Letter 3008: VARIAE, BOOK 3, LETTER 8

[1] The logic of justice demands that each person be required to fulfill what has been assigned to him, and that public funds be vigorously pursued — lest negligence make the debtor's burden heavier. If leniency creeps into the warnings, universal contempt is sure to follow. In a way, mercy breeds cruelty: if you neglect to warn someone now, you will be forced to extract payment later. It is therefore a useful discipline to give advance notice, since it both removes the occasion for offenses and clears the path of wrongdoing. [2] Accordingly, we have learned from the report of the distinguished Count of the Sacred Largesses [the imperial finance minister] that the collection of the double and triple taxes was previously assigned to you in the customary manner. We therefore remind you by this present letter to complete the appointed deadlines in accordance with the tax auditor's records. Otherwise, whatever loss the public treasury suffers, you will be compelled to pay from your own pocket — you who showed neither proper respect for so important an order nor fulfilled the promise you made.

VIII. VENANTIO V. S. CORRECTORI LUCANIAE ET BRUTTIORUM THEODERICUS REX. [1] Iustitiae ratio persuadet ab unoquoque postulari quod ei constat iniungi et pecunias publicas instanter quaerere, ne debitorem neglectus debeat ingravare. nam si remissio in ammonitionibus veniat, cunctos necesse est contemptus involvat. et quodam modo nascitur de pietate crudelitas, si quem neglegis ammonere, postea cogaris exigere. utilis ergo cura est praedicere, quando et occasio subtrahitur delictis et locus emundatur illicitis. [2] Quapropter illustris viri comitis sacrarum largitionum suggestione comperimus pridem tibi secundum morem veterem exactionem binorum et ternorum fuisse delegatam. unde te praesentibus commonemus affatibus, ut secundum canonicariae fidem tempora debeas constituta complere, ne, quicquid dispendii assis publicus sustinuerit, de proprio exsolvere tu cogaris, a quo nec tantae iussioni est habita reverentia nec fides suae promissionis impleta.