From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Athalaric
To: Gildila, Count of Syracuse
Date: ~522 AD
Context: A detailed reprimand to the Gothic military governor of Syracuse, ordering him to stop abusing Sicilian provincials through extortion, seizure of estates, excessive court fees, and market manipulation.
The provincials of Sicily have informed us in a petition that your authority has been doing certain things that damage their fortunes. We have taken this matter lightly for now only because the petitioners themselves did not wish past offenses to be punished. After all, a charge that the accuser himself is willing to forgive is clearly questionable, and a man whom his own complainant prefers to pardon cannot rightly be struck down. But to prevent unjust suspicions from arising in the future, we decree by the present order the following rules to be observed at all times, so that the petitioners may have nothing to fear going forward and you may not stumble through ignorance into the offenses alleged.
First: money is said to have been extorted from various provincials for the repair of city walls, yet no construction has actually risen from the promised work. If this is confirmed, either the walls must be built for the people's defense from those funds, or each person must receive back what was improperly taken. It is utterly absurd to promise fortifications and deliver nothing but devastation to the citizens.
Second: you are said to be seizing the estates of deceased persons under the name of the treasury, claiming them as lapsed property [bona caduca -- property with no legal heir, which fell to the state] without any regard for justice -- when your authority in this area extends only to foreigners who die without any testamentary or legal heir. It is outrageous for property to be confiscated in our name through injustice when we ourselves have not ordered it.
Third: the provincials groan that they are burdened with such excessive court summons fees that the cost of being hauled before a judge nearly equals what a convicted debtor would lose. A judge's summons should represent hope for justice, not a penalty. A judge is rightly suspected when people suffer losses before they even get a hearing. We therefore decree that court officers may collect only what our grandfather of glorious memory specifically established as fees proportional to the rank of the persons involved. Fees must have limits: if they exceed the balance of fairness, they lose the right to be called fees at all.
Fourth: if a summons is issued on your own authority -- in those cases and for those persons where the edicts have authorized your involvement -- the officer shall receive half the fee that would be owed for a royal summons, since it is inconsistent with justice for an officer sent by you to receive as much as is offered out of reverence for a royal command.
Fifth: anyone who violates this most salutary decree shall be compelled to restore fourfold what was taken, so that what was lost through greed may be punished by the harshness of the penalty.
Sixth: the edicts and orders of our grandfather of glorious memory that were sent to Sicily for the correction of public conduct shall be obeyed so strictly that anyone who, driven by bestial impulses, attempts to break the protection of these commands shall be held guilty of sacrilege.
Seventh: you are said to be summoning the cases of two Roman citizens to your court even against their will. If you know you have done this, do not presume to do it again -- lest in trying to claim jurisdiction you do not possess, you find yourself acquiring guilt instead. You should be the first to remember the edict, you who prefer that others follow the rules you set. Otherwise your entire authority to judge is stripped away if you yourself fail to uphold the very rules you enforce.
Let ordinary judges retain the full power of their offices. Let the lawful population attend their proper courts. Do not resent the jurisdiction of others. The glory of the Goths is the preservation of civilized order [civilitas -- the key concept in Theoderic's ideology, meaning that Goths would protect but not interfere with Roman civil institutions]. Your reputation improves the fewer litigants appear before you. Defend the law with arms; let the Romans litigate in the peace of their laws.
Eighth: you are accused of seizing goods transported by ship and of using your detested greed to fix prices artificially low. Even if the charge is not proven in fact, the rumor is not far from suspicion. Therefore, if you wish to dispel such talk -- as you should -- let the bishop of the city and the people stand as witnesses to your integrity. What is purchased must please everyone, since it affects everyone's livelihood. Prices must be set by common deliberation, because commerce forced on the unwilling is no commerce at all.
We have thought it right to admonish your sublimity with this order, because we do not wish to be harsh with those we love, and we will not tolerate sinister reports being made about the men through whom we expect others' conduct to be corrected.
XIIII.
GILDILAE VIRO SUBLIMI COMITI SYRACUSANAE CIVITATIS, ATHALARICUS REX.
