Letter 4028: King Theodoric to Duda, Vir Spectabilis [Most Respectable], Count.

XXVIII. KING THEODERIC TO DUDA, MAN OF SPECTABLE RANK [a respectable person] and Count. [1] We approve the conscience of him to whom we commit matters for judgment, because he is worthy to determine what others should follow, who has shown himself able to impose upon himself the measure of a lawful manner of life. And so Petrus, a man of spectable rank, asserts that Amara, our saio [an official agent], who by a contrary outcome had been dispatched for his protection, drew his sword and wounded him, and made into an aggressor the very man who had been appointed his defender, a thing which an enemy could scarcely have dared. This we wish you both to investigate by lawful examination and to bring to a close by a sound judgment: so that no one may dare to attempt what he knows to be displeasing to us.

XXVIII. DUDAE V. S. COMITI THEODERICUS REX. [1] Conscientiam probamus, cui iudicanda committimus, quia dignus est inter alios sequenda decernere, qui sibi modum visus est legitimae conversationis imponere. Petrus itaque vir spectabilis Amaram saionem nostrum, qui contrario omine pro eius tuitione directus est, educto gladio se asserit vulnerasse defensoremque fecisse, quod vix inimicus potuisset audere. hoc te et legitima volumus disceptatione cognoscere et probabili sententia terminare: quatenus nullus temptare ausus sit, quod nobis displicere cognoscit.