Letter 3023: It is a pleasure to entrust responsibilities to proven men, since the judgment of the one who chooses is vindicated...

23. KING THEODERIC TO COLOSSEUS, MAN OF ILLUSTRIOUS RANK, COUNT. [1] It is a pleasure to entrust matters to be administered to men of proven worth, since the judgment of the one who chooses takes joy in such men, and the substance of affairs is secure when it is committed to those who have been approved. For just as we hope there will be someone who pleases us, so we take care that the one who has pleased us may shine forth. [2] Therefore, inaugurated under prosperous auspices, set out for Sirmian Pannonia, once the seat of the Goths, girded with the dignity of the illustrious belt [of office], and protect with arms the province committed to you, set it in order by law, so that a land which knows it once happily obeyed our forefathers may be glad to receive its ancient defenders. [3] You know by what sincerity of intercourse you commend yourself to us. The sole way of pleasing us is this: that you imitate the things we do. Cherish equity, defend innocence with the virtue of your spirit, so that amid the perverse custom of the nations you may be able to display the justice of the Goths: who have always been so established in the very midst of praises that they both grasped the prudence of the Romans and possessed the valor of the [warrior] peoples. Remove the customs that have abominably taken root: let a case there be handled rather with words, not with arms; let not the loss of a lawsuit be joined with perishing; let one who forswears another's property return [only] the theft, not his life; let civil litigation not seize more than wars consume; let them raise their shields against enemies, not against kinsmen. [4] And lest poverty perchance seem to drive anyone headlong to death, repay on behalf of such men a loss that is plainly glorious, for you will read [reap] from us the most abundant fruit of [our] favor if you can plant there a civil disposition and one truly worthy of our judges; if a judge should undergo expense so that one who would have perished may acquire his life. Wherefore let our custom be implanted in savage minds, until the truculent spirit grows accustomed to live nobly.

XXIII. COLOSSEO V. I. COMITI THEODERICUS REX. [1] Iuvat probatis ordinanda mandare, siquidem et de talibus iudicium gaudet eligentis et eorum secura substantia est, quae committitur approbatis. nam ut optamus esse qui placeat, ita curamus ut qui placuerit enitescat. [2] Proinde prosperis initiatus auspiciis ad Sirmiensem Pannoniam, quondam sedem Gothorum, proficiscere inlustris cinguli dignitate praecinctus commissamque tibi provinciam armis protege, iure compone, ut antiquos defensores recipere laeta possit, quae se nostris parentibus feliciter paruisse cognoscit. [3] Nosti qua te nobis conversationis sinceritate commendes. sola tibi placendi via est, si quae gerimus imiteris. aequitatem fove, innocentiam animi virtute defende, ut inter nationum consuetudinem perversam Gothorum possis demonstrare iustitiam: qui sic semper fuerunt in laudum medio constituti, ut et Romanorum prudentiam caperent et virtutem gentium possiderent. remove consuetudines abominanter inolitas: is verbis ibi potius, non armis causa tractetur: non sit coniunctum negotium perdere cum perire: abiurator alieni furtum, non animam reddat: ne plus intentio civilis rapiat quam bella consumant: scuta in hostes erigant, non parentes. [4] Et ne quem forte ad mortem videatur praecipitare paupertas, redde pro talibus gloriosum plane damnum, lecturus a nobis gratiae uberrimum fructum, si civile ibi potueris plantare propositum et nostris vere iudicibus dignum, si dispendium iudex subeat, ut vitam periturus adquirat. quapropter consuetudo nostra feris mentibus inseratur, donec truculentus animus belle vivere consuescat.