Letter 2010: VARIAE, BOOK 2, LETTER 10
VARIAE, BOOK 2, LETTER 10
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus
To: Speciosus, Devoted Man and Official
Date: ~507-511 AD
Context: Theoderic declares that the royal purpose is to aid those oppressed by injustice.
[1] It is the royal purpose to come to the aid of those burdened by injustice, so that the punishment of wrongdoing makes justice all the more beloved. Nor can any offense be ignored, consistent with the common good, when the injury of one threatens the security of all. For the law that fails to protect the weakest citizen offers no real protection to anyone — since the powerful, seeing impunity, will only grow bolder, and the weak, seeing abandonment, will lose all faith in the state.
[2] Therefore, we direct that the matter brought to our attention be investigated with the thoroughness it deserves, and that the guilty be punished without regard to rank or connection. Justice must be seen to be done — not whispered about in the corridors of power, but proclaimed in the open, where every citizen can witness that the king's word is as good as his sword.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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