[The Siliquaticum was a tax of one twenty-fourth—the siliqua being the twenty-fourth of a solidus—payable on all sales in market overt by buyer and seller together.]
[5.] King Theodoric to Faustus, [Praepositus].
Soldiers' arrears.
'We are always generous, and sometimes out of clemency we bestow our gifts on persons who have no claim upon us. How much more fitting is it then that the servants of the State should receive our gifts promptly! Wherefore, pray let your Magnificence see to it that the sixty soldiers who are keeping guard in the fastnesses of Aosta receive their annonae without delay. Think what a life of hardship the soldier leads in those frontier forts for the general peace, thus, as at the gate of the Province, shutting out the entry of the barbarous nations. He must be ever on the alert who seeks to keep out the Barbarians. For fear alone checks these men, whom honour will not keep back.'
[A singular letter to write in the name of one who was himself a Barbarian invader.]
[6.] King Theodoric to Agapitus, Illustris and Patrician.
Embassy to Constantinople.
'We have decided to send you on an embassy to the East (Constantinople). Every embassy requires a prudent man, but here there is need of especial prudence, because you will have to dispute against the most subtle persons—artificers of words, who think they can foresee every possible answer to their arguments. Do your best therefore to justify the opinion which I formed of you before full trial of your powers.'
[7.] King Theodoric to Sura (or Suna), Illustris and Comes.
Embellishment of the City.