Cassiodorus→People of Lucristanum, Settled on Sontius (Isonzo River)|c. 522 AD|cassiodorus
VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 29
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus
To: All the People of Lucristanum, Settled on the Sontius (Isonzo River)
Date: ~507-511 AD
Context: An order to restore grazing lands for the imperial postal horses, which had been encroached upon by local landowners -- the thin, hungry horses cannot maintain the speed the postal service requires.
[1] There is no doubt that the protection of the postal service serves the public good, since through it our orders are carried out with the greatest speed. Therefore all the more care must be taken over this vital service, so that the horses assigned to continuous relay duty do not waste away in shameful emaciation, lest their famished weakness succumb to the demands of labor, and what was invented for speed should become a cause of delay. [2] Accordingly, your Devotion, instructed by this present order, is to restore to the relay stations the grazing lands that were previously allotted to them but have since been seized by local landowners -- so that neither the landowners suffer harm from losing a small area, nor the horses lack what they have recovered.
XXVIIII. UNIVERSIS LUCRISTANIS SUPER SONTIUM CONSTITUTIS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Non dubium est ad utilitatem rei publicae cursus custodiam pertinere, per quem nostris ordinationibus celerrimus praestatur effectus. et ideo velut necessariae rei maior adhibenda cautela est, ut qui ad continuos excursus constituti sunt, turpi macie non tabescant, ne ieiuna tenuitas laboribus praeventa succumbat et incipiat iter effici morosum, quod ad celeritatem constat inventum. [2] Quapropter devotio vestra praesenti iussione commonita terrarum spatia, quae veredis antea licuerunt, mutationibus suis a possessore vindicata restituat, ut nec illi parvo spatio infligantur damna et istis recuperata sufficiant.
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VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 29
From: King Theoderic, writing through Cassiodorus To: All the People of Lucristanum, Settled on the Sontius (Isonzo River) Date: ~507-511 AD Context: An order to restore grazing lands for the imperial postal horses, which had been encroached upon by local landowners -- the thin, hungry horses cannot maintain the speed the postal service requires.
[1] There is no doubt that the protection of the postal service serves the public good, since through it our orders are carried out with the greatest speed. Therefore all the more care must be taken over this vital service, so that the horses assigned to continuous relay duty do not waste away in shameful emaciation, lest their famished weakness succumb to the demands of labor, and what was invented for speed should become a cause of delay. [2] Accordingly, your Devotion, instructed by this present order, is to restore to the relay stations the grazing lands that were previously allotted to them but have since been seized by local landowners -- so that neither the landowners suffer harm from losing a small area, nor the horses lack what they have recovered.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.