Letter 4005: King Theodoric to the Devoted Count Amabilis.

King Theodoric to the Devoted Count Amabilis. No one should receive our commands resentfully, since they are known to advance the interests of our loyal servants. We have learned of a food shortage in the region of Gaul — the kind of situation to which the ever-ready merchant always hastens, buying at a lower price in order to resell at a higher one. The result is that the sellers are satisfied and our provision comes to the aid of those in need. Your Devotion should therefore know, by this present authority, that all shipowners of Campania, Lucania, and Tuscany are required to bind themselves with suitable guarantors and proceed to Gaul with food supplies — with permission to sell on whatever terms buyer and seller may agree. It is a great advantage to bargain with the hungry: when famine is involved, men are willing to overlook everything in order to satisfy their need. Since the buyer is a slave to his own desperation, a man who sells when he is begged to sell practically appears to be giving a gift. To approach well-fed buyers with goods is to enter a contest; but the man who can bring provisions to the starving sets his own price.

V. AMABILI VIRO DEVOTO COMITI THEODERICUS REX. [1] Nullum decet nostras gravanter suscipere iussiones, quae magis utilitates noscuntur extollere devotorum. in Gallicana igitur regione victualium cognovimus caritatem, ad quam negotiatio semper prompta festinat, ut empta angustiore pretio largius distrahantur. sic evenit ut et venditoribus satisfiat et illis provisio nostra subveniat. [2] Atque ideo devotio tua praesenti auctoritate cognoscat omnes navicularios Campaniae, Lucaniae sive Tusciae fideiussoribus idoneis se debere committere, ut cum victualibus speciebus tantum proficiscantur ad Gallias, habituri licentiam distrahendi sic ut inter emptorem venditoremque convenerit. [3] Grande commodum est cum indigentibus pacisci: quando fames totum solet contemnere, ut suam necessitatem possit explere. nam cum ambitioni suae serviat, prope modum donare videtur, qui vendit rogatus. ad saturatos cum mercibus ire certamen est: suo autem pretium poscit arbitrio, qui victualia potest ferre ieiunis.