e addressed to us your petition, alleging that you
were compelled by the Spectabilis Venantius, Governor of Lucania and
Bruttii, to confess yourself guilty of the rape of the maiden
Valeriana.

[Sidenote: Illogical decision in the case of Adeodatus.]

'Overcome, you say, by the severity of your imprisonment and the
tortures inflicted upon you, and longing for death as a release from
agony; being moreover refused the assistance of Advocates, while the
utmost resources of rhetoric were at the disposal of your opponents,
you confessed a crime which you had never committed.

'Such is your statement. The Governor of Bruttii sends his _relatio_
in opposition, saying that we must not give credence to a petitioner
who is deceitfully seeking to upset a sentence which was given in the
interests of public morality.

'Our decision is that we will by our clemency mitigate the severity of
your punishment. From the date of this decree you shall be banished
for six months; and on your return no note of infamy of any kind shall
be attached to you; since it is competent for the Prince to wipe off
all the blots on a damaged reputation. Anyone who offends against this
decree [by casting your old offence in your teeth] shall be fined L120
(3 lbs. of gold). And all who are accused of the same offence in any
place or time, but who offended through ignorance, are to be freed
from all fear of punishment.'

[A most illogical and unjust conclusion, by which the judgment of
Venantius is in fact neither upheld nor reversed. And what the meaning
of the concluding sentence may be it is impossible to conjecture. See
Dahn, 'Koenige der Germanen' iii. 107, on this absurd decision.

On the subject of the misgovernment and disgrace of Venantius, cf.
Letters ii. 15, 16; iii. 8, 36. Cf. also Procopius, 'De Bello
Gotthico' iii. 18 and 22, as to his son Tullianus. In connection with
the alleged misgovernment of Bruttii and Lucania by Venantius,
remember the close connection of Cassiodorus himself with those
Provinces.]

47. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Jovinus, for killing a fellow Curial, is banished to the
islands of Lipari, the volcanoes of which are described.]

'Jovinus the Curialis, according to the report of the Corrector of
Lucania and Bruttii, had an angry altercation with a fellow Curial
(collega), and in his rage slew him.

'He then took refuge within the precincts of a church, and refused to
surrender