Letter 4041: King Theodoric to John, Archiater [Chief Physician].

41. King Theoderic to John, Chief Physician [archiater]. [1] It is a royal resolve to come to the aid, with the remedy of compassion, of those weighed down by the stain of misfortune, and to change bitter mischances of injury into a better lot. For indeed, in the petition you have submitted, you complain that the worshipful man Vivianus, puffed up by the artifice of the laws in which he is skilled, pursued your person with charges brought against you, and that things came to such a pass that, left undefended and contrary to the order of law, you were condemned by the sentence of the vicar of the city of Rome; but that now, through the disposition of a religious mind, he has condemned worldly hatreds, and the peril he caused you has become displeasing to its very author. [2] And therefore, if his assertions are not weakened by any rebuttals, we do not allow an injury to cling to the wretched, which is established to be displeasing to its own contrivers. Wherefore, the sentence having been consigned to abolition, which is known to have been promulgated by the vicar of the city of Rome concerning this matter, our authority restores you to your homeland and to all your possessions, nor are you at any time to dread any slanderous accusation concerning this matter. [3] But lest perchance anyone's rashness, deserving of punishment, be able to renew its onslaughts of audacity against you, the protection [tuitio] of the patrician Albinus, deputed to you with the laws kept intact, shall fortify you, since we wish nothing uncivil to be done by one whose daily labor it is to act on behalf of the general peace.

XLI. IOHANNI ARCHIATRO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Propositum regale est pressis labe fortunae pietatis remedio subvenire et acerbos casus iniuriae meliore sorte mutare. data siquidem supplicatione conquereris virum spectabilem Vivianum legum artificio, quo callet, elatum, personam tuam obiectis criminationibus insecutum et eo usque perventum, ut indefensus contra iuris ordinem vicarii urbis Romae sententia damnareris: nunc autem religiosae mentis affectu odia mundana damnasse auctorique suo tuum displicuisse periculum. [2] Et ideo, si nullis impugnationibus enervantur asserta, laesionem non patimur miseris inhaerere, quam suis constiterit machinatoribus displicere. quapropter in abolitum missa sententia, quae a vicario urbis Romae super hac parte cognoscitur promulgata, patriae te rebusque omnibus nostra reddit auctoritas, nec ullo tempore calumniam super hac parte formides. [3] Sed ne cuiusquam forsitan plectenda temeritas in te impetus reparare possit audaciae, patricii Albini salvis legibus tuitio te deputata communiet, quia nihil fieri volumus incivile, cuius cottidianus labor est pro generali quiete tractare.