Letter 1007: KING THEODERIC TO FELIX, A MAN OF DISTINCTION.
King Theoderic to Felix, a Man of Distinction.
[1] Through the petition of Venantius, guardian of Plutianus, we have learned that you have been acting in a way unworthy of your station — that you have afflicted with financial injury the very ward whom you should have supported at your own expense. Your family relationship ought to have been demonstrated by the benefits you bestowed; what then seems proper in the case of one bound by blood, which would be counted criminal in a stranger?
[2] Therefore by the present order we decree that you shall not only restore to Venantius and his ward whatever you have taken from them, but shall also compensate for all damage caused. Let this serve as a warning: the protection of orphans and wards is a matter in which our justice takes particular interest.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
VII. FELICI V. C. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Venantii tutoris Plutiani aditione cognovimus in ea te, qua non decuerat, actione versatum, ut eum, quem sumptu proprio iuvare debuisses, dispendio proprietatis affligeres. affinitatem quippe tuam solacia debuerant impensa testari. quale ergo videtur sanguine coniunctis, quod criminosum probaretur extraneis? [2] Atque ideo praesenti iussione censemus, ut, quicquid a Neoterio prodiga voluntate lascivo te non tam comparasse quam subripuisse cognoscis, incorporanda militi nostro sine aliqua dilatione restituas, ne nos huius modi factum cogas legibus vindicare, qui nunc videmur omnia mansuetudine temperasse. perire enim pupillo non patimur quod parentibus sub nostra laude dederamus. gravissimum est enim per calumniam subtrahi, quod collatum est munificentia principali. [3] Reliqua vero, quae pro iugalis tuae assereris portione contempto iustitiae tramito divisisse—si tamen appellanda divisio est, quam sub unius celebratam constat arbitrio ñ, ad nostrum comitatum festinus occurre, ut inter vos ea quae iustitiae conveniunt ordinemus. iniquum est enim, ut de una substantia, quibus competit aequa successio, alii abundanter affluant, alii paupertatis incommodis ingemiscant.
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