'We especially like to remember how in the assignment of the [Gothic] Thirds (in Tertiarum deputatione) he joined both the possessions and the hearts of Goths and Romans alike. For whereas men are wont to come into collision on account of their being neighbours, with these men the common holding of their farms proved in practice a reason for concord. Thus it has happened that while the two nations have been living in common they have concurred in the same desires. Lo! a new fact, and one wholly laudable. The friendship of the lords has been joined with the division of the soil; amity has grown out of the loss of the Provincials, and by the land a defender has been gained whose occupation of part guarantees the quiet enjoyment of the whole. One law includes them: one equal administration rules them: for it is necessary that sweet affection should grow between those who always keep the boundaries which have been allotted them.
'All this the Roman Republic owes to Liberius, who to two such illustrious nations has imparted sentiments of mutual affection. See to it, Conscript Fathers, that his offspring does not go unrewarded.'
[17.] To the Possessors, Defensors, and Curials[256] of the City of Tridentum (Trient).
Immunity from Tertiae enjoyed by lands granted by the King.
'We do not wish to be generous at the expense of others, and we therefore declare that the Sors which in our generosity we have bestowed on Butilianus the Presbyter, is not to be reckoned in to the tax calculations; but as many solidi as are comprehended in that gift, so many are you to be relieved from, in the contribution of "Tertiae."'
[That is to say, the land given by the Gothic King to Butilian was to be itself, as a matter of course, free from Tertiae; but, in order that this might not throw a heavier burden on the other owners in the district, they were to be allowed to deduct the solidi of that portion from the gross amount payable by them on behalf of the whole district. Butilian's own immunity from Tertiae seems to be taken for granted as a result of the King's gift to him. (See Dahn, 'Könige der Germanen' iii. 145.)]
[18.] King Theodoric to Bishop Gudila.
Ecclesiastics as Curiales.
An interesting but rather obscure letter on the condition of Curiales.
Apparently some ecclesiastics were claiming as slaves some men whom the Curia of Sarsena (?) asserted to be fellow-curials of their own, whom they therefore wanted to assist them in performing curial obligations.