Letter 8001: Athalaric, King of the Goths, to the Emperor Justin.

I. KING ATHALARIC TO THE EMPEROR JUSTIN. [1] I could justly be reproached, most merciful of princes, if I sought your peace only half-heartedly, when it is established that my forebears sought it more ardently; or in what respect should I stand forth as a worthy heir, if I were found unequal to those who begot me amid such great glory? It is not so much the purpled rank of our ancestors that ennobles us, nor does the royal throne exalt us so much, as your favor, which extends far and wide, confers distinction upon us. For we believe that everything will stand perfectly secure for our kingdom, if we feel that this is in no way wanting to us. [2] But just as it redounds to the praise of your piety to cherish those whose fathers it befell you to have loved -- for no one is believed to have bestowed harmless purity upon men of old, except him who is proved to have received their lineage favorably -- let hatreds be shut up with the buried: let wrath learn to perish along with the insolent: favor ought not to sink into the grave with those who were beloved; but rather he is to be treated more affectionately who, in matters touching the kingdom, is found to be without offense. [3] Weigh well what the successor of good men may deserve from you. You raised up our grandfather upon the lofty curule chairs in your own city; you adorned my father in Italy with the splendor of the palm-embroidered robe. And out of a desire for concord he was made, through arms, your son, though in years he seemed almost your equal. This name you will grant more fittingly to a youth -- such honors as you bestowed upon our elders. Your affection ought now to pass over into the place of kinship: for one begotten from your son is, by the laws of nature, not held to be a stranger to you. [4] And therefore I seek peace not as one far off, but as one near at hand, since you granted me the favor of a grandson at the very moment when you bestowed upon my parent the joys of adoption. Let us too be brought into your mind, we who have obtained the royal inheritance. This is for me above dominion itself: to have so great and so excellent a ruler well-disposed toward me. Let our beginnings, then, deserve to have the consolations of a long-lived prince: let our boyhood obtain the protection of your favor, and we are not wholly abandoned by our forebears, we who are sustained by such protection. [5] Let our kingdom be bound to you by the bonds of favor. You will reign the more in that quarter where you command all things through love. Wherefore we have judged that these our envoys, so-and-so and so-and-so, ought to be directed to your Serenity, that you may grant us friendship upon those compacts, upon those conditions, which it is established that your renowned predecessors maintained with our lord and grandfather of divine memory. Perhaps I deserve even something more of your sincerity, since neither does my age seem to be suspect, nor is my descent now proved to be foreign. But certain matters we have entrusted to the above-mentioned envoys of ours, to be conveyed by word to your most serene thoughts, which, after the manner of your clemency, cause to be brought to fulfillment.

I. IUSTINO IMPERATORI ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Iuste possem reprehendi, clementissime principum, si pacem vestram quaererem tepide, quam parentes meos constat ardentius expetisse: aut in qua parte dignus heres existorem, si auctoribus meis impar in tanta gloria reperirer? non nos maiorum purpuratus tantum ordo clarificat, non sic regia sella sublimat quantum longe lateque patens gratia vestra nobilitat. omnia enim regno nostro perfecte constare credimus, si hanc nobis minime deesse sentimus. [2] Sed ut pietati vestrae praeconiale est diligere quorum patres contigit vos amasse — nemo enim creditur impendisse veteribus puritatem innocuam, nisi qui eorum stirpem habere probatur acceptam — claudantur odia cum sepultis: ira perire noverit cum protervis: gratia non debet occumbere cum dilectis: sed magis affectuosius tractandus est, qui ad regni causas innocens invenitur. [3] Perpendite quid a vobis mereatur successor bonorum. vos avum nostrum in vestra civitate celsis curulibus extulistis, vos genitorem meum in Italia palmatae claritate decorastis. desiderio quoque concordiae factus est per arma filius, qui annis vobis paene videbatur aequaevus. hoc nomen adulescenti congruentius dabitis, qualia nostris senioribus praestitistis. in parentelae locum vester iam transire debet affectus: nam ex filio vestro genitus naturae legibus vobis non habetur extraneus. [4] Atque ideo pacem non longinquus, sed proximus peto, quia tunc mihi dedistis gratiam nepotis, quando meo parenti adoptionis gaudia praestitistis. introducamur et in vestram mentem, qui adepti sumus regiam hereditatem. illud mihi est supra dominatum tantum ac talem rectorem habere propitium. primordia itaque nostra solacia mereantur principis habere longaevi: pueritia tuitionem gratiae consequatur et non in totum a parentibus destituimur, qui tali protectione fulcimur. [5] Sit vobis regnum nostrum gratiae vinculis obligatum. plus in illa parte regnabitis, ubi omnia caritate iubetis. quapropter ad serenitatem vestram illum et illum legatos nostros aestimavimus esse dirigendos, ut amicitiam nobis illis pactis, illis condicionibus concedatis, quas cum divae memoriae domno avo nostro inclitos decessores vestros constat habuisse. aliquid forsitan et amplius mereor sinceritatis, cuius nec aetas videtur esse suspecta nec generatio iam probatur extranea. quaedam vero per supra scriptos legatos nostros serenissimis sensibus vestris verbo intimanda commisimus, quae clementiae vestrae more ad effectum facite pervenire.