Letter 7028: We are confident this will please you: when we send judges for your military unit, you are able to perform your...

From: Cassiodorus (formula template) To: [Military Officers under the aforementioned Count] Date: ~522 AD Context: Template notifying military officers of their new count's appointment, reminding them that without a commander, there is no army. We are confident this will please you: when we send judges for your military unit, you are able to perform your duties, because you cannot function as soldiers without a presiding judge. These are correlative concepts -- if you remove the commander, you do not leave behind a soldier, because a corps ceases to exist whenever the one who could give orders is taken away. We grant you action by sending you officers, and we keep you in service as long as we send you judges. Do not think this a small benefit -- though you are the rank and file, it is you who receive the selection of your leaders. Therefore, for the designated indiction, know that the named count has been appointed to your military command. We believe he will conduct himself well in both public and private matters, so that the desired praise will accompany him. Offer him your most just devotion and obey him dutifully in what he orders, because we consider our own authority honored when we know our judges are treated well.

XXVIII. FORMULA PRINCIPIBUS MILITUM COMITIVAE S(UPRA) S(CRIPTAE). [1] Gratum vobis esse confidimus, quando militiae vestrae iudices destinamus, quia tunc ordines vestros agitis, quotiens vobis non defuerit praesentia iudicantis. relativa ista intellectui sunt nomina: si praesulem ademeris, militem non relinquis: apparitio enim tollitur, quotiens qui iubere poterat abrogatur. vobis ergo actum cedimus, dum ad vos dirigimus dignitates et tam diu vos militare facimus, donec iudices destinamus: nec istud leve credatis beneficium, ut cum vos sitis obsequium, vobis occurrat electio cognitorum. [2] Et ideo per indictionem illam illum comitem militiae vestrae cognoscite destinatum. quem ita acturum esse putamus tam in causis publicis quam privatis, ut cum laus optata comitetur. cui devotionem iustissimam commodantes in his quae vobis praeceperit sollemniter oboedite, quia reverentiam nostram honoratam esse credimus, si bene habitos nostros iudices sentiamus.