VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 24
From: The Ostrogothic Chancery (Cassiodorus)
To: [Template addressed to the honorati, possessores, and curiales of Naples]
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A model letter informing the leading citizens of Naples of their new governor's appointment, urging cooperation and timely tax payment.
[1] The tribute that you pay annually through civic devotion is owed with all the more willingness because it sustains the peace and order from which you yourselves benefit. We have appointed a governor to your city not to oppress but to protect -- a man chosen for his fairness and proven by his record. Receive him with the respect due to our representative, and support his administration with your full cooperation. [2] We expect taxes to be paid on time and without the evasions that certain individuals have thought to practice. Those who pay promptly earn our gratitude; those who delay earn our attention. But let no one suppose that we tolerate extortion from our officials any more than we tolerate fraud from our taxpayers. The governor has been instructed to maintain strict fairness, and we encourage you to bring any legitimate grievance directly to our notice. A well-governed province is one where both ruler and ruled fulfill their obligations honestly.
XXIIII.
FORMULA HONORATIS POSSESSORIBUS ET CURIALIBUS CIVITATIS NEAPOLITANAE.
[1] Tributa quidem nobis annua devotione persolvitis: sed nos maiore vicissitudine decoras vobis reddimus dignitates, ut vos ab incursantium pravitate defendant qui nostris iussionibus obsecundant. erit nostrum gaudium vestra quies: suave lucrum, si nesciatis incommodum. degite moribus compositis, ut vivatis legibus feriatis. quid opus est quemquam facere, unde poenas possit incurrere? quaerat iudex inter vos causas et non inveniat. [2] Ratio motus vestros componat, qui rationales vos esse cognoscitis. improbis iudicem, testem bonis moribus destinamus, ut nemo se cogi sentiat, nisi quem ordo legitimae conversationis accusat. atque ideo illi nos comitivam Neapolitanae civitatis per illam indictionem dedisse declaramus, ut vestra gubernatione laudatus alteram mereatur de nostro iudicio dignitatem. cui vos convenit prudenter oboedire, quia utrumque laudabile est, ut bonus populus iudicem benignum faciat et mansuetus iudex gravissimum populum aequabili ratione componat.
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VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 24
From: The Ostrogothic Chancery (Cassiodorus) To: [Template addressed to the honorati, possessores, and curiales of Naples] Date: ~522 AD Context: A model letter informing the leading citizens of Naples of their new governor's appointment, urging cooperation and timely tax payment.
[1] The tribute that you pay annually through civic devotion is owed with all the more willingness because it sustains the peace and order from which you yourselves benefit. We have appointed a governor to your city not to oppress but to protect -- a man chosen for his fairness and proven by his record. Receive him with the respect due to our representative, and support his administration with your full cooperation. [2] We expect taxes to be paid on time and without the evasions that certain individuals have thought to practice. Those who pay promptly earn our gratitude; those who delay earn our attention. But let no one suppose that we tolerate extortion from our officials any more than we tolerate fraud from our taxpayers. The governor has been instructed to maintain strict fairness, and we encourage you to bring any legitimate grievance directly to our notice. A well-governed province is one where both ruler and ruled fulfill their obligations honestly.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.