Letter 2030: A personal exemption does not prejudice public law, because a ruler is permitted to be generous, and royal...

A personal exemption does not prejudice public law, because a ruler is permitted to be generous, and royal munificence cannot be confined within the bounds of statute. Let harsh anger be restrained by the strictest rules; let restless ambition be checked by law. But clemency has no law, and benevolence should not be forced to follow narrow paths. The defenders of the most holy church of Milan request that, for the expenses of the poor, one merchant from their city be assigned to them who, acting as a purchasing agent and exempt from trade obligations, would fulfill his task. They remind us that we granted this same arrangement to the church of Ravenna, and they ask that this precedent be extended to their benefit as well. Therefore, your illustrious magnificence, while preserving the public revenue due from the merchant body as a whole, shall assign them one merchant of their choosing, who may engage in trade without paying any monopoly tax, siliquaticum, auraria, or any other charge. Why should we hesitate to grant what costs us nothing?

XXX. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Non praeiudicat iuri publico personalis exceptio, quia beneficialem esse principem licet nec intra regulas constituti potest munificentia regalis artari. ira levis coerceatur gravissimis institutis: inpatiens ambitio iure refrenetur: clementia non habet legem nec debet sub angustis terminis benigna sequi, quem decet sine fine laudari. [2] Defensores itaque sacrosanctae Mediolanensis ecclesiae pro expensis pauperum, quae sub lucri exaggeratione funduntur, unum sibi ex negotiatoribus urbis suae desiderant oportere praestari, qui proemptoris functus officio, exceptus negotiationis oneribus debeat implere quod suscipit. hoc enim nos et Ravennati ecclesiae commemorant motos rationabili allegatione tribuisse, quod pietatis exemplum ad suum quoque commodum supplicant transferendum. [3] Et ideo illustris et praecelsa magnificentia tua, salva in aliis negotiatoribus commoditate publica, quae ab universo corpore consuevit inferri, unum eis, quem sibi visi fuerint eligere, deputabit, qui ita commercium negotiationis exerceat, quatenus nec monopolii nec siliquatici nec aurariae aliquid pensionis impendat vel quodlibet gravamen ex permissa nundinatione sustineat. cur enim illud tardemus annuere, unde nulla possumus damna sentire?