An earnest invitation to the King's friend, Artemidorus.
'We hereby [by these oracles] invite your Greatness to behold us, which we know will be most agreeable to you, in order that you who have now spent a large portion of your life with us may be satisfied by the sweetness of our presence. He who is permitted to share our converse deems it a Divine boon. We believe that you will come gladly, as we shall entertain you with alacrity.'
[Cf. Dahn iii. 283-4. The ending of the letter (Venire te gaudentem credimus, quem alacriter sustinemus) is the common form, and 'sustineo' is a technical word for the King's reception of his subjects: see [iii. 28], ad finem.]
[23.] King Theodoric to Colossaeus, Vir Illustris and Comes (cir. a.d. 505).
Appointment of Colossaeus as Governor of Pannonia.
'We delight to entrust our mandates to persons of approved character.
'We are sending you "with the dignity of the illustrious belt" to Pannonia Sirmiensis, an old habitation of the Goths. Let that Province be induced to welcome her old defenders, even as she used gladly to obey our ancestors. Show forth the justice of the Goths, a nation happily situated for praise, since it is theirs to unite the forethought of the Romans and the virtue of the Barbarians. Remove all ill-planted customs[291], and impress upon all your subordinates that we would rather that our Treasury lost a suit than that it gained one wrongfully, rather that we lost money than the taxpayer was driven to suicide.'
[Cf. Muchar, 'Geschichte der Steiermark' iv. 131.]
[24.] King Theodoric to all the Barbarians and Romans settled in Pannonia.
[Cf. Muchar, iv. 132.]