Sidonius to his lord, Bishop Lupus.
Beyond the duty that is owed without end to your incomparably eminent apostolate — though it can never be fully discharged, no matter how constantly one pays it — I commend to you the longstanding need of these petitioners, who carry a new urgency. They have traveled a long way to the territory of Clermont — a long road indeed, in these times — only to arrive with their labor spent in vain.
The facts are these: a certain woman of theirs, who had been abducted in a raid by the Vargi — the name the locals give to the native brigands — was brought here some years ago and sold publicly. When they discovered through reliable information — following certain signs, though no longer fresh — that she had been taken here, they came in search of her. But before they arrived, this same long-suffering woman died, openly sold, in the house and possession of a merchant of ours. The sale had been endorsed by a certain Prudens (that is the man's name), who is now reported to be living in Troyes, vouching for the transaction of persons unknown to us. His signature is displayed within the deed of sale as that of a qualified guarantor.
The authority and timely presence of your person could easily determine — among those who are present in person — the full sequence of this violent crime, which (what makes it worse) reached such a degree, as the bearers report, that a member of the traveling party was actually killed during the robbery.
But since these people seek the medicine and good order of your court — people who have on their hands a criminal case — it is fitting for your role and character to relieve the pain of one side and the danger of the other with some harmless settlement, and by a temperate verdict to make one party less aggrieved, the other less guilty, and both more secure — lest the case, given the civility of the times and place, descend to the kind of end that matches its beginning. Please remember me in your prayers, my lord bishop.
EPISTULA IV
Sidonius domino papae Lupo salutem.
1. Praeter officium, quod incomparabiliter eminenti apostolatui tuo sine fine debetur, etsi absque intermissione solvatur, commendo supplicum baiulorum pro nova necessitudine vetustam necessitatem, qui in Arvernam regionem longum iter, his quippe temporibus, emensi casso labore venerunt. namque unam feminam de affectibus suis, quam forte Vargorum (hoc enim nomine indigenas latrunculos nuncupant) superventus abstraxerat, isto deductam ante aliquot annos isticque distractam cum non falso indicio comperissent, certis quidem signis sed non recentibus inquisivere vestigiis.
2. atque obiter haec eadem laboriosa, priusquam hi adessent, in negotiatoris nostri domo dominioque palam sane venumdata defungitur, quodam Prudente (hoc viro nomen), quem nunc Tricassibus degere fama divulgat, ignotorum nobis hominum collaudante contractum; cuius subscriptio intra formulam nundinarum tamquam idonei adstipulatoris ostenditur. auctoritas personae, opportunitas praesentiae tuae inter coram positos facile valebit, si dignabitur, seriem totius indagare violentiae, quae, quod gravius est, eo facinoris accessit, quantum portitorum datur nosse memoratu, ut etiam in illo latrocinio quendam de numero viantum constet extinctum.
3. sed quia iudicii vestri medicinam expetunt civilitatemque, qui negotium criminale parturiunt, vestrarum, si bene metior, partium pariter et morum est, aliqua indemni compositione istorum dolori, illorum periculo subvenire et quodam salubris sententiae temperamento hanc partem minus afflictam, illam minus ream et utramque plus facere securam; ne iurgii status, ut sese fert temporis locique civilitas, talem descendat ad terminum, quale coepit habere principium. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
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Sidonius to his lord, Bishop Lupus.
Beyond the duty that is owed without end to your incomparably eminent apostolate — though it can never be fully discharged, no matter how constantly one pays it — I commend to you the longstanding need of these petitioners, who carry a new urgency. They have traveled a long way to the territory of Clermont — a long road indeed, in these times — only to arrive with their labor spent in vain.
The facts are these: a certain woman of theirs, who had been abducted in a raid by the Vargi — the name the locals give to the native brigands — was brought here some years ago and sold publicly. When they discovered through reliable information — following certain signs, though no longer fresh — that she had been taken here, they came in search of her. But before they arrived, this same long-suffering woman died, openly sold, in the house and possession of a merchant of ours. The sale had been endorsed by a certain Prudens (that is the man's name), who is now reported to be living in Troyes, vouching for the transaction of persons unknown to us. His signature is displayed within the deed of sale as that of a qualified guarantor.
The authority and timely presence of your person could easily determine — among those who are present in person — the full sequence of this violent crime, which (what makes it worse) reached such a degree, as the bearers report, that a member of the traveling party was actually killed during the robbery.
But since these people seek the medicine and good order of your court — people who have on their hands a criminal case — it is fitting for your role and character to relieve the pain of one side and the danger of the other with some harmless settlement, and by a temperate verdict to make one party less aggrieved, the other less guilty, and both more secure — lest the case, given the civility of the times and place, descend to the kind of end that matches its beginning. Please remember me in your prayers, my lord bishop.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.