrain yourself, you who have been seen to fulfill the wishes of another's business. For if the savage suspicion of a judge had touched you, by praising justice you corrected his mind with a gentle and penetrating remedy, obtaining by sweet persuasion what you could not have imposed upon a superior. Who, then, doubts that you love those things which it is agreed you have urged with the public voice? Goods professed are not held doubtful: nor does anyone's mind acquiesce that what he himself, when a veteran, was able to prosecute, should be taught to him by others as though he were a novice. You used to demand, with lawful voice, that the credibility of a produced document be established, examining whether the archives retained the truth uncorrupted. Now as judge display what you wished to obtain from others.

Come, lest your own speech be cast in your teeth, since it is a burden of the gravest shame to be convicted by one's own voice. Take up, therefore, with God as author, the governance of the decuriae, the most truthful witness of human acts, the security of possessors, the most splendid temple of public faith. From this so much praise is acquired for you as the welfare of those whose interest is there preserved uncorrupted. Let there live, in everlasting ages, the will of the departed: let the judgments of parents pass into their descendants: let the repose of all be preserved in your archives. Let others have honors and the dread fasces: to you, the most welcome guardians of human life are seen to render service. For there are the acquittals of men, the bonds of cases, the chain of lawsuits, the prison of fury. Of which the Mantuan bard might more truly say:

'The gates of strife are shut; impious Fury, shut up within, gnashes horridly with bloody mouth upon a heap of cruel arms.' Choose, therefore, the decurions with a weighed estimation of their merits, since it is not fitting to call to so great a city that which is base. Use also, when it shall be necessary, the counsel of the elder by birth, made senior to so many fathers, the voice of the senate while so many are silent. See what dignity you have received, that among so many eloquent men you should be the foremost in speaking—men whom we ourselves profess to be worthy of reverence. Undertake, then, to grant what we command, to bestow what we concede, so that you may open the doors of the curia to those whom our choice has ordered to enter the hall of Liberty.

Although he who is sent to you to be approved must always be carefully chosen—since he himself is rather submitted to examination, whose sentence is known to be weighed when delivered—nevertheless we desire those dignities to be associated with prudent men, which are affixed to the Roman citadels like noble gems. For where can the eloquent man more worthily advance than in the city of letters, that there he may display his merit where he nourished his talent? Every good thing is apt to its own places, and all praiseworthy things grow base unless they obtain a fitting seat. Battle requires strong hands, the ship desires a spirited breast: so your archives require a faithful purpose, so the curia an eloquent and well-spoken man. With much deliberation, therefore, he is believed to need weighing, who is daily offered to your discernment.

Our estimation, then, has regarded Capuanus, a respectable man (spectabilis), who, eloquent, might declare with the authority of an elder the sentence of your curia, and might preserve the archives of the senate with purity of conscience, so that he may render those acts, most renowned to the world, praiseworthy by his integrity. It is a great office, conscript fathers, to be chosen for integrity, nor is that conscience proved of mean worth to which the truth of the ages is committed. For if he is extolled as a witness who has spoken truths in a present case, with what praise can he be reckoned who transmits sure things for all times? But although, as your nurslings, you have all things most well known, it pleases the more to repeat those things which the consent of all can recognize.

There is always present to the chosen man a certain grace of words; it soothes the ears, draws the mind, employs the clarity of eloquence such as ought to flow from a pure conscience. For speech is a kind of mirror of the actor's character, nor can there be a greater testimony of the mind than the inspected quality of words. For—that we may describe his peculiar traits—he suffers in simple matters the reins of his tongue; yet by this he is the more terrible when he pleads to the end: and this has been granted to his grace by foreseeing nature, that the man whom you had seen hesitating before the doors, you should be amazed at as eloquent in the contests. But that memory, which is rightly called the treasury of orators, has settled in him with such firmness, that things once heard you would think to be stored up with him in writing.

It is a great benefit not to know the failing of forgetfulness: and it is a certain likeness of things truly heavenly always to hold present the things run through by time. These things we now declare for this reason, that you may know we hold the virtues of our subjects pleasing, and may teach that our judgment is conceived not by a chance wish but by the zeal of choice. To these men, therefore, conscript fathers, we command Capuanus, endowed with good qualities, to be rector of the decuriae from the present indiction; we also raise him by the authority of an elder by birth, so that he who has conducted himself with the hoary maturity of character—which is the most ample kind of reverence—may in your order rejoice in the honor of age.

