Letter 3029: Who does not know that a petitioner's gain is also our own, and that what good rulers can bestow through generous...

29. King Theoderic to Argolicus, Most Illustrious Man, Prefect of the City. [1] Who does not know that the gain of the petitioner is to our advantage, and that this increases for good princes, namely what they are able to bestow by kindly generosity? For royal gifts are like seeds: scattered, they grow up into a crop; gathered into one heap, they perish. We desire, therefore, to divide gifts conferred upon many, so that our benefits may sprout everywhere. [2] And accordingly, having received the petition of the agents of the illustrious and magnificent man, the patrician Paulinus, which is set out below: certain granaries, ruined by the decay of long age, to which antiquity affixed this name and that, if they are now shown to be in no way necessary for public use, and there is no commodity of any kind gathered there which pertains to the treasury, we grant to the aforesaid man, with everything pertaining to them, by an unqualified liberality, so that, having taken up leave to build and to transmit to his descendants, he may dispose of them for his own profit; for whoever has preferred to undertake the repair of ruined things confers the greater benefit upon the state, especially in that city where it is fitting that all built things shine forth, lest amid so many ornaments of the walls a misshapen ruin of stones should appear. For in other cities things less gleaming are tolerated; but in that one we do not endure even anything mediocre, since it is praised before all by the mouth of the world.

XXVIIII. ARGOLICO V. I. PRAEFECTO URBIS THEODERICUS REX. [1] Quis nesciat nostrum esse commodum supplicantis quaestum et illud bonis principibus crescere, quod benigna possunt largitate praestare? hoc sunt enim regia dona, quod semina: sparsa in segetem coalescunt, in unum coacta depereunt. optamus ergo munera multis collata dividere, ut possint ubique nostra beneficia pullulare. [2] Atque ideo viri illustris et magnifici patricii Paulini actorum supplicatione suscepta, quae habetur in subditis, horrea longi temporis vetustate destructa, quibus illud atque illud vocabulum praefixit antiquitas, si nunc usui publico minime necessaria esse monstrantur nec aliqua ibidem est species quae ad fiscum pertinet congregata, praefato viro cum omnibus ad se pertinentibus absoluta liberalitate concedimus, ut aedificandi et ad posteros transmittendi assumpta licentia suis utilitatibus profutura disponat, quia confert magis rei publicae munus quisquis diruta maluerit suscipere reparanda, in ea praesertim urbe, ubi cuncta dignum est constructa relucere, ne inter tot decora moenium deformis appareat ruina saxorum. in aliis quippe civitatibus minus nitentia sustinentur: in ea vero nec mediocre aliquid patimur, quae mundi principaliter ore laudatur.