King Athalaric to Abundantius, Praetorian Prefect.
[Curiales were members of city councils (curiae), bound by law to their cities and responsible for tax collection. Escape from curial obligations was highly sought after in late antiquity.]
It is a happy complaint when laws are overcome by mercy, and a blessed condition for subjects when they learn that the ruler who has shown compassion to others will be merciful to them as well. The most sacred laws bound the curiales to their cities for no other reason than this: so that only the princes themselves could release them, and thereby earn the credit of a gracious pardon. This is the situation where a ruler lovingly overrules his own strict judgments -- since it is itself a kind of justice that a man called "merciful" should not be held to the letter of severity. For it is also a reasonable principle to release from service, at last, those who are proven unequal to the work.
A city councillor who has no bodily strength is good only for deception. What use is it for him to be present if he turns out to be incapable? A man without strength is as good as absent, since he cannot fulfill what is demanded. Besides, when the council rejoices in a large membership, it does not seem damaged by losing a few from among many.
Therefore, let Your Illustrious Magnitude see to it that Agenantia -- wife of the most eloquent Campanianus, residing in the province of Lucania -- and their children are carefully removed from the register of their city council. Let future generations not even know they once held a status which it is now forbidden to bring up against them, since no charge can be pressed where no proof exists. Instead, let them be enrolled among the class of ordinary property-holders, subject to the same burdens they once imposed on others.
They will be troubled by the usual tax demands. They will tremble at the face of the tax collector -- they who previously did not know what it was to receive orders from the authorities. Wearied by a blissful ignorance of such matters, they will begin to dread the same levies through which they were once feared. And in this respect, too, they must be judged to have lived good lives, since they are allowed to live peacefully among the very people whose hatred they have no reason to fear they earned. Otherwise, they would not endure living under those whom they knew they had provoked by bad conduct. Let them therefore enjoy this imperial favor. Let them live in calm release -- they who were composed in the quality of their conduct.
IIII.
ABUNDANTIO PPO ATHALARICUS REX.
[1] Felix querella est, quando leges pietate superantur, et beata condicio subiectorum, si cognoscant illum aliis misertum, quem et sibi optant esse propitium. neque enim ob aliud curiales leges sacratissimae ligaverunt, nisi ut, cum illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae praeconia reperirent, hoc est, ubi dominus adversum sua iudicia amabili concertatione dissentit, quando et ipsius quaedam iustitia est, ut qui pius dicitur, districtionis termino minime teneatur. nam et iste quidam rationabilis ordo est militia tandem solvere, qui inpares laboribus probantur existere. curialis enim, si nulla valitudine corporis continetur, ad solas deceptiones apponitur, et adesse quid proderit, si eum contingat defectum viribus inveniri? similis quippe est absenti, a quo non poterint imperata compleri. deinde dum curia multiplici numerositate laetetur, non videtur perculsa damnis paucos perdidisse de plurimis. [2] Quapropter illustris magnificentia tua Agenantiam uxorem Campaniani viri disertissimi in Lucania provincia constitutam filiosque eorum de albo curiae suae faciat diligenter abradi, ut ventura posteritas nesciat fuisse quod vetatur obicere, quia calumnia non praesumitur, ubi aliqua probatio non habetur. proinde in possessorum numero potius collocentur passuri nihilominus molestias quas ipsi aliis ingerebant. [3] Ad tributa enim solita turbabuntur: faciem compulsoris horrebunt a potestatibus iussa prius venisse nesciebant , et votiva ignorantia fatigati formidare delegata incipient per quae antea timebantur. nam et ex ea parte bonis moribus vixisse probandi sunt, quando patiuntur inter illos otiosi vivere, quorum se non cognoscunt odia meruisse. alioquin non paterentur sub illis esse, quos se cognoscebant malis actibus incitasse. fruantur ergo beneficio principali: vivant remissa pace tranquilli, qui fuerunt in actionum suarum qualitate compositi.
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King Athalaric to Abundantius, Praetorian Prefect.
[Curiales were members of city councils (curiae), bound by law to their cities and responsible for tax collection. Escape from curial obligations was highly sought after in late antiquity.]
It is a happy complaint when laws are overcome by mercy, and a blessed condition for subjects when they learn that the ruler who has shown compassion to others will be merciful to them as well. The most sacred laws bound the curiales to their cities for no other reason than this: so that only the princes themselves could release them, and thereby earn the credit of a gracious pardon. This is the situation where a ruler lovingly overrules his own strict judgments -- since it is itself a kind of justice that a man called "merciful" should not be held to the letter of severity. For it is also a reasonable principle to release from service, at last, those who are proven unequal to the work.
A city councillor who has no bodily strength is good only for deception. What use is it for him to be present if he turns out to be incapable? A man without strength is as good as absent, since he cannot fulfill what is demanded. Besides, when the council rejoices in a large membership, it does not seem damaged by losing a few from among many.
Therefore, let Your Illustrious Magnitude see to it that Agenantia -- wife of the most eloquent Campanianus, residing in the province of Lucania -- and their children are carefully removed from the register of their city council. Let future generations not even know they once held a status which it is now forbidden to bring up against them, since no charge can be pressed where no proof exists. Instead, let them be enrolled among the class of ordinary property-holders, subject to the same burdens they once imposed on others.
They will be troubled by the usual tax demands. They will tremble at the face of the tax collector -- they who previously did not know what it was to receive orders from the authorities. Wearied by a blissful ignorance of such matters, they will begin to dread the same levies through which they were once feared. And in this respect, too, they must be judged to have lived good lives, since they are allowed to live peacefully among the very people whose hatred they have no reason to fear they earned. Otherwise, they would not endure living under those whom they knew they had provoked by bad conduct. Let them therefore enjoy this imperial favor. Let them live in calm release -- they who were composed in the quality of their conduct.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.