Letter 5032: VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 32

VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 32 From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus To: Brandila Date: ~522 AD Context: A Gothic woman, Procula (wife of Brandila), allegedly beat another man's wife nearly to death while the husband was away on military campaign. Theoderic demands the matter be resolved. [1] Patzenis has appealed to us on countless occasions, claiming that while he was serving on our most successful campaign, his wife was beaten three times by Procula, your wife -- so savagely that she survived only because her attackers believed her already dead. We are astonished at such audacity in a woman -- if the charge is true -- and we will not let it pass unpunished. [2] Therefore we warn you by this decree: if you know the deed to have occurred, take care of your own honor and correct the complaint through marital authority, so that this just grievance does not return to us. Know that what you should have corrected through household discipline can also be punished by law. [3] But if instead you wish to claim that the petitioner is lying and to defend the case, proceed to our court without delay together with your aforementioned wife, removing every obstacle. She will receive either punishment for outrageous presumption or vindication through proof of the other woman's falsehood.

XXXII. BRANDILAE THEODERICUS REX. [1] Adiit nos innumeris vicibus Patzenis repetita conquestio, qui cum esset in expeditione felicissima constitutus, a Procula coniuge tua uxorem suam asseruit trina fuisse caede laceratam, ita ut solo beneficio desperationis evaderet, cum non plagis fessa, sed iam crederetur extincta. hanc nos, si tamen vera est, in femina quam maxima mirantes audaciam, transire non patimur impunitam. [2] Atque ideo decretis te praesentibus ammonemus, ut, si factum evidenter agnoscis, delatam querimoniam, pudori tuo consulens, maritali districtione redarguas, quatenus ex eadem causa ad nos querela iusta non redeat. et legibus noveris resecari posse, quod te oportuerat domestica districtione corrigere. [3] Quod si mendacium magis petitoris accusans causam dicere fortasse volueris, summoto dilationis obstaculo ad comitatum nostrum cum supra dicta coniuge tua incunctanter occurre, exceptura aut de iniqua praesumptione vindictam aut de mulieris improbitate victoriam.