e.

34. KING THEODORIC TO THE INHABITANTS OF MASSILIA.

[Sidenote: Count Marabad Governor of Marseilles.]

'In accordance with our usual policy of sending persons of tried
ability and moderation to govern the Provinces, we are sending Count
Marabad [a Gothic name?] to act as your Governor, to bring solace to
the lowly and repress the insolent, and to force all into the path of
justice, which is the secret of the prosperity of our Empire. As
befits your long-tried loyalty, welcome and obey him.'

35. KING THEODORIC TO ROMULUS.

[It is surely possible that this is the dethroned Emperor. The name
Romulus, which, as we know, he derived from his maternal grandfather,
was not a very common one in Rome (it must be admitted there is
another Romulus, ii. 14). And is there not something rather peculiar
in the entire absence of all titles of honour, the superscription
being simply 'Romulo Theodoricus Rex,' as if neither King nor scribe
quite knew how to address an ex-Emperor?]

[Sidenote: Gifts to Romulus shall not be revoked.]

'The liberality of the Prince must be kept firm and unshaken by the
arts of malignant men. Therefore any gift which shall be proved to
have been given according to our orders by the Patrician Liberius, to
you _or to your mother_, by written instrument (pictacium or
pittacium), shall remain in full force, and you need not fear its
being questioned.'

[For Liberius, see ii. 16. A man of that eminence, who was employed to
arrange disputes between the Goths and Romans at the first settlement
of the former in Italy, was the very man to be also employed to
arrange terms with Augustulus. There is some reason to think that the
mother of the deposed Emperor was named Barbaria, and that she is
mentioned in the history of the translation of the relics of St.
Severinus. See 'Italy and her Invaders' iii. 190.]

36. KING THEODORIC TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS COUNT ARIGERN.

[Sidenote: Complaints against Venantius.]

'Firminus alleges that he has some cause of complaint against the
Magnificent Venantius [son of Liberius, mentioned in the previous
letter, and strongly commended in ii. 15], and that Venantius treats
his claims with contempt. There is always a danger of justice being
wrested in the interests of the great. We therefore desire you with
all due reverence to address the aforesaid Magnificent person and
desire him to appoint a representative, with proper credentials, to
plead in our Court in answer to