Letter 10033: A matter of city administration has come to my attention that I believe needs to be addressed promptly; I write to...

In cases of appeal I prefer to infringe upon the right of my own authority rather than to bear the uncertainties of interpretation, especially since I am conscious that the judgment was not an unfair one, and one to which no small honor will accrue if it is confirmed by the oracle of Your Eternity, Lords Emperors. I therefore bore patiently with Constantius [a litigant], who appealed rashly, when in accordance with the rescript of Your Divinity I had restored the standing which he had taken from Theodosius [the opposing party] in his absence. For Your Clemency, moved by petitions and complaints, ordered an inquiry by brief examination into whether Constantius had obtained possession of the persons [enslaved persons in dispute] while Theodosius was placed outside the contest, and then, lest he forfeit his property, was lodging an appeal. With the divine instruction thus cited, I reserved the cognizance of the whole matter for the presence of the vicarius, a most distinguished gentleman, even though it had been specifically entrusted to me by the delegation of Your Tranquillity, inasmuch as this case appeared to be joined with the other appeals which had been refused admission to my predecessor, a most distinguished gentleman, and which had taken on a second judge alongside me. After this, once you retained for your own examination that portion which pertained to the judge of that earlier time, the investigation of the appeal having been separated off, since I no longer had a colleague in the trial, I heard the complaint of disturbed possession in obedience to the rescript; and because it was established that Theodosius had not been present at the trial by which he complained that his resources had been taken from him, and Constantius could expose no lies in the petitions, I carried out the heavenly judgment concerning the brother and heir of the petitioner, the standing having been restored, which it soon became clear was defended by the appeal that was lodged, although the subordinate official, when subjected to questioning, recalled that the documents which Theodosius had made public had remained in his own keeping. Nonetheless, obedient to the commands, I determined that the record of the earlier proceedings should be sent to the imperial chancery [the "narrow offices," angusta scrinia]. From this arose the appeal, whose justice or contumacy will be weighed by your sacred judgment. Meanwhile, mindful of the constitution, I ordered the movable goods and the profits to be held in sequestration, lest the enjoyment of the intervening period make wrongful use of what is not due. The trustworthy records of all the proceedings, joined according to custom with the supplements supplied by the parties to my report, have been forwarded, so that you may at last set, by your divine utterance, a stable conclusion to a case that has long been in suspense.