Letter 12011: The man appointed to distribute the Emperor's generosity must be of proven conscience, so that no stain of greed may...

XI. Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to Petrus, Most Distinguished Man [vir clarissimus], Disburser of Provisions. [1] He who is set in charge of dispensing the imperial benefactions ought to be of proven conscience, lest what is poured out from so great a generosity be dried up by any defilement of greed. For the hands of those who plunder transform any largesses whatsoever, and just as the purity of a spring is corrupted by passing through muddy ground, so the bounty of a good king is altered by grasping distributors. Even gold itself, when it is dissolved into liquid, is tainted unless it is received in the cleanest little cup, since those things alone preserve their own purity which are darkened by no admixture of filth. How pleasing it is to see streams running over snow-white pebbles and, in a manner of speaking, to see Nature herself laughing in her own free purity, when she is disfigured by being injured with no stains! Thus the gifts of the lord of all things ought to be darkened by no pollution, but just as they go forth from him in abundance, so they ought to reach the Romans most pure. [2] For although every fraud seems to be grave, yet that fraud is rendered intolerable which prowls among the people of Romulus: a throng that lives at peace; a people that is not noticed except when it is joyful; an outcry without sedition; a din that knows no fury, whose only contention is to flee poverty and not to love riches. For they do not know how to be seekers of gain, nor do they torment themselves with any cunning of trade: they live with the fortune of men of middling means and the conscience of the rich. Is it not a sacrilege to rob such people, who do not know how to defraud what belongs to others? [3] Therefore we grant to you, with the favor of the Divinity, the provisions to be distributed to the Roman people from that levy, so that the people may be able to receive without any diminution what it has earned by royal generosity. Beware lest another receive what they have deserved, and lest you be rendered a stranger to our favor, if you have departed from civic love. Let no man become a Latin by purchase who does not possess the rights of that city by birth. That which gave its name to the nations must always be honored, since he is rendered more eminent among human affairs to whom something of that renown is granted. These are the gifts of the Quirites [the Roman citizens]. Let not a servile lot usurp the place of the free-born. He sins against the majesty of the Roman people who defiles the purity of that blood by the partnership of slaves.

XI. PETRO V. C. EROGATORI OPSONIORUM SENATOR PPO. [1] Probatae debet esse conscientiae, qui principalia beneficia praeponitur erogare, ne aliqua cupiditatis sorde desiccetur quod a tanta liberalitate profunditur. mutant enim quaslibet largitates rapientium manus et sicut fontis puritas per limosa corrumpitur, sic affluentia boni regis avaris distributoribus immutatur. aurum ipsum cum solvitur in liquorem, nisi mundissimo caliculo suscipiatur, inficitur, quando puritatem sui illa sola custodiunt, quae nulla sordium ammixtione fuscantur. quam gratum per niveos calculos rivulos videre currentes et ipsam quodammodo naturae liberam ridere puritatem, quando nullis maculis iniuriata turpatur! sic dona rerum domini nulla debent pollutione fuscari, sed sicut ab ipso exeunt copiosa, ita debent ad Romanos pervenire purissima. [2] Nam licet omnis fraus gravis esse videatur, illa tamen importabilis redditur, quae in Romulea plebe grassatur: turba quae vivit quieta: populus qui nescitur, nisi cum laetus est: clamor sine seditione: strepitus furoris nescius, quibus sola contentio est paupertatem fugere et divitias non amare. nesciunt enim esse lucripetes nec aliqua se negotiationis calliditate discruciant: vivunt fortuna mediocrium et conscientia divitum. nonne piaculum est talibus rapere, qui nesciunt aliena fraudare? [3] Quapropter opsonia Romano populo distribuenda ab illa indictione propitia tibi divinitate concedimus, ut sine aliqua imminutione percipere possit quod regia largitate promeruit. cave ne quod illi meruerunt, alter accipiat et tu a gratia nostra peregrinus reddaris, si a civico amore discesseris. non fiat Latialis pretio, qui civitatis illius non habet iura nascendo. honorandum semper est quod nomen gentibus dedit, quando potior in humanis rebus redditur, de cuius aliquid claritate praestatur. munera ista Quiritium sunt. non subripiat locum liberi fortuna servilis. in maiestatem populi Romani peccat, qui sanguinis illius puritatem famulorum societate commaculat.