Letter 2012: VARIAE, BOOK 2, LETTER 12

King Theoderic to the Count of the Bacon-Dealers [comes siliquatariorum] and the manager of the harbor. [1] If foreign trade serves our desires, if outward devotion is acquired by gold paid out, how much more ought Italy to abound in her own goods, since she is shown to suffer no losses in obedience? And therefore we by no means order that the commodity of bacon be conveyed across to foreign lands, but, by the favor of the divine power, let it be kept for our own uses, lest, through harmful negligence, that which is produced in our own regions should seem to be lacking. [2] Be on your guard, therefore, that no occasion, however small, be given for faults, knowing that the danger will be most grave if you take it upon yourselves to transgress against our commands even slightly. The sin lies in the quality, not in the quantity: for an injury does not ask after measure. A command, if it is despised in a small matter, is violated in every part.

XII. COMITI SILIQUATARIORUM ET CURAS PORTUS AGENTI THEODERICUS REX. [1] Si desideriis nostris commercia peregrina famulantur, si prolato auro adquiritur externa devotio, quanto magis suis bonis abundare debet Italia, cum nulla in parendo probetur sentire detrimenta? et ideo speciem laridi nullatenus iubemus ad peregrina tranamitti, sed in usus nostros propitia divinitate servetur, ne, quod in nostris partibus conficitur, noxia neglegentia deesse videatur. [2] Cavete itaque, ne culpis quamvis parva praebeatur occasio, scientes periculum gravissimum fore, si studeatis vel leviter in iussa committere. in qualitate est, non in quantitate peccatum: mensuram siquidem non quaerit iniuria. imperium, si in parvo contemnitur, in omni parte violatur.