Letter 3034: It is our policy to send men proven in strength and moderation to govern and protect you, so that the welfare of the...
It is our policy to send men proven in strength and moderation to govern and protect you, so that the welfare of the provincials may be improved and the public interest advanced under good leadership. Therefore, we have decided to send Count Marabadus, known to us for his fairness, to the city of Marseille. With God's help, he will accomplish everything pertaining to your security and civic life, and mindful of our favor, he will take care to uphold justice. He will bring relief to the humble, confront the insolent with the severity of his discipline, and allow no one to be oppressed by unjust presumption, but compel all toward justice -- the source from which empire always flourishes.
Therefore, obey the appointed man willingly in the orders he gives for the public good, so that your loyalty, already demonstrated by previous examples, may be confirmed by what follows. Obedience is most welcome when it is sustained by constant devotion. We intend to repay loyalty -- we cannot forget the services rendered to us.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
XXXIIII. MASSILIENSIBUS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Propositi nostri est probatas fortitudine et moderatione personas ad ordinationem vestram defensionemque dirigere, ut et provincialium ratio sublevetur et utilitas publica bonis praesidentibus augeatur. [2] Proinde comitem Marabadum nobis aequitate compertum ad Massiliensem civitatem credidimus dirigendum, ut quicquid ad securitatem vel civilitatem vestram pertinet, deo iuvante perficiat memorque gratiae nostrae curam possit habere iustitiae, minoribus solacium ferat, insolentibus severitatem suae districtionis obiciat, nullum denique opprimi iniqua praesumptione patiatur, sed omnes cogat ad iustum, unde semper floret imperium. [3] Quapropter designato viro in his, quae vobis pro publica utilitate praeceperit, libentibus animis oboedite, ut fides vestra, quae iam prioribus monstratur exemplis, subsequentibus quoque declaretur indiciis, quia gratius est obsequium quod devotione perpeti custoditur. nos autem reddere cogitamus locum vicissitudini, qui impensa servitia non possumus oblivisci.
Related Letters
We have learned that a long-standing dispute has arisen between your cities over the boundaries of your territories...
Moved by your importunity and that of all your people, I have undertaken the charge of your Church, and have promised before the Lord that I will be wanting to you in nothing which is within my power. So I have been compelled, as it is written, to touch as it were the apple of my eye. Thus the high honour in which I hold you has suffered me to r...
Where are those who say that prosperity makes men forget their friends?
The sight of those who have impressed themselves on our hearts through glorious actions is always pleasing to us.
The haste of the carrier forces me to be brief — a discipline I accept more readily when imposed by circumstance...