'We are always especially touched by the prayers of petitioners who complain that they are forced to pay unjustly. Ulpianus in his lamentable petition informs us that on the request of Venantius he bound himself as a guarantor (fidei jussionis vinculo) to pay over to the public Treasury at the time of his administration 400 solidi (L240). With the presumption of a truculent rustic Venantius despised his own promise, and Ulpianus has therefore been burdened with payment of the money. We therefore order that Venantius, who has been accused of many other crimes besides this, shall be summoned before you, and if found to be legally liable, shall be at once, and sharply, compelled to fulfil his promise.' 14. KING THEODORIC TO SYMMACHUS, PATRICIAN. [Sidenote: Romulus the parricide.] 'Parricide is the most terrible and unnatural of crimes. Even the cubs of wild beasts follow their sires; the offshoot of the vine serves the parent stem: shall man war against him who gave him being? It is for our little ones that we lay up wealth. Shall we not earn the love of those for whom we would willingly incur death itself? The young stork, that harbinger of spring, gives a signal example of filial piety, warming and feeding its aged parents in the moulting season till they have recovered their strength, and thus repaying the good offices received in its earlier years. So too, when the partridge, which is wont to hatch the young of other birds, takes her adopted brood forth into the fields, if these hear the cry of their genuine mother they run to her, leaving the partridge forsaken. 'Wherefore, if Romulus[254] have fouled the Roman name by laying violent hands on his father Martinus, we look to your justice (we chose you because we knew you would not spare the cruel) to inflict on him legitimate revenge.' [Footnote 254: Quaere if named from the last Emperor.] 15. KING THEODORIC TO VENANTIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS. [Sidenote: Promotion of Venantius to Comitiva Domesticorum Vacans.] 'We always like to promote to office the sons of distinguished fathers. We therefore bestow on you the honour of Comes Domesticorum (Comitiva Vacans), in memory of your glorious father. He held at the same time the Praefecture [of Italy] and the command of the army, so that neither the Provinces lacked his ordering, nor did his wise care for the army fail. All was mastered by his skilled and indefatigable prudence; he inclined the manners of the Barbarians to peace, and governed so that all were satisfied with our rule. 'You are a zealous student of literature, illustrious by birth and eloquent by education. Go on as you have begun, and show yourself worthy of our choice.' 16. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME. [Sidenote: On the same subject.] This letter adds a little to the information contained in the preceding one, as to the career of Liberius, father of Venantius. [Sidenote: Praises of Liberius.]