26. King Theodoric to all the Goths settled in Picenum and Samnium.

The Goths summoned to the royal presence.

'The presence of the Sovereign doubles the sweetness of his gifts, and that man is like one dead whose face is not known to his lord[397]. Come therefore by God's assistance, come all into our presence on the eighth day before the Ides of June (June 6th), there solemnly to receive our royal largesse. But let there be no excesses by the way, no plundering the harvest of the cultivators nor trampling down their meadows, since for this cause do we gladly defray the expense of our armies that civilitas may be kept intact by armed men.'