[1] Provincialium Siculorum nobis est suggestione declaratum quaedam a tua potestate fieri, unde eorum fortunae videantur affligi. quod ideo leviter accepimus, quia ipsi vindicari praeterita noluerunt. constat enim esse dubium, quod concedit adversarius: et percelli non potest iure, cui mavult querelosus ignoscere. sed ut suspiciones iniquas futuris casibus abrogemus, observanda iugiter praesenti iussione decernimus, ut nec isti aliquid de futuro metuant nec tu per ignorantiam quae dicuntur incurras. [2] Prima fronte pro reparatione murorum pecuniae diversis provincialibus dicuntur extortae, cum tamen nulla exinde surrexerit promissa constructio. hoc si constat ammissum, aut muri exinde pro eorum munimine construantur aut unusquisque recipiat quod ei probatur incompetenter ereptum. nimis enim absurdum est spondere munitiones et dare civibus execrabiles vastitates. [3] Quorundam etiam substantias mortuorum sine aliqua discretione iustitiae fisci nomine caduci te perhibent titulo vindicare, cum tibi hoc tantum de peregrinis videatur esse commissum, quibus nullus heres aut testamentarius aut legitimus invenitur. nefas est enim, ut, quod a nobis praecipitur, a te nostro nomine per iniuriam vindicetur. [4] Praeterea conventionibus se gravari omnimodis ingemiscunt, ut ad iudicium deducendi paene tanta videantur amittere, quanta vix probantur addicti dispendia sustinere. vocatio enim iudicis spes iustitiae debet esse, non multa. nam ipse iuste suspectus redditur, ante cuius audientiam gravamina sentiuntur. unde censemus, ut, si nostra conveniunt decreta pulsatos, tantum commodi percipiat exsecutor, quantum gloriosus domnus avus noster pro honoribus personarum debere saiones accipere expressa quantitate constituit. commodum enim debet esse cum modo: nam si mensuram aequalitatis excesserit, vim sui nominis non habebit. [5] Si vero tua iussione conventio destinatur dumtaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te misceri edicta voluerunt, mediam portionem exsecutor accipiat, quam de praeceptis regiis sumere potuisset, quia non potest convenire iustitiae, ut tantum a te directo tribuatur, quantum pro reverentia nostrae iussionis offertur. [6] Si quis autem saluberrimi constituti temerator extiterit, in quadruplum iubemus ablata restitui, ut, quod delectatione cupiditatis ammittitur, asperitate dispendii vindicetur. Edicta vero gloriosi domni avi nostri vel universa praecepta, quae ad Siciliam pro commonendis universorum moribus destinavit, sub tanta volumus oboedientia custodiri, ut sacrilegii reus habeatur, quisquis beluinis motibus excitatus munimen temptaverit irrumpere iussionum. [7] Duorum negotia Romanorum etiam his invitis ad tuum diceris vocare iudicium: quae si cognoscis facta, ulterius non praesumas, ne dum vis iudicium incompetenter quaerere, reatum potius videaris invenire. memor enim prius debes esse edicti, qui inter alios mavis a te sequenda constitui: alioquin tota tibi decernendi auctoritas tollitur, si a te illa regula minime custoditur. [8] Ordinariis iudicibus amministrationum suarum potestas inlibata servetur. cognitores suos legitima turba comitetur. observationum illarum non mordearis invidia. Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita. tota ad vos fama confluit, si vobis rarus litigator observet. vos armis iura defendite, Romanos sinite legum pace litigare. [9] Navigiis vecta commercia te suggerunt occupare et ambitu cupiditatis exosae solum angusta pretia definire: quod non creditur a suspicione longinquum, etiamsi non sit actione vitiosum. quapropter si rumorem huiusmodi, ut convenit, vitare festinas, episcopus civitatis et populus conscientiae tuae testes assistant. omnibus placeat, quod ad cunctorum necesse est pertinere fortunas. pretia communi debent deliberatione constitui, quia non est delectatio commercii, quae iubetur invitis. [10] Quocirca sublimitatem tuam iussis praesentibus credidimus ammonendam, quia excedere nolumus quos amamus nec aliquid de talibus sinistrum patimur dici, per quos aliorum mores putamus posse recorrigi.
