[That is to say, the land given by the Gothic King to Butilian was to be itself, as a matter of course, free from Tertiae; but, in order that this might not throw a heavier burden on the other owners in the district, they were to be allowed to deduct the solidi of that portion from the gross amount payable by them on behalf of the whole district. Butilian's own immunity from Tertiae seems to be taken for granted as a result of the King's gift to him. (See Dahn, 'Koenige der Germanen' iii. 145.)] 18. KING THEODORIC TO BISHOP GUDILA. [Sidenote: Ecclesiastics as Curiales.] An interesting but rather obscure letter on the condition of _Curiales_. Apparently some ecclesiastics were claiming as slaves some men whom the Curia of Sarsena (?) asserted to be fellow-curials of their own, whom they therefore wanted to assist them in performing curial obligations. Cassiodorus argues that as the 'Sors nascendi' prevented the Curialis from rising to the higher honours of the State, it certainly ought also to prevent him from sinking into slavery[257]. 'Therefore we advise you to look well to your facts, and see whether these men are not justly claimed as Curials, in which case the Church should give them up before the matter comes to trial. It does not look well for the Bishop, who should be known as a lover of justice, to be publicly vanquished in a suit of this kind.' [Footnote 257: 'Quod si eos vel ad honores transire jura vetuerunt, quam videtur esse contrarium, Curialem Reipublicae, amissa turpiter libertate, servire? et usque ad conditionem pervenisse postremam quem vocavit antiquitas _Minorem Senatum_.'] [Did the alleged Curials, in such a case, wish to have their curiality or their quasi-ecclesiastical character established? Who can say?] 19. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE GOTHS AND ROMANS, AND THOSE WHO KEEP THE HARBOURS AND MOUNTAIN-FORTRESSES (CLUSURAS). [Sidenote: Domestic treachery and murder.] 'We hate all crime, but domestic bloodshed and treachery most of all. Therefore we command you to act with the utmost severity of the law against the servants of Stephanus, who have killed their master and left him unburied. They might have learned pity even from birds. Even the vulture, who lives on the corpses of other creatures, protects little birds from the attacks of the hawk. Yet men are found cruel enough to slay him who has fed them. To the gallows with them! Let _him_ become the food of the pious vulture, who has cruelly contrived the death of his provider. That is the fitting sepulchre for the man who has left his lord unburied.' 20. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO UNIGILIS (OR WILIGIS). [Sidenote: Provision-ships to follow movements of Theodoric's Court.] 'Let any provision-ships [_sulcatoriae?_] which may be now lying at Ravenna be ordered round to Liguria (which in ordinary times supplies the needs of Ravenna herself).