Letter 8006: King Athalaric to Liberius, Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls.

King Athalaric to Liberius, Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls. [Liberius was a distinguished Roman senator who served as Praetorian Prefect of Gaul under the Ostrogothic crown. This letter announces the death of Theodoric the Great (526) and asks Liberius to secure loyalty oaths from the Gothic and Roman populations of Gaul.] We know that your heart is burdened with bitter grief at the death of our grandfather of glorious memory. And rightly so, since all good things, once lost, are mourned heavily -- and the loss is felt all the more keenly when it is a beloved ruler who is taken away. But it is right, in the spirit of devotion, to comfort an afflicted mind with a compensating remedy, since the loss is scarcely felt when the successor is not a stranger. For he looked to the future by God's command, being provident even beyond the grave: he left peace to his realms so that no upheaval would disturb their tranquility. He placed us, as his rightful heirs, upon the throne of his kingdom, so that the glory of the lineage which flourished in him might immediately shine with equal light in his successors. Both Goths and Romans united their wishes in support of this succession, promising under the sacred bond of an oath that they would serve our reign with devoted hearts. We have thought it right to bring this to the attention of Your Illustrious Magnitude, so that those in Gaul who are devoted to our merciful rule may follow the same example and, just as they do not wish our feelings toward them to diminish, may be held bound by the same obligation.

VI. LIBERIO PPO GALLIARUM ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Scimus animum vestrum de obitu gloriosae memoriae domni avi nostri acerbo dolore fatigari, dum omnia bona graviter defleantur amissa: plus enim quaeritur, dum dominus desiderabilis abrogatur. expedit autem studio pietatis afflictam mentem compensativo remedio consolari, quia vix sentitur amissus, cui non succedit extraneus. [2] Sic enim sibi deo imperante prospexit, dum esset et post fata providus, ut regionibus suis pacem relinqueret, ne aliqua novitas quieta turbaret. in sellam regni sui nos dominos collocavit, quatenus decus generis, quod in illo floruit, in successores protinus aequali luce radiaret. cui ordinationi Gothorum Romanorumque desideria convenerunt, ita ut sub iurisiurandi religione promitterent fidem se regno nostro devoto animo servaturos. [3] Quod ad illustris magnitudinis vestrae notitiam credidimus perferendum, ut ab his, qui in Galliis regno pietatis nostrae devoti sunt, simile proferatur exemplum et, sicut animos nostros circa se minores non desiderant effici, ita pari condicione teneantur astricti.