Letter 7029: There can be no doubt about the loyalty of one chosen to guard a city, because what is entrusted for the security of...

29. FORMULA CONCERNING THE GUARDING OF THE GATES OF CITIES. [1] There is no doubt whatever about the loyalty of the man who is chosen to guard a city, since it is established that what has been done for the safety of many must be entrusted to a person of proven conscience. And therefore we grant to you, by our authority, the charge of the gate of that city, so that it may neither lie open to the arrivals of wicked men nor delay the access of good men. For if the gate is always kept barred, it is like a prison; if again it stands continually open, it will be of no use to have the defenses of walls. [2] Let both things therefore be moderated, so that you both satisfy the demands of the nightly watch and do not presume to close it improperly. You will indeed be the road of the citizens and the entry of each kind of merchandise, the friend, that is, of the abundance which you wish to enter. Be eager therefore to invite those who come with provisions. What has been entrusted to you is not something to be despised. You are set over a certain throat of the city, you who are shown to preside over the foodstuffs that enter it. This you must accomplish without complaint, so that in small matters we may recognize to whom we ought to entrust greater ones.

XXVIIII. FORMULA DE CUSTODIENDIS PORTIS CIVITATUM. [1] Nullatenus de eius fide dubitatur qui ad custodiam civitatis eligitur, quia probatae conscientiae constat esse credendum quod fuerit pro securitate multorum. atque ideo curam portae illius civitatis nostra tibi auctoritate concedimus, ut et improborum non pateat adventibus et bonorum non retardet accessus. nam si porta semper obserata sit, instar est carceris: si iterum iugiter pandatur, murorum nil proderit habere munimina. [2] Sit ergo utrumque moderatum, ut et custodiae nocturnae satisfacias et incompetenter eam claudere non praesumas. eris nimirum via civium et ingressus mercium singularum, amicus scilicet copiae quam optas intrare. stude ergo cum alimoniis invitare venientes. non tibi quod despiciatur est creditum. quibusdam faucibus civitatis praeponeris, qui ingredientibus victualibus praeesse monstraris. quod te oportet sine querela perficere, ut in parvis agnoscere possimus, cui maiora credere debeamus.