VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 26
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus
To: Faustus, Praetorian Prefect
Date: ~507-511 AD
Context: Theoderic confirms a tax exemption for a church, while insisting that any properties later added to the church's holdings must bear their fair share of taxation.
[1] It would be wrong for the confidence of a prior gift to be diminished among those to whom we regularly extend further generosity. But just as what we have once granted ought never to be rescinded, so those who obtained our largesse through moderate requests must not exceed the bounds of what was given through immoderate presumption. [2] Therefore, moved by the reverence due to religious devotion, we decree that the church of the venerable Bishop Unscilas shall continue to enjoy perpetually what we previously granted, and we instruct your illustrious magnitude that the aforementioned church shall not bear the burden of surtaxes on the assessed sum at which it was taxed up through the time of the magnificent patrician Cassiodorus [Cassiodorus's own father], a man known to us for his pure faith and integrity. [3] However, any properties transferred to the church since the time of the exemption must bear their common share of taxation along with all other landowners and be subject to the obligations of whatever jurisdiction they have entered. Otherwise, their gains cannot please us if the church profits at the treasury's expense. Let the landowner be content with the savings on his assessment: taxes belong to the crown, not to private estates. Profit that excites envy is perilous. How much better to manage everything in moderation, so that no one dares to criticize!
XXVI. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Nefas est apud eos fidem beneficii prioris imminui, quibus alia convenit nostra saepius largitate praestari. sed sicut quae semel annuimus rescindi in perpetuum non merentur, sic qui largitatem nostram moderatis precibus impetrarunt, nostrorum terminos praestitorum inmodica non debent praesumptione transcendere. [2] Unde quia religiosi studii reverentia commonemur, ut quae dudum ecclesiae viri venerabilis Unscilae antistitis praestitimus, valere in perpetuum censeamus, nunc quoque illustrem magnificentiam tuam duximus admonendam, quatenus superindicticiorum onera titulorum praefata ecclesia in ea summa non sentiat, qua usque a magnifici viri patricii Cassiodori, pura nobis fide et integritate comperti, temporibus est soluta. [3] Ea vero quae a tempore beneficii ad ecclesiam nostram ab aliquibus est translata professio, commune cum universis possessoribus onus solutionis agnoscat et illius subiaceat functioni, cuius nacta est iura dominii. alioquin grata nobis augmenta eius esse non possunt, qui fisci damno proficit. sufficiat possessori compendium pensionis: tributa sunt purpurae, non lacernae, lucrum cum invidia periculum est: quanto melius omnia moderata gerere, quae nullus audeat accusare!
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VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 26
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus To: Faustus, Praetorian Prefect Date: ~507-511 AD Context: Theoderic confirms a tax exemption for a church, while insisting that any properties later added to the church's holdings must bear their fair share of taxation.
[1] It would be wrong for the confidence of a prior gift to be diminished among those to whom we regularly extend further generosity. But just as what we have once granted ought never to be rescinded, so those who obtained our largesse through moderate requests must not exceed the bounds of what was given through immoderate presumption. [2] Therefore, moved by the reverence due to religious devotion, we decree that the church of the venerable Bishop Unscilas shall continue to enjoy perpetually what we previously granted, and we instruct your illustrious magnitude that the aforementioned church shall not bear the burden of surtaxes on the assessed sum at which it was taxed up through the time of the magnificent patrician Cassiodorus [Cassiodorus's own father], a man known to us for his pure faith and integrity. [3] However, any properties transferred to the church since the time of the exemption must bear their common share of taxation along with all other landowners and be subject to the obligations of whatever jurisdiction they have entered. Otherwise, their gains cannot please us if the church profits at the treasury's expense. Let the landowner be content with the savings on his assessment: taxes belong to the crown, not to private estates. Profit that excites envy is perilous. How much better to manage everything in moderation, so that no one dares to criticize!
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.