He will increase his eloquence, enriched by a better office, since he is much more eloquent who dictates a sentence than he who supplicates. Liberty nourishes words, but fear frequently cuts off abundance. The very action, too, is far different, so that he who but lately stood by even mean and humble fortunes, may now introduce the consulars of your curia. Tata, our saio, with archers, we have judged ought to be directed to the illustrious man Wiliarius, count, so that the doubled army might take greater strength. Let our young men display in wars what they have learned in the gymnasium of valor. Let the Martial school send forth its swarms: he will fight in earnest who has been accustomed to exercise himself in leisure.

And therefore we resolve that Your illustrious Magnificence furnish them with provisions and ships according to custom, so that, with God's help, they may reach the place to which they have been directed. For we give to your diligence the carrying out of our commands, since what is begun by your ordinances, with God's help, can in no way be believed to be left undone. Iohanna is reported, by the bounty of the law, to have succeeded Andreas, formerly her spouse; she, intestate and with no kinsmen surviving, is said to have been deprived of the light.

Her substance is reported to be possessed, by voluntary usurpation, by various persons supported by no lawful right; and since the safeguards of the laws have decreed that ownerless goods (caduca bona) fall to our fisc, we therefore admonish you by the present edict that, the truth of this matter having been examined, if in very truth—as has been reported to us—no heir has come forth for her either by will or has succeeded by right of kinship, you cause it to be added to the profits of our fisc: since it is the profession of our innocence not to neglect just profits, with us in whom calumny could never find a place. For it befits a prince to be petitioned in such cases, not to be defrauded, since it is a vice of negligence to leave behind usurpations which the laws bid be cut away.

But if you find anything to the contrary, you shall suffer the owners to hold it in peace, since those patrimonies are rather ours which are lawfully possessed by our subjects. Our munificence strengthens the weary years, while it does not let an age in its decline feel the losses of want. For the strength of the young is animated by the boldness of toil: the life of the old alone is to have found the remedies of repose.

And therefore, moved by your supplication, we decree that the charge of the designated tribunate, to be administered most diligently in the city of Milan, pertains to you in such manner that—a thing new in the service of the commonwealth—as long as you live, no man's punishable presumption shall ever assign you a successor; so that, in the displaying of the pleasures of this office, you may continually enjoy, by the benefit of our clemency, having in both that which may console your age: the advantage of the place and the gladness of pleasures. Although our munificence is everywhere most welcome to all, yet we believe those things far more acceptable which are conferred by our presence, since benefits drawn from the sight of the prince take on a greater value than those obtained merely from his largesse.

For he is almost like a dead man who is not known by his lord and lives under no honor, whom the acquaintance of his king does not protect. And therefore by the present command we charge that on the eighth day before the Ides of June, with God's help, you ought to come into our presence: you who solemnly receive the royal gifts, if you make haste to come straightway. Yet we necessarily admonish this: that no excess be able to arise among those who come, lest you lay waste the crops or meadows of the landholders; but, hastening with all self-restraint, may your coming, by reason of your preserved discipline, be pleasing to us; for we gladly undergo the army's expenses for this very purpose, that civil order may be kept untouched by armed men.

By the custom of royal liberality we are reminded that we ought to bestow the solemn gifts upon our Goths. And therefore let your devotion, without any delay, admonish the millenarii of the province of Picenum and Samnium, that those who year by year receive the rewards of our clemency may, for the receiving of the donative, hasten without delay to the court, so that they who have served us well may rejoice in a greater munificence. For he must live blamelessly who knows that his presence is to be offered to princes: for praise attends the good, but complaint the bad. It befits us also, on this occasion, to inquire into the deeds of individuals, so that what each has done in the battle-line may not be allowed to perish for any.

For if the army should always expect its customary perquisites, neglect cannot love valor. Let the trembling man learn to come to the judge, who does not remember himself to have acted boldly in anything: so that he may the better rise up violently against the enemy, who prefers to avoid the wounds of our reproach. The merits of good persons have this glorious prejudice in their favor, that those who become known by upright actions are not allowed to grow torpid in idleness: and therefore, both satisfying your desire and because we have believed you necessary to us, we summon you by the present commands, so that both our service may be adorned by noble men, and we may, through you, be able to dispatch what we believe useful to us.

The poured-out entreaty of Anduit has indeed moved us, but the more pitiable did the lost adornment of his sight render the man, since it is necessary that a calamity seen should move us more deeply than one heard. For he, surviving in perpetual night, has hastened to our remedies by the benefit of a borrowed light, so that he whom he could not see, he might at least feel by the sweetness of our clemency. For he cries out that Gudila and Oppa are imposing upon him a condition of servitude unknown to his kind, since long ago he followed our armies in freedom. We have marveled that such a man should be dragged into bondage, who ought rather to have been expelled from it by a true lord. It is a strange ambition to seek out such a one as you might shudder at and call a slave, to whom by divine consideration you ought rather to render service.

