Letter 7014: If a position should be judged by its labors, and if praiseworthy attention to public business earns favor for the...

14. FORMULA FOR THE COUNTSHIP OF RAVENNA. [1] If dignity is to be reckoned from labor, if praiseworthy diligence in public business earns favor for one who serves generously, then your post must be held in the highest esteem, since it is proven to remove, at its own inconvenience, all delay from our directives. For who does not know how great a supply of ships you readily procure when prompted? Scarcely is it written down by the dignitaries of our palace in the warrants of conveyance, and already it is fulfilled by you with the utmost speed. [2] For amid the anxious haste of those being dispatched, another can scarcely take notice of what you manage to carry out so promptly. Demand the customary services of the merchants neither excessively nor abandon them for the sake of profiteering. Let there be a measure that cannot burden those who labor, so that, when you have conducted matters fraught with complaint without complaints, you may merit greater things from our judgment. [3] Therefore our Serenity grants you the countship of Ravenna for the said indiction, that you may take up both the privileges and the labors of your dignity. Govern your office with regard for fairness. For one who is appointed to public business always finds occasions both for injuring and for benefiting. But inasmuch as your administration is carried on among people of modest means, it ought to be weighed with such great equity, because it is more expedient to keep to measure for him who is known to manage a slender estate. Men of substance scarcely feel losses, but the poor are wounded by a slight expense, since by even a moderate injury he seems to lose everything who is known to possess but little.

XIIII. FORMULA COMITIVAE RAVENNATIS. [1] Si aestimanda est dignitas ex labore, si laudabilis sollicitudo actuum publicorum parit gratiam liberaliter servienti, summa gratificatione locus tuus habendus est, qui suis necessitatibus probatur adimere nostris ordinationibus tarditatem. quis enim nesciat quantam copiam navium leviter procures ammonitus? a dignitatibus palatii nostri vix in evectionibus scribitur et iam a te summa celeritate completur. [2] Nam inter dimissorum festinationes anxias vix sufficit alter advertere quod te vivaciter contingit implere. negotiatorum operas consuetas nec nimias exigas nec venalitate derelinquas. sit modus qui non potest gravare laborantes, ut, cum res querelosas sine querimoniis egeris, maiora de nostro examine merearis. [3] Proinde comitivam Ravennatem per illam indictionem tibi serenitas nostra concedit, ut dignitatis tuae privilegia subeas et labores. officium tuum aequitatis consideratione moderare. semper enim et laedendi et praestandi causas invenit, qui publicis actionibus adhibetur. sed quantum amministratio tua inter mediocres agitur, tanta debet aequalitate trutinari, quia illum potius expedit tenere mensuram, qui defectam noscitur gubernare substantiam. idonei damna vix sentiunt, tenues autem levi dispendio vulnerantur, quando vel mediocri iniuria totum videtur amittere, qui exiguum cognoscitur possidere.