Letter 4007: King Theodoric to Senarius, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Count of the Private Estates.

King Theodoric to Senarius, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Count of the Private Estates. [The Count of the Private Estates (Comes Privatarum) managed the emperor's/king's personal property, distinct from the public treasury.] It is the purpose of our mercy to relieve the fortunes of those who are unjustly imperiled, since what has been imposed by another's force cannot be treated as a crime. It is unjust to charge a man with what was not within his control, or to blame a man in danger for what he could rarely have escaped. Therefore, let Your Sublimity know that the grain escorts -- who had been dispatched from Sicily to Gaul -- have come to us with a tearful petition. After they had set their cargo upon the sea, it was struck by adverse winds. The joints of the timbers split apart, the force of the waves swallowed everything, and the wretched men were left with nothing from the overwhelming water except their tears. Your Illustrious Sublimity is hereby instructed to ensure that the quantity of grain which the said escorts can prove was lost in this disaster is immediately credited to their account without any delay. It is a form of cruelty to wish to rage beyond a shipwreck, and to compel men to suffer further losses when the merciless elements have already left them barely alive.

VII. SENARIO V. I. COMITI PRIVATARUM THEODERICUS REX. [1] Propositum nostrae pietatis est iniuste periclitantium sublevare fortunas, quia quod aliena vi constat impositum, trahere non possumus ad delictum. iniquum est enim, ut hominis vitio deputetur quod eius voluntate non regitur: et illud imputetur periclitanti, unde raro datur evadere. [2] Atque ideo sublimitas tua prosecutores frumentorum, qui de Sicilia fuerant ad Gallias destinati, lacrimabili nos aditione pulsasse cognoscat, dum susceptum onus promovissent in pelagus, adversis flatibus fuisse susceptum: ubi fatiscente compage trabium, omnia vis absorbuit undarum nec quicquam miseris de aquarum nimietate nisi solas lacrimas restitisse. [3] Unde illustris sublimitas tua, praesenti auctoritate commonita, modiationem tritici quam sub hac sorte perisse probaverint, supradictis prosecutoribus sine aliqua faciat cunctatione reputari. crudelitatis enim genus est ultra naufragium velle desaevire et illos ad dispendia cogere, quibus inopem vitam probantur inmania elementa cessisse.