He adds, moreover, that calumnies of this kind were set aside in his favor by the examination of Count Pitzia, a man of celebrated repute; but that now, crushed by the weight of his infirmity, he cannot vindicate himself by his own hand, which is proved to stand as a protectress to the strong. But we, whose proper task it is to keep impartial justice for unequals among equals, decree by the present command that, if in the judgment of the aforesaid late Pitzia he proved himself free-born, you straightway remove the calumniators: nor let them dare further to mock the necessities of others, men whom, once convicted, it had befitted to condemn their own pretensions. Those whom we choose as leaders (duces), to them likewise we lawfully delegate the weights of equity, since we desire you to be made more renowned not so much by arms as by judgments.

Let Costula, then, and Daila, with God's favor, rejoice in the liberty of our Goths; they complain that servile burdens are being laid upon them by you—burdens which it neither befits them to endure nor is it lawful unreasonably to impose upon anyone. And if you recognize that the matter has been so done, you shall cause it to be removed without any delay, lest a complaint be thereafter again brought back to us from that quarter, and a pleading rolled back upon a duke begin to weigh grievously upon our mind—a duke whom it rather behooves to carry out such things as it may delight us to hear.

Thomas, a most distinguished man (vir clarissimus), within the provinces of Apulia and Calabria, complains that certain persons owe a very great sum of money in respect of the siliquaticum tax of the eighth, ninth, eleventh, first, second, and fifteenth indictions, which he recalls pertained to his lease (conductio). And since it does not befit the public good to be put off by long mockery, therefore let your devotion, receiving the present decrees, approach Marcus the presbyter, Andreas and Simeonius, and the rest whom the schedule annexed below sets forth—civility being preserved in all things—so that, if it shall be established that they are debtors to the fisc not by calumny but in very truth manifestly, they may pay, without any diminution, the sum which is reasonably demanded.

For provision must be made that the spirit of contumacious persons may not seem to bring any loss to the public accounts. But those who acknowledge that less is charged against them, let them, under your pressure, come to a competent tribunal, so that what accords with equity may be fulfilled, with the laws kept safe, the allegation of both parties having been examined. The repeated complaint of Patzenis has reached us countless times: he, while stationed on a most prosperous campaign, asserted that his wife was mangled by your wife Procula with a triple wounding, so that she escaped only by the favor of being given up for lost, since she was believed not wearied by the blows but already extinct. We, marveling, if it be true, at the greatest audacity in a woman, do not suffer this to pass unpunished.

And therefore by the present decrees we admonish you that, if you clearly recognize the deed to be done, you refute the complaint laid before us—consulting your own honor—by marital correction, so that from the same cause a just complaint may not return to us. And know that what it had befitted you to correct by domestic correction can be cut short by the laws. But if, accusing rather the falsehood of the petitioner, you perhaps wish to plead your case, then—the obstacle of delay being removed—come without delay to our court with your aforesaid wife, about to receive either vengeance for an unjust presumption or victory over the woman's wickedness. Grievous is the complaint of Patzenis, made known to the feelings of our clemency.

He testifies that, while he was stationed on the Gallic campaign, Brandila broke out into such excess against him, as to lead away his wife Regina to be joined to himself in marriage of his own, and that, to the injury of our times, adultery was committed under a feigned law of matrimony. These things, if they be true, we by no means suffer to pass unpunished. For when could anyone hold his affections secure, if a man shall then be subject to crime, when he has fought for the safety of all? Behold, you unchaste women, the most chaste race of the moaning turtle-doves: which, if it be divided from its mate by some chance intervening, binds itself by a perpetual law of abstinence: it does not seek again the grace of union which it has lost:

She keeps faith while remaining ignorant of the praise of modesty, and she is found to cultivate good morals only because she boasts of no manner of life befitting widowhood. Women, alas! cannot restrain their vows, though reason persuades them to chastity, the penalty of the law imposes it, and the dread of a husband wrings it from them. Morals have surely perished, if they cannot even be compared with creatures that, lacking reason, are nonetheless governed by restraint. Therefore let Your Sublimity make the accused come forward to your examination, and, the truth of the matter once sifted, let the adulterers be cut off, as our laws prescribe, with favour shown to the husbands; for those who have been joined together by a criminal presumption have refused to let the defender of the commonwealth return. Without doubt they desired to throw all things into confusion, who attempted what is hostile to the laws.