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From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Athalaric
To:Gildila, Count of Syracuse
Date:~522 AD
Context:A detailed reprimand to the Gothic military governor of Syracuse, ordering him to stop abusing Sicilian provincials through extortion, seizure of estates, excessive court fees, and market manipulation.
The provincials of Sicily have informed us in a petition that your authority has been doing certain things that damage their fortunes. We have taken this matter lightly for now only because the petitioners themselves did not wish past offenses to be punished. After all, a charge that the accuser himself is willing to forgive is clearly questionable, and a man whom his own complainant prefers to pardon cannot rightly be struck down. But to prevent unjust suspicions from arising in the future, we decree by the present order the following rules to be observed at all times, so that the petitioners may have nothing to fear going forward and you may not stumble through ignorance into the offenses alleged.
First: money is said to have been extorted from various provincials for the repair of city walls, yet no construction has actually risen from the promised work. If this is confirmed, either the walls must be built for the people's defense from those funds, or each person must receive back what was improperly taken. It is utterly absurd to promise fortifications and deliver nothing but devastation to the citizens.
Second: you are said to be seizing the estates of deceased persons under the name of the treasury, claiming them as lapsed property [bona caduca -- property with no legal heir, which fell to the state] without any regard for justice -- when your authority in this area extends only to foreigners who die without any testamentary or legal heir. It is outrageous for property to be confiscated in our name through injustice when we ourselves have not ordered it.
Third: the provincials groan that they are burdened with such excessive court summons fees that the cost of being hauled before a judge nearly equals what a convicted debtor would lose. A judge's summons should represent hope for justice, not a penalty. A judge is rightly suspected when people suffer losses before they even get a hearing. We therefore decree that court officers may collect only what our grandfather of glorious memory specifically established as fees proportional to the rank of the persons involved. Fees must have limits: if they exceed the balance of fairness, they lose the right to be called fees at all.
Fourth: if a summons is issued on your own authority -- in those cases and for those persons where the edicts have authorized your involvement -- the officer shall receive half the fee that would be owed for a royal summons, since it is inconsistent with justice for an officer sent by you to receive as much as is offered out of reverence for a royal command.
Fifth: anyone who violates this most salutary decree shall be compelled to restore fourfold what was taken, so that what was lost through greed may be punished by the harshness of the penalty.
Sixth: the edicts and orders of our grandfather of glorious memory that were sent to Sicily for the correction of public conduct shall be obeyed so strictly that anyone who, driven by bestial impulses, attempts to break the protection of these commands shall be held guilty of sacrilege.
Seventh: you are said to be summoning the cases of two Roman citizens to your court even against their will. If you know you have done this, do not presume to do it again -- lest in trying to claim jurisdiction you do not possess, you find yourself acquiring guilt instead. You should be the first to remember the edict, you who prefer that others follow the rules you set. Otherwise your entire authority to judge is stripped away if you yourself fail to uphold the very rules you enforce.
Let ordinary judges retain the full power of their offices. Let the lawful population attend their proper courts. Do not resent the jurisdiction of others. The glory of the Goths is the preservation of civilized order [civilitas -- the key concept in Theoderic's ideology, meaning that Goths would protect but not interfere with Roman civil institutions]. Your reputation improves the fewer litigants appear before you. Defend the law with arms; let the Romans litigate in the peace of their laws.
Eighth: you are accused of seizing goods transported by ship and of using your detested greed to fix prices artificially low. Even if the charge is not proven in fact, the rumor is not far from suspicion. Therefore, if you wish to dispel such talk -- as you should -- let the bishop of the city and the people stand as witnesses to your integrity. What is purchased must please everyone, since it affects everyone's livelihood. Prices must be set by common deliberation, because commerce forced on the unwilling is no commerce at all.
We have thought it right to admonish your sublimity with this order, because we do not wish to be harsh with those we love, and we will not tolerate sinister reports being made about the men through whom we expect others' conduct to be corrected.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.