Letter 3044: Although the first priority is to restore injured citizens and to show compassion for people above all, our...
Cassiodorus→Honorati, landowners, defenders, and curials of city of Tridentum (Trento)|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
property economics
From: Theoderic (through Cassiodorus), King of the Ostrogoths
To: All Landowners of Arles
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Theoderic sends money to repair the walls and towers of Arles and promises food supplies, urging the citizens to take heart.
Although the first priority is to restore injured citizens and to show compassion for people above all, our generosity joins both concerns: we aid the citizens with relief and hasten to restore the ancient walls to their former beauty. In this way, the fortune of a city, which rises in its people, will also be displayed in the beauty of its buildings.
For the repair of the walls and ancient towers of Arles, we have sent a fixed sum of money. We have also prepared food supplies to supplement your expenses, which will be sent to you when the sailing season permits. Raise your spirits now, and renewed by our promise, hold fast to the hope of coming abundance with confidence in God's favor. What our words contain is no less valuable than what our granaries hold.
XLIIII. UNIVERSIS POSSESSORIBUS ARELATENSIBUS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Quamvis primum sit laesos incolas refovere et in hominibus magis signum pietatis ostendere, tamen utrumque humanitas nostra coniungit, ut et largitatis remedio civibus consulamus et ad cultum reducere antiqua moenia festinemus. sic enim fiet, ut fortuna urbis, quae in civibus erigitur, fabricarum quoque decore monstretur. [2] Pro reparatione itaque murorum Arelatensium vel turrium vetustarum certam pecuniae direximus quantitatem. [3] Victualia quoque, quae vestras relevare videantur expensas, fecimus praeparari, ut vobis destinentur, cum tempus navigationis arriserit. relevate nunc animos et de nostra promissione recreati futurae copiae spem tenentes divino favore habetote fiduciam, quia non minus est quod nostris verbis quam quod horreis continetur.
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From:Theoderic (through Cassiodorus), King of the Ostrogoths
To:All Landowners of Arles
Date:~522 AD
Context:Theoderic sends money to repair the walls and towers of Arles and promises food supplies, urging the citizens to take heart.
Although the first priority is to restore injured citizens and to show compassion for people above all, our generosity joins both concerns: we aid the citizens with relief and hasten to restore the ancient walls to their former beauty. In this way, the fortune of a city, which rises in its people, will also be displayed in the beauty of its buildings.
For the repair of the walls and ancient towers of Arles, we have sent a fixed sum of money. We have also prepared food supplies to supplement your expenses, which will be sent to you when the sailing season permits. Raise your spirits now, and renewed by our promise, hold fast to the hope of coming abundance with confidence in God's favor. What our words contain is no less valuable than what our granaries hold.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.