Letter 4012: King Theodoric to Marabadus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Count, and Gemellus, Vir Spectabilis [Most Respectable].
Cassiodorus→Marabadus|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
women
King Theodoric to Marabadus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Count, and Gemellus, Vir Spectabilis [Most Respectable].
It is our purpose, with God's help, to order by law the provinces subject to us just as we defend them by arms, since a prince's reputation always grows through the observance of justice, and the more his rule is guided by sound principles, the more his achievements multiply.
The illustrious lady Arcotamia has come before us in tears, lamenting her grandson's misfortune -- for a grandmother's concern for her family is always especially tender. She alleges that her daughter-in-law Aetheria, abandoning her love for her husband, has joined herself in marriage to a certain Liberius. In her eagerness to appear more splendidly adorned for her new wedding, she has sought to plunder her first husband's estate -- enriching herself, Arcotamia claims, with the spoils of the very children whose wealth she should have been building up.
We therefore -- who are accustomed to refer petitioners' requests to the provisions of imperial law, so that we neither refuse to hear a petitioner nor condemn the opposing party through gullible haste -- commit this case to your judicial hearing according to law. With all improper conduct set aside, and with the Holy Gospels placed between you, together with three honorable men chosen by the consent of both parties who possess knowledge of law, you are to pronounce whatever the established rules of ancient law prescribe, taking into account the standards of our own time. For it is not fitting that those who have been entrusted with positions in our government should resort to force.
XII. MARABADO V. I. COMITI ET GEMELLO V. S. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Propositi nostri est, ut provincias nobis deo auxiliante subiectas, sicut armis defendimus, ita legibus ordinemus, quia semper auget principes observata iustitia et quantum probabili institutione vivitur, tantum summis adhuc provectibus aggregatur. [2] Arcotamia itaque illustris femina flebiliter ingemiscens nepotis sui calamitatem tali conquestione deploravit, dum semper aviae cura tenerior est suorum, asserens Aetheriam nurum suam, mariti postposita dilectione, cuidam se Liberio iugali foedere sociasse et cum ornatior cupit novis thalamis apparere, studuerit prioris viri facultates evertere, allegans ditatam filiorum spoliis, quibus magis decuit congregari. [3] Ideoque nos, qui desideria supplicantum consuevimus remittere ad statuta divalium sanctionum, ut nec insinuationem supplicum renuamus nec adversarii negotium credula facilitate damnemus, sublimitatis vestrae iudicio hanc causam legibus committimus audiendam, ut omni incivilitate summota mediis sacrosanctis evangeliis cum tribus honoratis, quos partium consensus elegerit, qui legum possint habere notitiam, quicquid prisci iuris forma constituit inter eos, considerata disciplina nostri temporis, proferatis, quia non decet per vim eos aliquid agere, qui ad nostra meruerunt regimina pervenire.
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King Theodoric to Marabadus, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious], Count, and Gemellus, Vir Spectabilis [Most Respectable].
It is our purpose, with God's help, to order by law the provinces subject to us just as we defend them by arms, since a prince's reputation always grows through the observance of justice, and the more his rule is guided by sound principles, the more his achievements multiply.
The illustrious lady Arcotamia has come before us in tears, lamenting her grandson's misfortune -- for a grandmother's concern for her family is always especially tender. She alleges that her daughter-in-law Aetheria, abandoning her love for her husband, has joined herself in marriage to a certain Liberius. In her eagerness to appear more splendidly adorned for her new wedding, she has sought to plunder her first husband's estate -- enriching herself, Arcotamia claims, with the spoils of the very children whose wealth she should have been building up.
We therefore -- who are accustomed to refer petitioners' requests to the provisions of imperial law, so that we neither refuse to hear a petitioner nor condemn the opposing party through gullible haste -- commit this case to your judicial hearing according to law. With all improper conduct set aside, and with the Holy Gospels placed between you, together with three honorable men chosen by the consent of both parties who possess knowledge of law, you are to pronounce whatever the established rules of ancient law prescribe, taking into account the standards of our own time. For it is not fitting that those who have been entrusted with positions in our government should resort to force.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.