Letter 4036: King Theodoric to Faustus, Praetorian Prefect.

King Theodoric to Faustus, Praetorian Prefect. [The Praetorian Prefect was the chief civilian administrator of Italy under both the Roman emperors and the Ostrogothic kings.] It is the mark of the most farsighted ruler to remit the tax burden for those who have been severely harmed, so that through renewed effort they may recover and meet their obligations -- men who had collapsed under the weight of their losses. If the burden is not lifted from the exhausted, a man will inevitably lie prostrate under its weight. It is better to accept present losses than to lose permanent revenue for the sake of a small gain. Let Your Illustrious Greatness therefore know that we have remitted the public tax for the third indiction for the provincials of the Cottian Alps [the Alpine passes between Italy and Gaul, roughly modern Piedmont/Savoy], whom our passing army overwhelmed like a flood -- watering the land, as it were, while crushing it. Though the army burst forth in a roaring mass for the general defense, it nonetheless devastated their cultivated fields in passing. A river always erodes its own channel: though it may gently overflow and fertilize the neighboring land, it renders barren the very ground through which it collected and flowed. It was therefore necessary to extend a saving hand to those laid low by this civic devastation, lest as ingrates they say they alone perished for the defense of all. Let them share instead in the general rejoicing -- they who provided the road for Italy's defenders. Taxes should not be grimly extracted from those through whom I happily gained new taxpayers. Let our conscience speak for them, since the subject cannot make this argument to his king. We purchase the prosperity of the Goths at our own cost: we provided what was needed so the enemy could be defeated without further harm.

XXXVI. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Providentissimi principis est graviter imminutis relinquere tributariam functionem, ut redivivis studiis ad implenda sollemnia recreentur qui pressi damnorum acerbitate defecerant. nam si fessis minime relevetur onus, necessitate cernitur iacere prostratus. melius est enim praesentia damna contemnere quam exiguo quaestu perpetua commoda non habere. [2] Atque ideo illustris magnificentia tua provincialibus Alpium Cottiarum assem publicum per tertiam indictionem nos relaxasse cognoscat, quos transiens noster exercitus more fluminis, dum irrigavit, oppressit. nam licet pro generali securitate frementi adunatione proruperit, praeteriens tamen istorum culta vastavit. radit enim semper fluvius alveum suum et licet molliter egrediens vicina fecundet, illud tamen reddit sterile, quo collectus influxerit. [3] Unde necesse fuit civica vastatione deiectis porrigere dexteram salutarem, ne ingrati dicant se perisse solos pro defensione cunctorum: misceantur potius laetitiae, qui viam Italiae defensoribus praestiterunt. tributa enim non debent tristes exigi, per quos tributarios feliciter adquisivi. dicat pro illis noster animus, quod regi non potest imputare subiectus. emimus nostro dispendio prosperitatem Gothorum: nos necessaria praebuimus, ut hostis vinceretur illaesus.