Letter 8003: If a foreign heir had received the empire, you might well have wondered whether a successor would love those whom...

III. KING ATHALARIC TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE. [1] If a foreign heir had taken up the empire, you might perhaps have had grounds to doubt, fearing that the one who came after would, out of envy, not love those whom the prior ruler had loved; for, by some arrangement I cannot explain, when a successor strives to win greater praise, the renown of his predecessor is slackened. But now only the person, and not your favor with us, has been changed, since we believe that matters are rightly conducted in our case if we follow after the venerable judgments of our grandfather. [2] For it is in keeping with our own reputation that those whom he most kindly protected we too should nourish with an established abundance and a profusion of benefits. They give less thought who succeed obscure princes engaged in mediocre conduct: such a man went before us that we ought to follow the footsteps of his exquisite virtues. [3] Wherefore, with God as our sponsor in what is said, we announce to you that things were so arranged by the ordering of our glorious lord and grandfather, that the most agreeable consent of the Goths and the Romans should attend our entry into the kingdom; and, so that no suspicion could remain in adverse circumstances, they confirmed their vows with the interposition of oaths: that they take up our dominion with as much joy as if our lord and grandfather did not seem to have been removed by the lot of fate, so that they might be proved devoted not with their tongues alone, but also in the depths of their hearts. [4] But if you, as we suppose, shall do the like with a willing spirit, we have caused the bearers of this letter, under divine adjuration, to promise you that we shall, with the Lord's help, preserve justice and the impartial clemency which nourishes peoples, and that among us Goths and Romans shall share a common law, nor shall anything else be divided among you, except that they undergo the labors of war for the common advantage, while the quiet dwelling of the Roman city multiplies you. [5] Behold, by inclining to the most clement condition of an oath, we have raised up our princely rule, so that the peoples whom our blessed author reared can hold nothing doubtful, nothing fearful. Behold, we restore the example of your Trajan, famous through the ages: He through whom you swear swears to you, and no one can be deceived by Him, since, once He is invoked, it is not permitted to lie with impunity. Lift up your spirits now, and, with God's favor, ever hope for better things, so that, just as we have begun our royal power from love, so we may carry through in the times that follow a tranquillity pleasing to God.

III. POPULO ROMANO ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Si vos externus heres imperii suscepisset, dubitare forsitan poteratis, ne, quos prior dilexerat, invidendo subsequens non amaret, quia nescio quo pacto, cum successor amplius laudari nititur, praecedentis fama lentatur. nunc vero persona tantum, non est autem vobis gratia commutata, quando recte nobiscum agi credimus, si veneranda iudicia avi subsequamur. [2] Nostrae siquidem opinionis interest, ut, quos ille benignissime tuitus est, nos etiam statuta copia et beneficiorum ubertate pascamus. minus cogitant qui obscuris principibus et versatis in mediocri actione succedunt: nos talis praecessit, ut exquisitis virtutibus eius sequi vestigia debeamus. [3] Quapropter, quod auspice deo dictum sit, gloriosi domni avi nostri ita vobis nuntiamus ordinatione dispositum, ut Gothorum Romanorumque suavissimus consensus in regnum nostrum accederet, et, ne adversis rebus aliqua possit remanere suspicio, vota sua sacramentorum interpositione firmarunt: se dominatum nostrum tanto gaudio subire, tamquam si illis domnus avus noster fatali sorte non videretur esse subtractus, ne solis linguis, sed etiam imis pectoribus probarentur esse devoti. [4] Quod si vos, ut opinamur, libenti animo similia feceritis, harum portitores sub obtestatione divina vobis fecimus polliceri iustitiam nos et aequabilem clementiam, quae populos nutrit, iuvante domino custodire et Gothis Romanisque apud nos ius esse commune nec aliud inter vos esse divisum, nisi quod illi labores bellicos pro communi utilitate subeunt, vos autem habitatio quieta civitatis Romanae multiplicat. [5] Ecce ad condicionem clementissimam sacramenti inclinando nostrum eveximus principatum, ut nihil dubium, nihil formidolosum populi habere possint quos beatus noster auctor enutrivit. ecce Traiani vestri clarum saeculis reparamus exemplum: iurat vobis per quem iuratis, nec potest ab illo quisquam falli, quo invocato non licet inpune mentiri. erigite nunc animos et deo propitio meliora semper optate, ut, sicut a caritate potestatem regiam inchoavimus, ita tranquillitatem deo placitam sequentibus temporibus exequamur.