Letter 2017: We do not wish our generosity to be harmful to anyone -- so that what is given to one person is not charged to...
Cassiodorus→Honorati, landowners, defenders, and curials of city of Tridentum (Trento)|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
property economics
From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To: The Honorati, landowners, defenders, and curials of the city of Tridentum (Trento)
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A brief fiscal order ensuring that a land grant to the priest Butilanus does not create a tax burden for the other landowners of Trento.
We do not wish our generosity to be harmful to anyone -- so that what is given to one person is not charged to another's account. Therefore, know by the present order that for the portion of land we have granted to the priest Butilanus through our largesse, no one is required to pay the fiscal tax obligation. Rather, whatever amount in gold solidi is comprised in that assessment, you should know that you are relieved of it from the payments on the tertiae [the "thirds" -- the share of land or tax revenue allocated to the Gothic settlers under Theoderic's settlement policy]. We do not wish anyone to be charged for what we have remitted to another through our generosity, lest -- and it would be an outrage to say it -- the gift given to one who has served well should become an innocent person's loss.
XVII. HONORATIS POSSESSORIBUS DEFENSORIBUS ET CURIALIBUS TRIDENTINAE CIVITATIS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Munificentiam nostram nulli volumus extare damnosam, ne quod alteri tribuitur, alterius dispendiis applicetur. et ideo praesenti auctoritate cognoscite, pro sorte quam Butilani presbytero nostra largitate contulimus, nullum debere persolvere fiscalis calculi functionem, sed in ea praestatione quanti se solidi comprehendunt, de tertiarum illationibus vobis noveritis esse relevandos. nec inferri a quoquam volumus, quod alteri nostra humanitate remisimus, ne, quod dictu nefas est, bene meriti munus innocentis contingat esse dispendium.
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From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To:The Honorati, landowners, defenders, and curials of the city of Tridentum (Trento)
Date:~522 AD
Context:A brief fiscal order ensuring that a land grant to the priest Butilanus does not create a tax burden for the other landowners of Trento.
We do not wish our generosity to be harmful to anyone -- so that what is given to one person is not charged to another's account. Therefore, know by the present order that for the portion of land we have granted to the priest Butilanus through our largesse, no one is required to pay the fiscal tax obligation. Rather, whatever amount in gold solidi is comprised in that assessment, you should know that you are relieved of it from the payments on the tertiae [the "thirds" -- the share of land or tax revenue allocated to the Gothic settlers under Theoderic's settlement policy]. We do not wish anyone to be charged for what we have remitted to another through our generosity, lest -- and it would be an outrage to say it -- the gift given to one who has served well should become an innocent person's loss.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.