From: Theoderic (through Cassiodorus), King of the Ostrogoths
To: Johannes, Consular Governor of Campania
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Theoderic places a petitioner under royal protection against the Praetorian Prefect's office, while ordering the governor to fulfill his duties impartially.
It is the purpose of royal compassion to cut off the ground for unjust hatreds and to restrain the arrogance of armed power with the reverence of royal commands. The hostility of a superior is a fearsome thing for the humble, since it is considered praiseworthy when vengeance is extracted from the lowly. Therefore, after long harassment by various persecutions, you have not fled in vain to the remedy of our compassion. You claim that the most eminent Praetorian Prefecture has become a source of terror to you, lest private hatreds be satisfied against you through the exercise of public discipline.
But we, who wish the offices we have granted to serve justice and not malice, surround you with our protection against unlawful presumptions. Let the fury of heated spirits be dashed against the barrier of royal majesty, and let insolence suffer its own punishment when innocence is shielded. A judge is only called a judge so long as he is also considered just, because a title derived from fairness cannot be held through arrogance.
It remains for you to fulfill the office of consular governor and devote yourself earnestly to public duties as your predecessors did. The more we protect you, the more you must hasten to obey moderation. For if you rejoice that the Praetorian Prefects have been kept from harming you, consider what you yourself would suffer if you did wrong while under that authority.
XXVII. IOHANNI V. S. CONSULARI CAMPANIAE THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Propositum est pietatis regiae locum iniustis odiis amputare et potestatis armatae supercilium cohibere reverentia iussionum. infesta est siquidem humilibus superioris offensa, cum ad laudem trahitur, si vindicta de mediocribus adquiratur. proinde diu varia persecutione iactatus ad pietatis nostrae remedia haud irrite convolasti, asserens eminentissimam praefecturam tibimet esse terrori, ne privata odia in te satiarentur per publicam disciplinam. [2] Sed nos, qui donatas dignitates iustitiae parere cupimus, non dolori, contra illicitas praesumptiones nostra te tuitione vallamus, ut regiae maiestatis obiectu ferventium furor animorum in suis cautibus elidatur et de se magis poenam sumat protervia, dum cohibetur innoxia. tamdiu enim iudex dicitur, quamdiu et iustus putatur, quia nomen, quod ab aequitate sumitur, per superbiam non tenetur. [3] Restat nunc, ut assumptum impleas consularitatis officium et te utilitatibus publicis, quas tuos egisse constiterit decessores, sedulus ac devotus impendas quantumque a nobis protegeris, tantum modestiae parere festines. nam si gaudio perfrueris, quod a laesione tua praefectos praetorio remotos esse cognoscis, qui sub illo esse monstraris, quid te male agentem passurum esse cognoscis?
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From:Theoderic (through Cassiodorus), King of the Ostrogoths
To:Johannes, Consular Governor of Campania
Date:~522 AD
Context:Theoderic places a petitioner under royal protection against the Praetorian Prefect's office, while ordering the governor to fulfill his duties impartially.
It is the purpose of royal compassion to cut off the ground for unjust hatreds and to restrain the arrogance of armed power with the reverence of royal commands. The hostility of a superior is a fearsome thing for the humble, since it is considered praiseworthy when vengeance is extracted from the lowly. Therefore, after long harassment by various persecutions, you have not fled in vain to the remedy of our compassion. You claim that the most eminent Praetorian Prefecture has become a source of terror to you, lest private hatreds be satisfied against you through the exercise of public discipline.
But we, who wish the offices we have granted to serve justice and not malice, surround you with our protection against unlawful presumptions. Let the fury of heated spirits be dashed against the barrier of royal majesty, and let insolence suffer its own punishment when innocence is shielded. A judge is only called a judge so long as he is also considered just, because a title derived from fairness cannot be held through arrogance.
It remains for you to fulfill the office of consular governor and devote yourself earnestly to public duties as your predecessors did. The more we protect you, the more you must hasten to obey moderation. For if you rejoice that the Praetorian Prefects have been kept from harming you, consider what you yourself would suffer if you did wrong while under that authority.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.