Letter 2014: When I was surveying in writing the civil and military achievements of our lord Theodosius [Emperor Theodosius I, r.

When I was running over the civil and military glories of our lord Theodosius with the honor of my pen — for I confess that I have touched upon everything rather than done justice to each particular — I also mixed in among the blessings of peace his laws, which, just as I knew them to have taken away from the men of old their cause for admiration, so I did not suppose that they had reserved for us an equal glory. But this recent enactment concerning trusts and the advantages of codicils, repudiated for ever by the best of princes, surpasses by its brilliance the light of earlier measures by as much as it is more august to set a limit upon oneself when ruling than upon one's subjects. And would that private avarice might come to understand the mind of the lawgiver and draw its conduct from the laws! For it is not hidden what he would wish all others to do of their own accord, who was the first to shudder at suspect gains. I for my part certainly fear lest the greed of wicked men should reckon that the lapsed profit pertains to them, and the cause of the innocent become worse, if the opportunity for fraud should revert only to those who are restrained neither by law nor by shame. Therefore, because the condition of our lords has been restricted, let the remedy of the law come to meet private cupidities. For a long time now the old decrees have grown cold among criminal men, the force of which perished together with their lawgivers. Just so much severity must again be added to the laws as the crimes have grown. Otherwise, if the correction of the greater part is abandoned, the emperor alone has bound himself with harsh enactments in vain — he who has always been good and upright in his conduct. Farewell.

Cum civiles et bellicas laudes domini nostri Theodosii stili honore percurrerem — magis enim contigisse me omnia quam satisfecisse singulis fateor — , etiam leges eius bonis pacis admiscui, quas ut noveram priscis ademisse admirationem , ita reser- vasse nobis parem gloriam non putabam. verum haec recens sanctio de fideicommissis et codicillorum commodis ab optimo principe in aetemum repudiatis tantum claritudine 20 egreditur lucem superiorum , quantum augustius est regend Bibi quam subditis modum 2 ponere. atque utinam privata avaritia mentem latoris intellegat et mores de legibus trahat! neque enim latet, quid sponte ceteros velit facere, qui suspecta conpendia primus exhorruit. ego certe vereor, ne improborum sitis ad se existimet pertinere quaestum caducum fiatque innocentium causa deterior, si ad eos tantum falsi redeat 25 occasio, qui neque lege neque pudore cohibentur. ergo quia dominorum condicio 3 restricta est, privatis cupiditatibus medicina iuris occurrat. frigent iamdiu apud homi- nes criminosos vetera decreta, quorum vigor cum latoribus suis occidit. tantum denuo legibus severitatis addendum est, quantum flagitia creverunt. alioquin, si maioris partis deseritur emendatio, frustra se asperis sanctionibus solus imperator adstrinxit, 30 qui semper bonus et integer moribus fuit. vale. 19 Cod. Theodos. IV 4, 2 dat. Mediolani X k. Febr. Timasio et Promoto coss. iectu uicissim V flde P 1 m. V 8 summiseris V adimisae P 1 m. seruasse VM 19 nouis luretiu fldei commisisset V 20 ab om, P, fori. serib. optimo principi 21 regenti sibi] luretus^ regendis PVMDP^ regiis Mommien 22 latorea intellegat P 1 m., intellegat latores V 23 lateat V suspecta] P, suscepta VMF^ 24 ergo (r) satis P 27 iuris in ras. P frigent iamdiu] luretuB, frigentia diu PFAf 28 criminosus P 1 m. XIIII ante a. 395.