Letter 3045: Our justice demands that we not allow calumnies against our granted benefits, and that whatever is concealed by...

45. KING THEODERIC TO ARIGERN, COUNT [comes], MAN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK [vir illustris]. [1] It accords with our justice that we should not permit false accusations to be made concerning benefits granted, and that whatever is concealed under a perverse interpretation we should reveal, once the cloud of falsehood has been put to flight. The defenders of the most holy Roman Church have therefore complained that Simplicius, of blessed memory, once acquired by formally executed instruments a house situated in the most sacred City [Rome] from Eufraxius the acolyte; and they represent that the Roman Church possessed it through the long courses of the years by undisturbed right and transferred it to other uses with security of ownership. [2] But now, they say, there has arisen a man hardened in the wicked Samaritan superstition, who with shameless brow falsely asserts that a synagogue stood in that place, whereas the dwellings are shown to have been laid out for human uses in a manner far different from what the aforesaid structure could be. Therefore let your greatness, by the justice approved in your own conscience, examine the case with diligent inquiry, and, if you ascertain that the matters which come under complaint are true, determine it with equity duly weighed. For if false accusations are to be removed from human affairs, how much more do we believe that those things ought to be corrected which we judge to touch upon an affront to the divinity!

XLV. ARIGERNO V. I. COMITI THEODERICUS REX. [1] Iustitiae nostrae convenit, ut de indultis beneficiis calumnias fieri non sinamus, et quicquid prava interpretatione tegitur, fugata mendacii nube revelemus. defensores itaque sacrosanctae ecclesiae Romanae conquesti sunt beatae recordationis quondam Simplicium domum in sacratissima Urbe positam ab Eufraxio acolutho instrumentis factis sollemniter comparasse, quam per annorum longa curricula ecclesiam Romanam quieto iure suggerunt possedisse et in usus alios transtulisse securitate dominii. [2] Nunc autem existere Samareae superstitionis improba fronte duratum, qui synagogam ibidem fuisse iniquis conatibus mentiatur, cum ad humanos usus habitacula longe aliter formata doceantur, quam potest esse memorata constructio. quapropter magnitudo tua conscientiae suae probata iustitia causam diligenti examinatione discutiat et, si vera cognoverit quae veniunt in querelam, considerata aequitate definiat. nam si humanis actibus sunt calumniae summovendae, quanto magis emendanda credimus quae contumeliam divinitatis tangere iudicamus!