Letter 5039: VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 39

VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 39 From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus To: Ampelius, a Distinguished Man, and Livvirit, a Distinguished Man Date: ~522 AD Context: A comprehensive reform order for the Spanish provinces under Ostrogothic control, addressing murder, corrupt tax collection, fraudulent weights, and tenant exploitation -- one of the longest and most detailed administrative letters in the Variae. [1] It is fitting that the provinces subject to our rule, with God's help, be governed by law and good morals, because the only truly human life is one ordered by the rule of law. Living at the mercy of chance is the way of wild beasts: driven by the impulse to seize, they fall victim to their own reckless daring. A skilled farmer clears his field of thorny brambles, because the cultivator's glory lies in making rough soil yield sweet fruit. Just so, the gentle peace of a people and the orderly condition of their territories are the true measure of a ruler's success. [2] We have learned from many complaints that in the province of Spain -- what is the greatest of all crimes among mortals -- human lives are being destroyed by lawless presumption, and many are dying over trivial disputes. In a corrupt peace, men fall as if in sport, in numbers that could scarcely have been lost in the necessity of war. Furthermore, the fortunes of the provincials are being governed not by the public tax registers, as custom demands, but by the arbitrary will of their collectors. This is open plunder: to give at the whim of a man who hastens to exact more for his own profit. [3] We, desiring to correct this by royal foresight, have decided to send your Sublimity throughout all of Spain as a special commission, so that under the freshness of your new administration, ingrained abuses may no longer be tolerated. Following the practice of physicians who apply the quickest remedies to the most serious diseases, let our cure begin where the danger is greatest. [4] We command the crime of murder to be punished by the authority of law. But as the penalty is severe, so must the investigation be thorough, lest in our zeal for punishment we cause innocent people to risk their lives. Let the guilty alone perish for the correction of the many, since it is itself an act of mercy to check criminal impulses before they grow strong. [5] The tax collectors are said to be crushing landowners' estates through fraudulent weights. To eliminate every opportunity for fraud, we order all public taxes to be paid according to the standard of our royal treasury, which has been entrusted to you. What could be more wicked than for corrupt officials to cheat even in the balance itself -- so that the very instrument designed for justice is perverted by fraud? [6] The tenants of royal estates, of whatever origin, are to pay only what our properties are shown to owe, after the truth has been thoroughly established. And so that no one's labor feels unrewarded, your authority shall assign them fair wages proportionate to the properties they manage.

XXXVIIII. AMPELIO V. I. ET LIVVIRIT V. S. THEODERICUS REX. [1] Decet provincias regno nostro deo auxiliante subiectas legibus et bonis moribus ordinari, quia illa vita vere hominum est, quae iuris ordine continetur. nam beluarum ritus est sub casu vivere: quae dum rapiendi ambitu feruntur, inprovisa temeritate succumbunt. agrum suum denique a dumosis sentibus doctus purgat agricola, quia laus excolentis est, si agreste solum dulcissimis fructibus amoenetur. sic quies suavissima populi et dispositio tranquilla regionum praeconium probatur esse regnantum. [2] Multorum itaque querela comperimus in provincia Hispaniae, quod summum inter mortales crimen est, vitas hominum vaga praesumptione populari et levium occasione causarum subire multos interitum. sic mala pace quasi ludo corruunt, quanti vix potuissent cadere sub necessitate bellorum. dehinc non polyptychis publicis, ut moris est, sed arbitrio compulsorum suggeruntur provincialium subiacere fortunae. quod genus evidentis est praedae pro illius voluntate dare, qui ad suum commodum amplius festinat exigere. [3] Cui rei nos regali providentia succurrere cupientes sublimitatem vestram per universam Hispaniam loco