Letter 3018: Those who chose our clemency deserve good things, so that we may prove through their advancement that their decision...
Cassiodorus→Gemellus, a|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
property economics
From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To: Gemellus, Vir Sublimis (Vicar of Gaul)
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Theoderic orders Gemellus to restore the confiscated property of Magnus, a Roman nobleman who fled barbarian rule and returned to Roman territory.
Those who chose our clemency deserve good things, so that we may prove through their advancement that their decision was the right one. And if such men deserve to be provided for by public generosity, how much more fitting is it for them to possess their own property -- which is nothing more than common justice?
The distinguished Magnus, rejecting association with the enemy and remembering what he was born to be, repatriated to the Roman Empire. During his absence, it is said that his property was allowed to be lost. We therefore decree by the present order that he shall recover without any delay everything he can prove belongs to him -- whether in land, or in urban or rural slaves, or in any other property lost by any means. He shall retain by our authority the full right of ownership over everything he once held. We do not wish him to face any legal challenge concerning property that belonged to him by longstanding possession -- a man to whom it is our very intention to grant even new things.
XVIII. GEMELLO V. S. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Merentur bona, qui nostram visi sunt elegisse clementiam, ut eos veraciter iudicasse per augmenta propria possimus ostendere. quod si talibus viris publica decet prospici largitate, quanto magis eos sua dignum est possidere, quod commune munus probatur esse iustitiae? [2] Spectabilis itaque Magnus, hostium conversatione damnata quod natus est reminiscens, ad Romanum repatriavit imperium: cuius absentia contigisse dicitur ut eius potuisset perire substantia. atque ideo praesenti iussione sancimus, quatenus tam in agris quam mancipiis urbanis aut rusticis, vel quicquid sibi competens quolibet modo nunc amissum potuerit comprobare, sine aliqua recuperet tarditate, retinens ex nostra auctoritate dominii ius omne quod habuit: nec quaestionem eum de rebus sibi antiqua possessione competentibus volumus sustinere, cui propositi nostri est etiam nova praestare.
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From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Theoderic
To:Gemellus, Vir Sublimis (Vicar of Gaul)
Date:~522 AD
Context:Theoderic orders Gemellus to restore the confiscated property of Magnus, a Roman nobleman who fled barbarian rule and returned to Roman territory.
Those who chose our clemency deserve good things, so that we may prove through their advancement that their decision was the right one. And if such men deserve to be provided for by public generosity, how much more fitting is it for them to possess their own property -- which is nothing more than common justice?
The distinguished Magnus, rejecting association with the enemy and remembering what he was born to be, repatriated to the Roman Empire. During his absence, it is said that his property was allowed to be lost. We therefore decree by the present order that he shall recover without any delay everything he can prove belongs to him -- whether in land, or in urban or rural slaves, or in any other property lost by any means. He shall retain by our authority the full right of ownership over everything he once held. We do not wish him to face any legal challenge concerning property that belonged to him by longstanding possession -- a man to whom it is our very intention to grant even new things.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.