Letter 9004: King Athalaric to Abundantius, Praetorian Prefect.

IIII. KING ATHALARIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT. [1] It is a happy complaint when laws are overcome by mercy, and the condition of subjects is blessed if they perceive that he has shown pity to others whom they too wish to be favorable toward themselves. For the most sacred laws have bound the curials [members of the municipal council] for no other reason than this: that, since the princes alone could release them, they might find occasions for proclaiming clemency, that is, where the lord disagrees with his own judgments in a loving contest, since there is a certain justice of his own in this, that he who is called pious should by no means be held to the limit of severity. For this too is indeed a reasonable order of things, to release at last from service those who are proven to be unequal to its labors. For a curial, if he is held back by no infirmity of body, is set down for mere deceptions, and what will it profit for him to be present, if he should happen to be found failing in strength? For he is indeed like one absent, by whom the things commanded cannot be fulfilled. Furthermore, while the curia rejoices in its manifold numerousness, it does not seem stricken by losses to have lost a few out of many. [2] Wherefore let your illustrious magnificence carefully cause Agenantia, the wife of Campanianus, a most eloquent man, established in the province of Lucania, and their sons, to be erased from the roll of their curia, so that the posterity to come may not know that there was anything which is forbidden to be objected, since slander is not presumed where some proof is not had. Accordingly let them rather be placed in the number of landholders [possessores], destined nonetheless to suffer the troubles which they themselves used to inflict upon others. [3] For they will be disturbed by the customary tributes: they will shudder at the face of the tax-collector - they who did not know before that orders had come from the authorities - and, worn out by a wished-for ignorance, they will begin to dread the assessments through which others were formerly made afraid. For from this side too they are to be proven to have lived with good morals, since they suffer to live at leisure among those whose hatred they do not know themselves to have deserved. Otherwise they would not endure to be among those whom they knew themselves to have provoked by evil deeds. Let them therefore enjoy the princely benefit: let them live tranquil in remitted peace, who were composed in the quality of their actions.

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.