Letter 6021: VARIAE, BOOK 6, FORMULA 21

XXI. FORMULA FOR THE GOVERNOR OF A PROVINCE. [1] Antiquity decreed with thorough foresight that judges should be sent out to the provinces, lest the common folk be burdened by having to come to us. For who among brigands would endure restraint of his audacity, if they knew that discipline was stationed far away? Permitted violence could rampage unchecked, if the man lodging a complaint were believed to be heard only tardily. Yet how much better it is to suppress crimes while they are still soft, in their very cradle, than to punish them once hardened! We cut short evils, if we make justice present on the spot. For who would dare to sin, when he knows that severity hangs over his own neck? [2] And therefore our choice sends you as governor to that province for that indiction, so that you may strive truly to correct those whom you know have been entrusted to you. Among other things, fix your attention without doubt upon the stripes of your chlamys [an official cloak], which you should know were not placed there idly, but so that, when those conducting public business beheld the purple, they might ever be reminded of the prince's vigor. It is a festive vestment to put on, a gracious garment, which Venus is said to have woven for her son Priapus, so that the son, singularly adorned, might bear witness to a mother of surpassing beauty. [3] Consider how much the laws have granted, and extend yourself to the measure of your power. To you is shown entrusted the exaction of the fiscal tributes. It stands established as committed to your good faith to report to the prince whatever is shown to arise in the provinces. You are also ordered to give a hearing to a senator residing there: you are to punish, in the case of a soldier of the prefects, only with the knowledge of that same prefect: they have ordered your name to be set before the honored provincials in subscriptions. What has been judged about you may be perceived, since to you so many nobles seem to have been able to be ranked behind. [4] It is added that by the prince you are called brother, so that by the nobility of so precious a name you might be lifted above the baseness of crimes. Reflect that the fortunes of so many men have been entrusted to you. Your conduct will be the renown of our age. Be temperate in yourself, that you may be a judge over others. The first equity is for governors to begin with themselves, so that the criminal ought to fear one whom they cannot find to be like themselves. For a defendant fears no faults in himself which he shall have observed his examiner to possess, since he reckons that a wrongdoer displeases none but those of good character. No one condemns his own deeds in another, because it is the nature of the human mind that it strives rather to punish what it knows it has itself committed. [5] O what a thing it is to sit free upon the tribunals, not to be beholden to one's own defendant, lest he who paid a bribe begin to become the stronger party! Let him fear the strict man, let him fear the temperate man, let him not give ear to the flatterer. Grant that he may be able to dread a rigid sentence. Greedy judges do not know how much they transgress: for when they sell the crimes of others, they make those offenses their own. Wherefore be diligent, that we may rather hear the praises of your good administration. From us you confidently demand what you remit, because we think as much of your recompense as we recognize that you have not sought after money.

XXI. FORMULA RECTORIS PROVINCIAE. [1] Omnino provide decrevit antiquitas iudices ad provinciam mitti, ne possit ad nos veniendo mediocritas ingravari. quis enim latronum ferret audaciam, si longe positam cognoscerent disciplinam? absolute poterat vis permissa grassari, si conquerens tardius crederetur audiri. sed quanto melius in ipsis cunabulis adhuc mollia reprimere quam indurata crimina vindicare! in compendium mittimus mala, si praesentia faciamus esse iudicia. quis enim audeat peccare, cum supra cervices suas districtionem cognoverit imminere? [2] Et ideo te illi provinciae rectorem per illam indictionem nostra mittit electio, ut re vera corrigere nitaris quos tibi commissos esse cognoscis. Chlamydis tuae procul dubio inter alia clavos intende, quos scias non inaniter positos, nisi ut, cum publicum agentes purpuram cernerent, de vigore semper principis ammonerent. geniatus indutus, vestis gratiosa, quam filio suo Priapo Venus dicitur texuisse, ut eximiae pulchritudinis matrem singulariter ornatus filius testaretur. [3] Respice quantum dederint leges et ad mensuram te potestatis extende. tibi fiscalium tributorum credita monstratur exactio. constat esse tuae fidei commissum principi renuntiare, quod in provinciis probatur emergere. tu etiam senatorem ibidem residentem iuberis audire: tu in praefectorum militem cum ipsius tantum conscientia vindicare: tuum nomen in subscriptionibus iusserunt honoratis provincialibus anteferri. quid de te aestimatum sit, datur adverti, cui tot videntur nobiles potuisse postponi. [4] Additur, quod a principe frater vocaris, ut nobilitate pretiosi nominis a vilitate criminum tollereris. cogita tantorum hominum tibi commissas esse fortunas. fama erunt nostri temporis tui mores. esto in te continens, ut possis in alios esse iudex. prima aequitas est a se praesules inchoare, ut debeant criminosi metuere quem nequeunt similem reperire. nullas enim in se culpas timet reus, quas habere respexerit cognitorem, quando agentem male nisi bonis moribus non aestimat displicere. suos actus nullus damnat in altero, quia natura est humani animi ut nitatur potius vindicare, quod se cognoverit admisisse. [5] O quale est liberum tribunalibus insidere, non esse obnoxium reo suo, ne incipiat potior fieri qui redemit. timeat districtum, timeat continentem, non audiat blandum. da ut possit rigidam formidare sententiam. avari iudices nesciunt quantum delinquunt: nam cum vendunt aliena crimina, sua faciunt esse peccata. quapropter esto sollicitus, ut bonae actionis tuae laudes potius audiamus. a nobis confidenter exigis quod remittis, quia tantum de remuneratione tua cogitamus, quantum te pecunias non quaesisse cognoscimus.