But it is better that wrongdoing should be checked by the punishment of a few evildoers, since every marriage—which God forbid—is left uncertain, if sin is committed against so great a reverence without any dread. It has been suggested to us by frequent report that Frontosus, a witness to his own name, has squandered no small sum of the public money. We have caused him to be examined by various judges in a just inquiry, lest perchance, as often happens, it were not truth but envy that defamed him. He confessed all and undertook that he could repay, if a generous respite were granted him:

But when these periods had repeatedly elapsed, forgetful of his promise he always appeared unprepared at the appointed times—unable indeed to flee, yet unmindful of his own pledge, neglectful when left alone, trembling when held fast. He changes his words, varies his agreements, and not content with one consistent quality in what he has said, he is transformed into divers shapes. He deserves rightly to be compared with the chameleon, a beast similar in form to small serpents, distinguished only by its golden head, while its remaining members are marked with a faded leek-green colour. As often as this creature comes within human sight, since swiftness of flight is denied it, confounded with excessive timidity it changes its colours into manifold hues, so that it can be found now sea-blue, now purple, now leek-green, now azure.

Hence it is marvellous to behold so many different colours upon a single surface. We say, not without reason, that it is like the pandian gem, in which a single brilliance cannot contain itself: it fluctuates with trembling reflections, while the stone is held motionless. For what you see at one moment, presently you perceive to be something else there, if you gaze longer: thus you believe to be changed what you know has snatched itself from no one. When these mutations are weighed, the mind of Frontosus is found most like them: it has no faith in its own speech, it contains as many varieties as the words it has uttered. He deserves to be joined by right to the fables of Proteus, who, suddenly seized, by no means kept the form of his own substance; for, that he might conceal the man, either he gnashed as a lion, or hissed as a serpent, or dissolved into flowing waves.

And since he is thus known, when he comes face to face before your tribunal, see to it first that he make no promise, beware lest he fix an agreement, since it is the way of a most fickle mind to promise readily what it does not intend to fulfil. But whatever, by considered equity, he is able to pay, let him now repay, bound fast and without any delay; for after so many falsehoods he will be able to count it among his subtleties that he knows he has often deluded himself. Since, in the uncertain event of the time, want with chastened countenance was beating upon the houses of Rome, and though thinly peopled the city, nonetheless so beautiful, seemed most foul, we have judged it fair to furnish her with the supplies of Spanish wheat, so that under us a happier Rome might recover her ancient tribute.

Our commands were indeed served by the praiseworthy diligence of the honourable Marcianus; but those things were carried out with too little care which, it is agreed, had been most excellently provided for. For those who had undertaken to transport it, unable to bear the wearisomeness of the delays, are said to have sold the destined grain in the regions of Africa for their own profit.

Although this ought by no means to have passed unavenged—that love of private gain should hold in suspense the hungry hopes of so many peoples—yet, because it is ingrained in us to remit faults which we are able to correct by prudent ordinance, we have judged that Catellus and Servandus, vigorous men, should be dispatched, so that, since the shipmasters are reported to have received two hundred and eighty solidi for wheat and seven hundred and fifty-eight solidi for freight, if the truth of the matter is made known before you, the sum being gathered up by reckoning, a quantity of one thousand and thirty-eight solidi may be exacted from them; that we who have remitted vengeance may in no way feel the loss. In this matter let Your Sublimity so diligently apply yourselves that you may be seen to have satisfied both justice and the public interests.

You plead that your body, worn out by continual labours, has brought upon you a debility of limbs, so that you who were formerly fit for the insignia of war are now scarcely proved suitable even for a life of leisure: requesting that you may not be compelled to the most fortunate expeditions, from which you are withdrawn not by your own wish but by necessity. And therefore, your allegations having been thoroughly examined and brought to the proof of the facts, we grant you by the present command a leisure that is not without honour; for there is no fault of cowardice in him whom a pitiable calamity excuses. But just as we concede you a life of repose, so we deprive you by present authority of your donative; for it is not just that, since you are known to be sufficient of your own means, you should idly receive what belongs to those who toil.

Enjoy therefore a secure life, freed by our protection from the snares of divers men. Nor shall anyone impute to you the reproach of a deserter, since those whom it has befallen to be relieved from military service on account of illness are, on the ground of their former deeds, rightly to be held in reverence. For he is not worthy to be reproved by anyone who by our judgment deserves to be acquitted. We willingly grant what is requested without injury to the laws, especially since, for the preservation of civility, the benefits of justice are not to be denied even to those who are still known to err in the faith. And therefore let them learn the sweetest savour of good things, so that those who strive to seek human justice may begin more anxiously to ponder the divine judgments.

