Letter 4016: King Theodoric to the Senate of the City of Rome.

XVI. KING THEODERIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME. [1] For the sake of the public welfare, upon which our mind ever keeps its gaze, we judged some time ago that the illustrious man, Count Arigern, who is almost your own fellow-citizen, ought to be dispatched to the Gauls, so that by the ripeness of his counsel the hearts of the wavering might be steadied. For it is fitting that prudent governors should keep an anxious watch over a newly acquired situation, so that loyalty may run on according to its established course, in the same fashion in which the order of life has been shaped. With these matters arranged according to our wishes, he has both brought back the glory of civic order and, displaying carefully what he learned among you, has also carried home the distinctions of war. [2] We have, as we think, restored him, much longed for, to your assembly, so that he who has pleased you over a long span of years may now become more welcome, since the added merits commend him. Wherefore let the Roman order restore itself to the discipline of the aforesaid man, and let what is prescribed for the love of tranquillity be fulfilled with devoted minds: to the end that license for excesses may be removed, and that punishment-which is what we most desire-may be unable to find any place. [3] If during his absence any fault has also arisen, correct it among yourselves by a consideration of justice, as it befits your nobility to act, to whom uprightness is always pleasing: since you must understand that we have specially enjoined that an error which has by no means been amended by its own authors should be cut away by the strictness of the laws. Let obedience therefore be given, conscript fathers, to a man already proved over many seasons, whose praiseworthy commands must be followed, who has thus far conducted himself amid the praise of you all, and who in so great a throng has met with no man's adverse judgments.

XVI. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX. [1] Utilitatis publicae causa, quam noster animus semper aspectat, virum illustrem comitem Arigernum civem paene vestrum dudum ad Gallias aestimavimus dirigendum, ut eius maturitate consilii titubantium potuissent corda firmari. novitatem quippe sollicitam prudentes convenit habere rectores, ut quemadmodum fuerit vitae formatus ordo, sic currat instituta devotio. his rebus ad nostra vota compositis et gloriam civilitatis retulit et quod inter vos didicit diligenter ostendens et bellorum insignia reportavit. [2] Quem desideratum, sicut putamus, coetui vestro reddidimus, ut qui vobis longa aetate placuit, nunc gratior fiat, cum eum adiecta bona commendant. quapropter disciplinae se praefati viri Romanus ordo restituat et quod quietis amore praecipitur, devotis animis impleatur: quatenus et excessibus tollatur licentia et quod optamus maxime, locum nequeat invenire vindicta. [3] Si qua etiam per eius absentiam culpa provenit, inter vos iustitiae consideratione corrigite, sicut nobilitati vestrae convenit agere, cui semper probitas placet: quoniam nos specialiter iniunxisse cognoscite, ut error, qui ab auctoribus suis minime fuerit emendatus, legum districtione resecetur. pareatur ergo, patres conscripti viro multis temporibus iam probato, cui necesse est praedicanda sequi, qui se hactenus sub vestra omnium laude tractavit et in tanta frequentia nullius repperit adversa iudicia.