Letter 10028: It befits royal justice to uphold what has been properly arranged by officials acting in good faith — especially...

28. King Theodahad to Senator, Praetorian Prefect. [1] It befits royal justice to uphold whatever has been ordained by judges acting well, especially those whose conscience is so well known that they appear to have done nothing rashly, nothing from a zeal for venality. And therefore the treasury-paymasters who issue grain, wine, and cheese, the meat-sellers, the wine-dealers, the foremen of the storehouses and of the shops, the moneylenders and the cellarers, who belong to the city of Rome or to the residence at Ravenna, and likewise those who are known to administer public offices along the bank at Ticinum [Pavia] and at Placentia [Piacenza] or throughout other places, whomsoever they be, those whom we have learned were appointed by you-whose judgments we so gladly embrace, and so desire to be preserved, as though they were believed to have been made by us-we do not allow any man's malice to prevail against those who have undertaken public administrations by your judgment. [2] Wherefore, in the offices designated, let ambition, ever the enemy of justice, be still: let us at once remove from those acting well the place customarily given to envy: let it not be permitted to anyone within a five-year period to wish to succeed the aforesaid men, provided that no fault has rejected them upon your inquiry. Let them therefore be undismayed, those who by your will either are or shall have been appointed: let them procure for themselves the necessities in security: let him not fear to be expelled within this five-year period whom the uprightness of his conduct has commended. [3] On account of the barrenness, too, of the present time, see to it that the prices for the individual commodities are tempered, as it shall reasonably seem fit to your eminence, so that those to whom it has been entrusted to carry on the several supplies may not complain of unjust burden. But since human ambition cannot be restrained except through fear of loss, if anyone, relying either upon bribes or upon the entreaties of patrons, shall be seen to succeed any of those appointed by you to their offices, let him at once be struck with a fine of thirty pounds of gold, to be exacted nonetheless by you. [4] But if he cannot be found capable of this loss, let him who cannot suffice for the above-said penalty pay the penalty with corporal punishment and be thwarted in his attempts, he being moreover to be branded with the penalty of infamy, who shall attempt by any evasion to come against our prohibitions. For nothing will be able to be found secure, nothing stable, if the wishes of the envious are always permitted to advance to unlawful snares. Let your greatness cause this to come to the notice of all, lest anyone suppose himself to be excused through ignorance, because he did not understand that it had been forbidden.

XXVIII. SENATORI PPO THEODAHADUS REX. [1] Decet regiam iustitiam custodire quod a iudicibus bene agentibus fuerit ordinatum, maxime quorum conscientia sic nota est, ut nihil incaute, nihil venalitatis studio fecisse videantur. et ideo arcarios prorogatores tritici, vini et casei, macellarios, vinarios, capitularios horreariorum et tabernariorum, fenerarios et cellaritas, qui ad urbem Romam vel ad mansionem pertinent Ravennatem, sed et eos, qui ripam Ticinensem et Placentinam sive per alia loca quicumque publicos titulos administrare noscuntur, quos a vobis conperimus ordinatos, cuius iudicia sic libenter amplectimur, sic servari desideramus, tamquam a nobis facta esse credantur, nec sinimus contra illos cuiusquam praevalere malitiam, qui vestro iudicio amministrationes publicas susceperunt. [2] Quapropter in designatis titulis ambitio, inimica semper iustitiae, conquiescat: consuetudinarium bene agentibus locum protinus tollamus invidiae: non liceat cuiquam intra quinquennium praedictis velle succedere, si tamen vestra inquisitione eos nulla culpa respuerit. sint ergo intrepidi, qui vestra voluntate vel sunt vel fuerint ordinati: procurent sibi necessaria securi: non timeat intra hoc quinquennium expelli, quem commendaverit probitas actionis. [3] Propter sterilitatem quoque praesentis temporis de singulis speciebus, prout eminentiae vestrae rationabiliter visum fuerit, pretia facite temperari, ut hi, quibus commissum est exercere singulos apparatus, de iniusto gravamine non querantur. sed quoniam humana ambitio nisi per metum damni non potest inhiberi, si qui a vobis titulis ordinatis, sive suffragiis sive patronorum precibus nisus, visus fuerit cuique succedere, statim triginta librarum auri multa feriatur, a vobis nihilominus exigenda. [4] Quod si ad hoc damnum idoneus non potuerit inveniri, corporali supplicio poenam luat qui non potuerit in supra dicta perculsione sufficere et frustretur ausibus suis, poena etiam inurendus infamiae, qui contra interdicta nostra aliqua tergiversatione venire temptaverit. nihil enim securum, nihil poterit stabile reperiri, si semper invidentium vota ad illicitas accedere permittantur insidias. quod magnitudo vestra in omnium faciat pervenire notitiam, ne quis per ignorantiam se existimet excusandum, quod non intellexerit fuisse prohibitum.