muneris credidimus destinandam, ut sub ordinationis vestrae novitate inveteratae possit consuetudini nil licere. verum ut more medicorum saevioribus morbis accelerata remedia tribuamus, inde curationis nostrae fiat initium, ubi maius noscitur esse periculum. [4] Homicidii scelus legum iubemus auctoritate resecari: sed quantum vehementior poena est, tanto eius rei debet inquisitio plus haberi, ne amore vindictae innocentes videantur vitae pericula sustinere. pereant itaque soli nocentes in correctione multorum, quando et hoc pietatis genus est coercere infantiam criminis, ne iuvenescat augmentis. [5] Exigentes vero assem publicum per gravamina ponderum premere dicuntur patrimonia possessorum, ut non tam exactio quam praeda esse videatur. sed ut totius fraudis abrogetur occasio, ad libram cubiculi nostri, quae vobis in praesenti data est, universas functiones publicas iubemus inferri. quid enim tam nefarium quam praesumptoribus liceat in ipsa etiam trutinae qualitate peccare, ut quod est iustitiae proprie datum, hoc per fraudes noscatur esse corruptum? [6] Conductores domus regiae, quacumque gente sint editi, ad liquidum veritate discussa tantum decernimus solvere, quantum nostra praedia constiterit pensitare. et ne cuiquam labor suus videatur ingratus, solaria eis pro qualitate locatae rei vestra volumus aequitate constitui. non enim nostra, sed illorum rura dicenda sunt, si pro voluntate conducentis modus eveniat pensionis. [7] Transmarinorum igitur canonem, ubi non parva fraus fieri utilitatibus publicis intimatur, vos attonite iubemus exquirere atque statutum numerum pro virium qualitate definire, quia contra fraudes utile remedium est nosse quod inferant. [8] Monetarios autem, quos specialiter in usum publicum constat inventos, in privatorum didicimus transisse compendium. qua praesumptione sublata pro virium qualitate functionibus publicis applicentur. [9] Telonei quinetiam canonem nulla faciatis usurpatione confundi, sed modum rebus utillimum, quem praestare debeat, imponentes commerciandi licentiam aequabili ratione revocate, ne se tendat in vagum ambitiosa enormitas exigentium. [10] Actus praeterea Laeti, cuius conscientia summa pulsatur invidia, sub consueta nobis censemus aequitate perquiri, ut nec fraus astutis machinationibus occulatur nec innocentia falsis criminationibus ingravetur. [11] Quoscumque vero in furtivis actionibus reperitis fuisse versatos, pro fortunarum quantitate suppressam reddant vestra aestimatione pecuniam. quod si haec per alios dispersa esse constiterit, et illi nihilominus teneantur obnoxii qui scientes passi sunt in tali actione misceri: complices enim extiterunt criminis, qui non detexerunt facta raptoris. [12] Praebendarum tenor adscriptus, quem nostra diversis largitur humanitas, provincialibus suggeritur intolerabilis causa esse damnorum, quando et in species exigitur et impudenter eius pretium postulatur. detestabilis cupiditatis sunt ista documenta competentia sibi distrahere et ad exigendi impudentiam mox redire. quod nimis improbum, nimis videtur absurdum, ut et nostra constituta praetereant et tributariorum, qui fovendi sunt, videantur afflixisse substantiam. sint igitur praefixo modo contenti, sive ibidem positi, sive hinc nihilominus destinati: habeant liberum unum tantum de duobus expetere, dummodo geminata exactione fortunae alienas non debeant ingravare. [13] Exactorum quoque licentia amplius fertur a provincialibus extorqueri, quam nostro cubiculo constat inferri. quod diligenti examinatione discussum ad hunc vos modum functiones publicas revocare decernimus, quem Alarici atque Eurici temporibus constat illatas. [14] Paraveredorum itaque subvectiones exigere eos, qui habent veredos adscriptos, provincialium querela comperimus. quod nullum penitus sinatis praesumere, quando per turpissimos quaestus et possessor atteritur et commeantium celeritas impeditur. [15] Vilicorum quoque genus, quod ad damnosam tuitionem queruntur inventum, tam de privata possessione quam publica funditus volumus amoveri, quia non est defensio, quae praestatur invitis: suspectum est quod patiuntur nolentes. nam hoc est re vera beneficium, si sine murmure feratur acceptum. servitia igitur quae Gothis in civitate positis superflue praestabantur, docernimus amoveri. non enim decet ab ingenuis famulatum quaerere, quos misimus pro libertate pugnare.