that such and such portions
of his property have been seized by you with the strong hand, without
any pretence of establishing a legal claim to them.

'We send the Sajo Duda to you, and order you on his arrival[353],
without any delay, to restore the property which you have taken
possession of, with all the moveables of which you have despoiled it.

[Footnote 353: 'Si momenti tempora suffragantur.' What is the meaning
of this limitation?]

'If you have any claim to make to the lands in question, send a person
fully informed of the facts to our Comitatus, and there let the case
be fairly heard.

'A high-born man should ever act according to well-ordered
_civilitas_. Any neglect of this principle brings upon him odium,
proportioned to the oppression which the man of humbler rank conceives
himself to have suffered at his hands.'

40. KING THEODORIC TO THE REPRESENTATIVES (ACTORES) OF PROBINUS.

[Sidenote: The affair of Agapeta. Basilius, her husband, ordered to
plead.]

Recurs to the case of the Possessio Areciretina, which Agapeta, the
wife of Basilius, had given (or sold) to Probinus, and which Probinus
was commanded to restore. (See Letters ii. 10 and 11.)

The petition, now presented by the representatives of Probinus, puts a
somewhat different face upon the matter, and seems to show that the
sale by Agapeta (notwithstanding her melancholy condition of fatuity
and vice) was a _bona fide_ one, for sufficient consideration.

Her husband Basilius is now ordered to reply to the pleadings of the
opposite party, either at the King's Comitatus, or in some local court
of competent jurisdiction. The King's Comitatus is meant to be a
blessing to his subjects, and recourse to it is not made compulsory
where, on account of distance, the suitor would rather be excused from
resorting to it.

41. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES, ARCH-PHYSICIAN.

[Sidenote: An unjust judgment against Joannes reversed.]

'A King should delight to succour the oppressed.

'You inform us that, by the devices of the Spectabilis Vivianus and
his superior knowledge of the laws, an unjust judgment was obtained
against you, in default, in the Court of the Vicarius of the City of
Rome: that Vivianus himself has now renounced the world, repents of
his injustice to you, and interposes no obstacle to the restitution of
your rights. We therefore (if your statements shall prove to be
correct) quash the sentence against you, restore you to your country