14. King Athalaric to Gildias, Vie Spectabilis, Count of Syracuse.

Oppressive acts charged against Gildias, Comes of Syracuse.

'We hear great complaints of you from the Sicilians; but, as they are willing to let bye-gones be bye-gones, we accede to their request, but give you the following warning:

'(1) You are said to have extorted large sums from them on pretence of rebuilding the walls, which you have not done. Either repay them the money or build up their walls. It is too absurd, to promise fortifications and give instead to the citizens hideous desolation[595].

'(2) You are said to be claiming for the Exchequer (under the name of "Fiscus Caducus") the estates of deceased persons, without any sort of regard for justice, whereas that title was only intended to apply to the case of strangers dying without heirs, natural or testamentary.

'(3) You are said to be oppressing the suitors in the Courts with grievous charges[596], so that you make litigation utterly ruinous to those who undertake it.

'We order therefore that when our [597] decrees are being enforced against a beaten litigant, the gratuity claimed by the officer shall be the same which our glorious grandfather declared to be payable—according to the respective ranks of the litigants—to the Sajo who was charged with the enforcement of the decree; for gratuities ought not to be excessive[598].

'But if your decrees are being enforced—and that must be only in cases against persons with whom the edicts allow you to interfere[599]—then your officer must receive half the gratuity allowed to him who carries our decrees into execution. It is obviously improper that the man who only performs your orders should receive as much as is paid out of reverence for our command. Anyone infringing this constitution is to restore fourfold.

'(4) The edicts of our glorious grandfather, and all the precepts which he made for the government of Sicily, are to be so obediently observed that he shall be held guilty of sacrilege who, spurred on by his own beastly disposition, shall try to break down the bulwark of our commands[600].

'(5) It is said that you cite causes between two Romans, even against their will, before your tribunal. If you are conscious that this has been done by you, do not so presume in future, lest while seeking the office of Judge, for which you are incompetent, you wake up to find yourself a culprit. You, of all men, ought to be mindful of the Edictum, since you insist on its being followed by others. If not, if this rule is not observed by you, your whole power of decreeing shall be taken from you. Let the administration of the laws be preserved intact to the Judices Ordinarii. Let the litigants throng, as they ought to do, to the Courts of their Cognitores. Do not be gnawed by envy of their pomp. The true praise of the Goths is law-abidingness [601]. The more seldom the litigant is seen in your presence the greater is your renown. Do you defend the State with your arms; let the Romans plead before their own law courts in peace.

'(6) You are also accused of insisting on buying the cargoes of vessels that come to the port at your own price [and selling again at a higher]—a practice the very suspicion of which is injurious to an official, even if it cannot be proved against him in fact[602]. Wherefore, if you wish to avoid the rumour of this deed, let the Bishop and people of the city come forward as witnesses on behalf of your conscience[603]. Prices ought to be fixed by the common deliberation [of buyer and seller]; since no one likes a commercial transaction which is forced upon the unwilling.

'Wherefore we have thought it proper to warn your Sublimity by these presents, since we do not like those whom we love to be guilty of excess, nor to hear evil reports of those who are charged with reforming the morals of others.'

[This is an important letter, especially when taken in connection with the words of Totila (Procopius, 'De Bello Gotthico' iii. 16), as to the exceptional indulgence with which the Gothic Kings had treated Sicily, 'leaving, at the request of the inhabitants, very few soldiers in the island, that there might be no distaste to their freedom or to their general prosperity.'

Gildias is evidently a Goth, and though a Vir Spectabilis and holding a Roman office—the Comitiva Syracusanae Civitatis—still it is essentially a military office, and he has no business to divert causes from the Judices Ordinarii to his tribunal, though probably a Roman Comes might often do this without serious blame. But by his doing so, the general principle, that in purely Roman causes a Goth is not to interfere, seems to be infringed, and therefore he receives this sharp reprimand to prevent his doing it again.]