227]. See, however, that our revenue
sustains no unnecessary loss. We are touched by the losses of the
suppliants, but we ought on the other hand to share their profits.'

[Footnote 227: 'Ut quantum eos minus vendidisse constiterit, de
reliquis primae indictionis habita moderatione detrahatis.']

17. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE GOTHIC AND ROMAN INHABITANTS OF DERTONA
(TORTONA).

[Sidenote: Fortification of camp near Dertona.]

'We have decided that the camp near you shall at once be fortified. It
is expedient to execute works of this kind in peace rather than in
war.

'The true meaning of _expeditio_ shows that the leader of a military
expedition should have an unencumbered mind.

'Do you therefore second our efforts by building good private houses,
in which you will be sheltered, while the enemy (whenever he comes)
will be in the worst possible quarters[228], and exposed to all the
severity of the weather.'

[Footnote 228: 'Durissimae mansiones.']

18. KING THEODORIC TO DOMITIANUS AND WILIAS.

[Sidenote: Statute of Limitations.]

'It is right that you, who are administering justice to the nations,
should learn and practise it yourselves. We therefore hasten to reply
to the question which you have asked [concerning the length of time
that is required to bestow a title by prescription]. If any Barbarian
usurper have taken possession of a Roman farm since the time when we,
through God's grace, crossed the streams of the Isonzo, when first the
Empire of Italy received us[229], and if he have no documents of title
[sine delegatoris cujusquam pyctacio] to show that he is the rightful
holder, then let him without delay restore the property to its former
owner. But if he shall be found to have entered upon the property
before the aforesaid time, since the principle of the thirty years'
prescription comes in, we order that the petition of the plaintiff
shall be dropped.

[Footnote 229: 'Ex quo, Deo propitio, Sonti fluenta transmisimus ubi
primum Italiae nos suscepit imperium.']

[Sidenote: Crimes of violence.]

'The assailant, as well as the murderer, of his brother, is to be
driven forth from the kingdom, that the serenity of our Commonwealth
may not be troubled with any such dark spots.'

[Theodoric crossed the Isonzo, August, 489, and as I understand this
letter, it was written somewhere about 518, and he therefore lays down
a convenient practical rule: 'No dispossession which occurred before
I crossed t