Letter 4041: King Theodoric to John, Archiater [Chief Physician].

King Theodoric to John, Archiater [Chief Physician]. [The Archiater was the head of the court medical service, a title of considerable prestige in late antiquity.] It is the purpose of royal authority to come to the aid of those struck down by the blows of fortune, and to exchange cruel reversals for a better fate. In your petition you complain that the respectable Vivianus, puffed up with the legal skill in which he excels, pursued you with fabricated charges, and that matters went so far that you were condemned -- without any defense, in violation of proper legal procedure -- by the sentence of the Vicar of the City of Rome. Now, however, you say that by a change of religious heart he has renounced his worldly hatreds, and that even the author of your troubles is now displeased by your suffering. If your claims are not undermined by any challenge: we do not allow an injury to cling to the wretched when the very man who engineered it has repudiated his own work. The sentence issued by the Vicar of the City of Rome in this matter is therefore annulled and voided. Our authority restores you to your homeland and to all your property, and you need fear no further action on this account at any time. Furthermore, lest any reckless person dare renew attacks against you, the protection of the Patrician Albinus is assigned to safeguard you, with the laws fully observed. We wish nothing to be done outside the law by a man whose daily work is the pursuit of the general peace.

XLI. IOHANNI ARCHIATRO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Propositum regale est pressis labe fortunae pietatis remedio subvenire et acerbos casus iniuriae meliore sorte mutare. data siquidem supplicatione conquereris virum spectabilem Vivianum legum artificio, quo callet, elatum, personam tuam obiectis criminationibus insecutum et eo usque perventum, ut indefensus contra iuris ordinem vicarii urbis Romae sententia damnareris: nunc autem religiosae mentis affectu odia mundana damnasse auctorique suo tuum displicuisse periculum. [2] Et ideo, si nullis impugnationibus enervantur asserta, laesionem non patimur miseris inhaerere, quam suis constiterit machinatoribus displicere. quapropter in abolitum missa sententia, quae a vicario urbis Romae super hac parte cognoscitur promulgata, patriae te rebusque omnibus nostra reddit auctoritas, nec ullo tempore calumniam super hac parte formides. [3] Sed ne cuiusquam forsitan plectenda temeritas in te impetus reparare possit audaciae, patricii Albini salvis legibus tuitio te deputata communiet, quia nihil fieri volumus incivile, cuius cottidianus labor est pro generali quiete tractare.