r a
pun.]

'But if _your_ decrees are being enforced--and that must be only in
cases against persons with whom the edicts allow you to
interfere[599]--then your officer must receive half the gratuity
allowed to him who carries our decrees into execution. It is obviously
improper that the man who only performs _your_ orders should receive
as much as is paid out of reverence for _our_ command. Anyone
infringing this constitution is to restore fourfold.

[Footnote 599: 'Duntaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te
misceri edicta voluerunt.']

'(4) The edicts of our glorious grandfather, and all the precepts
which he made for the government of Sicily, are to be so obediently
observed that he shall be held guilty of sacrilege who, spurred on by
his own beastly disposition, shall try to break down the bulwark of
our commands[600].

[Footnote 600: 'Quisquis belluinis moribus excitatus munimen
tentaverit irrumpere jussionum.']

'(5) It is said that you cite causes between two Romans, even against
their will, before your tribunal. If you are conscious that this has
been done by you, do not so presume in future, lest while seeking the
office of Judge, for which you are incompetent, you wake up to find
yourself a culprit. You, of all men, ought to be mindful of the
Edictum, since you insist on its being followed by others. If not, if
this rule is not observed by you, your whole power of decreeing shall
be taken from you. Let the administration of the laws be preserved
intact to the _Judices Ordinarii_. Let the litigants throng, as they
ought to do, to the Courts of their _Cognitores_. Do not be gnawed by
envy of their pomp. The true praise of the Goths is
_law-abidingness_[601]. The more seldom the litigant is seen in your
presence the greater is your renown. Do you defend the State with your
arms; let the Romans plead before their own law courts in peace.

[Footnote 601: 'Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita.']

'(6) You are also accused of insisting on buying the cargoes of
vessels that come to the port at your own price [and selling again at
a higher]--a practice the very suspicion of which is injurious to an
official, even if it cannot be proved against him in fact[602].
Wherefore, if you wish to avoid the rumour of this deed, let the
Bishop and people of the city come forward as witnesses on behalf of
your conscience[603]. Prices ought to be fixed by the common
deliberation [of buyer and seller]; since no one li