Letter 1029: VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 29

29. KING THEODERIC TO ALL THE LUCRISTANI [local inhabitants/settlers] STATIONED ABOVE THE SONTIUS [the river Isonzo]. [1] There is no doubt that the safeguarding of the courier service [cursus publicus] pertains to the advantage of the commonwealth, since through it the swiftest execution is rendered to our ordinances. And therefore, as for a necessary matter, greater care must be applied, so that those who have been stationed for continuous runs may not waste away with a shameful leanness, lest a starved meagreness, overcome by its labors, give way, and the journey begin to be made tedious which is established to have been devised for speed. [2] On this account, let your devotedness, admonished by the present command, restore the tracts of land that previously were permitted to the post-horses [veredi], reclaiming them through their own exchanges from the possessor, so that neither may losses be inflicted upon those [horses] over a small expanse, nor may what has been recovered suffice for these [men].

XXVIIII. UNIVERSIS LUCRISTANIS SUPER SONTIUM CONSTITUTIS THEODERICUS REX. [1] Non dubium est ad utilitatem rei publicae cursus custodiam pertinere, per quem nostris ordinationibus celerrimus praestatur effectus. et ideo velut necessariae rei maior adhibenda cautela est, ut qui ad continuos excursus constituti sunt, turpi macie non tabescant, ne ieiuna tenuitas laboribus praeventa succumbat et incipiat iter effici morosum, quod ad celeritatem constat inventum. [2] Quapropter devotio vestra praesenti iussione commonita terrarum spatia, quae veredis antea licuerunt, mutationibus suis a possessore vindicata restituat, ut nec illi parvo spatio infligantur damna et istis recuperata sufficiant.