Letter 8018: It is clearly a profession of justice to appoint learned jurists as judges, because a man who knows what is fair can...

XVIII. King Athalaric to Fidelis, Most Distinguished Man, Quaestor. [1] It is settled that it is a profession of justice to appoint judges skilled in the laws, since one who knows equity can scarcely neglect it, nor does he easily grow soiled by the fault of error whom learning has cleansed. Long ago the imperial eye observed you sweating over the business of the courts, nor could it be hidden with what faithfulness you carried through the cases you undertook, with what brilliance you pleaded the matters you handled. [2] Your eloquence and your conscience advanced together at an equal pace: no client found anything further to desire; none of the judges found anything in you that he could correct. There was added, moreover, a gracefulness of countenance and a chastity of mind: your beauty alone showed you to be young; from a youthful mouth flowed words of an old man's wisdom. The flower of your age and the maturity of your mind contended; but that one prevailed the more which leads us to the steps of the virtues and to glory. [3] Wherefore we fit gifts to your name and to your merits, so that, being Faithful, you may receive the secrets of the realm, and, being a man of eloquence, you may find a lettered dignity. Now judge gloriously the cases which you pleaded so praiseworthily: let your own and well-exercised learning sit beside you. The condition of affairs is then happy and sure, when he pronounces the sentence who cannot be ignorant of what he reads. For it is not fitting that a judge be the servant of another's will, so as rather to obey another, he whom so many soldiers serve. Surely, if in others it may somehow be tolerated, in a quaestor it is too shameful, that one who is chosen for the prince's counsel should look for support from outside. [4] And therefore, let it be said under God's favor, we confer upon you the dignity of the quaestorship through the sixth indiction. But your honor is a reproach to the unskilled. For just as the conscience is glad which is advanced by merits, so he lies under guilt who knows himself unequal to the offices he has obtained. You have men of old whom it befits you to imitate. Go before in reputation him whom you follow in dignity. [5] For if private life trained you in the virtues, how much better will an advanced station make them manifest? You have taken your name from your merits: keep guard, that you may always rejoice in the truth of the appellation. For since every title seems imposed to declare a thing, it is too absurd to bear a name belonging to another and to be called something other than can be found in one's character. But let these words to a good conscience suffice, since he is believed to be doubted of who is admonished at great length.

XVIII. FIDELI V. I. QUAESTORI ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Professionem constat esse iustitiae legum peritos iudices ordinare, quia vix potest neglegere qui novit aequitatem nec facile erroris vitio sordescit, quem doctrina purgaverit. dudum te forensibus negotiis insudantem oculus imperialis aspexit, nec latere potuit, qua fide suscepta peregeris, qua luculentia tractata peroraris. [2] Aequo gradu eloquentia tua atque conscientia pariter incedebant: nullus susceptus quod amplius desideraret habuit: nullus iudicum quod in te corrigere posset invenit. accessit enim venustas oris et castitas animi: iuvenem te solus decor ostendit: ab ore primaevo cana verba manaverunt. contendit flos aetatis et maturitas mentis: sed potius illa superavit, quae nos ad virtutum gradus gloriamque perducit. [3] Quapropter aptamus munera nomini et meritis tuis, ut arcana regia Fidelis accipias et vir eloquens litteratam reperias dignitatem. nunc causas gloriose iudica, quas laudabiliter perorabas: assideat tibi propria et exercitata doctrina. modo est felix et certa condicio negotiorum, quando ille sententiam dicit, qui non potest ignorare quod legit. non enim decet iudicem ministrum esse voluntatis alterius, ut magis alteri pareat, cui tot milites obsecundant. certe si in aliis utcumque tolerandum, nimis in quaestore pudendum est, ut qui eligitur ad principis consilium, solacium expectet alienum. [4] Et ideo, quod deo auspice dictum sit, per sextam indictionem quaesturae tibi conferimus dignitatem. sed tuus honor imperitis opprobrium est. nam sicut conscientia laeta est, quae provehitur meritis, ita sub reatu iacet, qui se imparem cognoscit muneribus consecutis. habes priscos viros, quos te deceat imitari. praecede fama quem sequeris dignitate. [5] Nam si te privata vita virtutibus exercuit, quanto melius provecta declarabit? sumpsisti nomen ex meritis: custodi, ut semper laeteris veritate vocabuli. nam cum omnis appellatio ad declarandas res videatur imposita, nimis absurdum est portare nomen alienum et aliud dici quam possit in moribus inveniri. verum haec bonae conscientiae dicta sufficiant, quia dubitari de illo creditur, qui plurimis ammonetur.