7. King Theodoric to Senarius, Vir Illustris, Comes Privatarum.

Losses by shipwreck to be refunded to those who were sending provisions to Gaul.

'Any calamity which comes upon a man from causes beyond his control ought not to be imputed to him as a fault. The pathetic petition of the Superintendents of Grain[335] informs us that the cargoes which they destined for Gaul have perished at sea.

'The framework of the timbers of the ships gaped under the violence of the winds and waves, and from all that overabundance of water nothing remains to them but their tears.

'Let your Sublimity therefore promptly refund to them the proportion (modiatio) which each of them can prove that he has thus lost. It would be cruel to punish them for having merely suffered shipwreck.'