VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 29
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus
To: Neudis, a Distinguished Man
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A blind Gothic veteran named Anduit petitions the king, claiming that Gudila and Oppas have tried to enslave him despite his free status, which was already confirmed by the late Count Pitzia.
[1] Anduit's tearful petition moved us, but what made it more pitiable still was the man's loss of sight. A man who survives in perpetual darkness hastened to seek our aid, guided by borrowed light, so that even if he could not see his sovereign, he might at least feel the warmth of our mercy. He cries out that Gudila and Oppas are trying to impose the condition of slavery on his family, though he has long followed our army as a free man. [2] We are astonished that such a man should be dragged into servitude -- a man any proper master would have dismissed from bondage. What strange greed, to claim ownership of someone you can only pity, and to call a servant the man to whom, by divine consideration, you owe compassion instead. He further states that these slander claims were already examined and dismissed in the court of the late Count Pitzia, a man of celebrated reputation, but that now, crushed by the weight of his infirmity, Anduit can no longer defend himself by force -- the very thing that serves as patron to the strong. [3] But we, whose business it is to maintain impartial justice between equals and unequals alike, decree by this order: if Anduit proved his free status in the court of the aforementioned Pitzia, remove his accusers at once. Let them not dare to exploit another man's helplessness any further, since they have already been convicted once and should have abandoned their claims.
XXVIIII.
NEUDI V. I. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Movit nos quidem Anduit fusa precatio, sed magis miserabiliorem reddidit virum luminis sui ademptus ornatus, quia necesse est ut amplius permoveat visa quam audita calamitas. is enim perpetua nocte superstes ad remedia nostra mutuati luminis beneficio festinavit, ut quem videre non poterat, saltem clementiae suavitate sentiret. clamat enim sibi Gudila vel Oppane incognitam suo generi condicionem servitutis imponi, cum pridem sub libertate nostros fuerit secutus exercitus. [2] Mirati sumus talem in famulatum trahi, qui a vero domino debuisset expelli. novus ambitus talem quaerere, quem possis horrere servumque dicere, cui debeas divina consideratione servire. adiciens enim huiusmodi calumnias Pitziae comitis celebratae opinionis viri sibi examinatione summotas, nunc autem infirmitatis suae mole compressum manu vindicare non posse, quae patrona fortibus probatur assistere. [3] Sed nos, quorum est proprium inter pares se dispares aequabilem iustitiam custodire, praesenti iussione decernimus, ut, si in iudicio supra memorati quondam Pitziae se probavit ingenuum, calumniantes protinus amovete: nec audeant ulterius necessitatibus alienis illudere, quos semel convictos decuerat sua vota damnare.
◆
VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 29
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus To: Neudis, a Distinguished Man Date: ~522 AD Context: A blind Gothic veteran named Anduit petitions the king, claiming that Gudila and Oppas have tried to enslave him despite his free status, which was already confirmed by the late Count Pitzia.
[1] Anduit's tearful petition moved us, but what made it more pitiable still was the man's loss of sight. A man who survives in perpetual darkness hastened to seek our aid, guided by borrowed light, so that even if he could not see his sovereign, he might at least feel the warmth of our mercy. He cries out that Gudila and Oppas are trying to impose the condition of slavery on his family, though he has long followed our army as a free man. [2] We are astonished that such a man should be dragged into servitude -- a man any proper master would have dismissed from bondage. What strange greed, to claim ownership of someone you can only pity, and to call a servant the man to whom, by divine consideration, you owe compassion instead. He further states that these slander claims were already examined and dismissed in the court of the late Count Pitzia, a man of celebrated reputation, but that now, crushed by the weight of his infirmity, Anduit can no longer defend himself by force -- the very thing that serves as patron to the strong. [3] But we, whose business it is to maintain impartial justice between equals and unequals alike, decree by this order: if Anduit proved his free status in the court of the aforementioned Pitzia, remove his accusers at once. Let them not dare to exploit another man's helplessness any further, since they have already been convicted once and should have abandoned their claims.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.