Cassiodorus→Domitianus And Wilia|c. 522 AD|cassiodorus
barbarian invasionproperty economics
XVIII. KING THEODERIC TO DOMITIANUS AND WILIA.
[1] It befits you to cultivate and observe justice, you who have undertaken to declare the equity of the people, since it is not permitted for him to offend who is believed to keep others under the rule of equity -- lest he who is chosen for a laudable office become instead an example of wrongdoing. And therefore we have taken care to provide an answer to your inquiry, so that you may not err through doubt -- unless, which God forbid, you should wish to transgress. [2] If a barbarian usurper has occupied the estate of a Roman without any written authorization from a delegating authority, at any time since we crossed the waters of the Isonzo by divine favor -- when Italy first received our rule -- let him restore it to its former owner without delay. But if he appears to have entered upon the property before the designated time, since the prescription of thirty years is shown to apply, we order the claim of the plaintiff to be set aside. [3] For we wish to recall into dispute only those things that, having been presumptively seized in our own times, we condemn -- because no room for accusation is left when the obscurity of long time is passed over. [4] Concerning one who has merely struck, but not killed, a brother -- although by the common law of all mankind such a deed is condemned, and only parricide exceeds the enormity of this crime -- nevertheless our humanity, which seeks a place for compassion even in the case of the wicked, defines by the present authority that such monstrous creatures shall be driven from the borders of the province. For those to whom the society of their own kin was hateful do not deserve to share the fellowship of their fellow citizens, lest the pleasant serenity of a pure body be polluted by murky stains.
XVIII. DOMITIANO ET VVILIAE THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Oportet vos colere et observare iustitiam, qui aequitatem populi dicere suscepistis, quando non licet delinquere, qui alios creditur sub aequitatis regula continere, ne fiat exemplum pravum qui electus ad laudabile cognoscitur institutum. et ideo ad interrogationem vestram curavimus praebere responsum, ne per dubitationem possitis errare, nisi, quod absit, velitis excedere. [2] Si Romani praedium, ex quo deo propitio Sonti fluenta transmisimus, ubi primum Italiae nos suscepit imperium, sine delegatoris cuiusquam pittacio praesumptor barbarus occupavit, eum priori domino summota dilatione restituat. quod si ante designatum tempus rem videtur ingressus, quoniam praescriptio probatur obviare tricennii, petitionem iubemus quiescere pulsatoris. [3] Illa enim reduci in medium volumus, quae, nostris temporibus praesumpta, damnamus, quia locus calumniandi non relinquitur, cum longi temporis obscuritas praeteritur. [4] De percussore tantummodo, non etiam peremptore fratris, quamquam omnium communi lege damnatur solumque sit parricidium quod totius tragoediam reatus exsuperet, tamen humanitas nostra, quae sibi etiam in sceleratis locum pietatis inquirit, praesenti auctoritate definit, ut huius modi portenta provinciae finibus abigantur. nam quibus fuit exosa societas parentum, civium non merentur habere consortium, ne puri corporis iucunda serenitas nebulosis maculis polluatur.
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XVIII. KING THEODERIC TO DOMITIANUS AND WILIA.
[1] It befits you to cultivate and observe justice, you who have undertaken to declare the equity of the people, since it is not permitted for him to offend who is believed to keep others under the rule of equity -- lest he who is chosen for a laudable office become instead an example of wrongdoing. And therefore we have taken care to provide an answer to your inquiry, so that you may not err through doubt -- unless, which God forbid, you should wish to transgress. [2] If a barbarian usurper has occupied the estate of a Roman without any written authorization from a delegating authority, at any time since we crossed the waters of the Isonzo by divine favor -- when Italy first received our rule -- let him restore it to its former owner without delay. But if he appears to have entered upon the property before the designated time, since the prescription of thirty years is shown to apply, we order the claim of the plaintiff to be set aside. [3] For we wish to recall into dispute only those things that, having been presumptively seized in our own times, we condemn -- because no room for accusation is left when the obscurity of long time is passed over. [4] Concerning one who has merely struck, but not killed, a brother -- although by the common law of all mankind such a deed is condemned, and only parricide exceeds the enormity of this crime -- nevertheless our humanity, which seeks a place for compassion even in the case of the wicked, defines by the present authority that such monstrous creatures shall be driven from the borders of the province. For those to whom the society of their own kin was hateful do not deserve to share the fellowship of their fellow citizens, lest the pleasant serenity of a pure body be polluted by murky stains.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.