Accordingly, since you frequently complain that you are harassed by the presumption of certain persons and assert that the rights pertaining to your synagogue are being annulled, the protection of our clemency, as petitioned, shall aid you, to the end that no ecclesiastic may, by interposing violence, encroach upon what by right belongs to your synagogue, nor mingle himself in your affairs with importunate harshness, but that as in the cult of religion, so also in the conduct of their actions they may be kept distinct: yet granting this benefit of our princely aid with this moderation, that you too may not attempt to lay hands uncivilly upon whatever shall be found by the laws to pertain to the right of the aforesaid Church or assuredly to religious persons.

Moreover, the thirty-year prescription, the patroness of the human race, shall by right be preserved for you, even as for all; nor do we command you to bear unreasonably the losses pertaining to charges, so that, fortified by this defence of our piety, your petition may rejoice to have been freed from unlawful disadvantages. We grant indeed, according to the custom of our clemency, what you have asked: but what avails it, O Jew, that as a suppliant you seek temporal quiet, if you cannot find eternal rest? The chief care of aqueducts admonishes us that whatever can grow harmfully we ought the more swiftly to cut away, so that both the soundness of the aqueduct may, by God's help, be preserved uncorrupted, and the work may be light for you which is applied to young trees.

For what are now mere shoots will become, if neglected, even oaks. For these things which now are severed by an easy plucking, will afterwards scarcely yield though struck by axes. And therefore you ought to strive with united haste, so that by present diligence you may escape the disadvantages of future labour. For this is a civil overthrow, a ruin without assault, a battering-ram, so to speak, of buildings. Wherefore we order every wood that rises hostile to the walls to be cut away by the roots from the Ravenna aqueduct, so that the rebuilt construction of the cement channel may bring us such water as it was able to receive in purity from the springs. Then there will be a fair display of the baths, then the fishponds will flow with glassy fountains:

Then there will be water that cleanses, not defiles, after which there will be no need to bathe again at once. It is added also that, if a sweet wave flow in for drinking, all things are restored agreeable to our sustenance, since no food becomes pleasing to human life where the clearness of sweet waters is not to be had. For if we desire to be washed with the purest liquids, how much more do we hasten to be satisfied with such? And if these future things be now attended to, the labour brings weariness to no one, since it is undertaken for the delight of all. It befits the provinces, subject by God's help to our kingdom, to be ordered by laws and good morals, for that is truly the life of men which is contained within the order of law. For it is the manner of beasts to live by chance:

for while they are carried away by the eagerness to seize, they succumb to unforeseen rashness. The skilled husbandman at last clears his field of bushy brambles, since it is the praise of the cultivator if the wild soil be made pleasant with the sweetest fruits. Thus the sweetest peace of the people and the tranquil disposition of regions is proved to be the renown of rulers. And so, from the complaint of many, we have learned that in the province of Spain—what is the highest crime among mortals—the lives of men are plundered with roving presumption, and many undergo destruction on occasion of trivial causes. Thus by an evil peace, as if in sport, more men fall than could scarcely have fallen under the necessity of wars.

Furthermore, they are made subject to fortune not by the public registers, as is the custom, but by the arbitrary will of the collectors of the provincials. This is a kind of manifest plunder—to give according to his will who hastens to exact the more for his own profit. Desiring to remedy this matter by royal providence, we have thought that Your Sublimity ought to be appointed throughout all Spain in the place of an office, so that under the novelty of your ordering nothing may be permitted to inveterate custom. But that, after the manner of physicians, we may apply hastened remedies to the more savage diseases, let the beginning of our cure be made there where the greater danger is known to be. We order the crime of homicide to be cut off by the authority of the laws:

but in proportion as the penalty is more vehement, so much the more must the inquiry into the matter be pursued, lest from love of vengeance the innocent seem to suffer perils of life. Let the guilty alone therefore perish for the correction of the many, since this too is a kind of piety—to check the infancy of crime, lest it grow strong by increase. But those exacting the public revenue are said to oppress the patrimonies of the proprietors by the burdensome weights of the scales, so that it seems to be not so much an exaction as plunder. But that all occasion of fraud may be abolished, we order all public dues to be brought in according to the standard-weight of our chamber, which has at present been given to you.

For what is so wicked as that presumptuous men should be permitted to cheat even in the very quality of the balance, so that what is properly given to justice should be known to be corrupted through frauds? The lessees of the royal estate, of whatever nation they be born, we decree, the truth being clearly sifted, to pay only as much as it shall be established that our estates render. And lest his labour seem to anyone thankless, we wish a remuneration to be fixed for them by your equity according to the quality of the property leased. For they are to be called not our fields but theirs, if the measure of the rent turn out according to the will of the lessee.