Letter 10032: Most merciful Emperor, how deeply I desire the sweetness of your favor can be understood from this alone: that after...

From: King Witigis of Italy To: Emperor Justinian in Constantinople Date: ~536 AD Context: Witigis writes to Justinian seeking peace after the Byzantine invasion of Italy has already begun — a letter mixing defiance with desperate diplomacy. Most merciful Emperor, how deeply I desire the sweetness of your favor can be understood from this alone: that after so many grievous injuries, after so much bloodshed, I still seek your peace as though no one on your side had ever harmed us. We have endured things that could offend even those who inflicted them — prosecution without guilt, hatred without fault, losses without debts. And lest it be dismissed as a minor matter, the damage was inflicted not merely in the provinces but at the very capital of our realm. Consider what pain I set aside in order to find your justice. What has been done is something the whole world will talk about — and it deserves to be settled by you in a way that earns universal admiration for your fairness. If you seek vengeance for King Theodahad [deposed and killed in 536], then I deserve your friendship — for I punished the man you hated. If honoring the memory of Queen Amalasuntha [Theoderic's daughter, murdered in 535] is your concern, then think of her daughter, whom the united efforts of your people ought to have brought to the throne — so that all nations could see you had repaid the debt of gratitude owed to so dear a bond. This should move you especially: that through a remarkable arrangement, God gave us knowledge of each other even before I held royal power. This created a foundation of affection between us before I ever held the scepter. With what reverence could I honor the Emperor, whom I already looked up to when I was still in a lesser station? But you can still restore everything that has been done, since it is not difficult to retain the affection of one who openly desires your favor. Therefore, with appropriate greetings to Your Clemency, I inform you that I have dispatched my ambassadors to your Serenity's wisdom — so that you may consider everything in your accustomed manner, and both our states may persist in restored harmony. What was established under earlier emperors with admirable reputation should, under your reign, grow even greater with divine assistance. I have entrusted the remaining details to the aforesaid ambassadors for verbal delivery to Your Serenity, so that this letter may touch on essentials while they convey our case more fully.

XXXII. IUSTINIANO IMPERATORI VVITIGIS REX. [1] Quanta sit nobis, clementissime imperator, gratiae vestrae votiva suavitas, hinc omnino datur intellegi, ut post tot gravissimas laesiones et tanta effusione sanguinis perpetrata sic videamur pacem vestram quaerere, tamquam nos nemo vestrorum putetur ante laesisse. pertulimus talia, qualia et ipsos possunt offendere qui fecerunt, insecutiones sine reatu, odium sine culpa, damna sine debitis. et ne pro parvitate sui neglegi potuisset, non in provinciis tantum, sed in ipso rerum capite probatur inflictum. aestimate, quos dolores abicimus, ut vestram iustitiam reperire possimus. talis res effecta est, quam mundus loquatur: quae sic a vobis meretur componi, ut aequitatem vestram generalitas debeat ammirari. [2] Nam si vindicta regis Theodahadi quaeritur, mereor diligi: si commendatio divae memoriae Amalasuinthae reginae prae oculis habetur, eius debet filia cogitari, quam nisus vestrorum omnium perducere decuisset ad regnum, ut cunctae gentes potuissent agnoscere vicissitudinem vos gratiae tanto pignori reddidisse. [3] Illud etenim vos debuit permovere, quod distributione mirabili ante regni fastigia invicem vos divinitas nostram fecit habere notitiam, ut amoris causam tribueret, quibus aspectus gratiam contulisset. quali enim reverentia principem colere potui, quem adhuc in illa positus fortuna suspexi? sed potestis et nunc omnia redintegrare quae facta sunt, quando non est difficile illum in affectum retinere, qui gratiam constat desideranter expetere. [4] Et ideo salutantes clementiam vestram honorificentia competenti indicamus nos legatos nostros illum atque illum ad serenitatis vestrae sapientiam destinasse, ut omnia more vestro cogitetis, quatinus utraeque res publicae restaurata concordia perseverent et quod temporibus retro principum laudabili opinione fundatum est, sub vestro magis imperio divinis auxiliis augeatur. reliqua vero per legatos praedictos serenitati vestrae verbo insinuanda commisimus, ut et aliqua epistularis brevitas perstringeret et causas nostras suggerentes plenius intimarent.