'The men of Arles, who were reduced to penury in the glorious siege which they endured on our behalf, are freed from the obligation of taxes for the fourth Indiction [Sept. 1, 510, to Aug. 31, 511]. We ask for these payments from men at peace, not from men besieged. How can one claim taxes from the lord of a field when one knows he has not been able to cultivate it? They have already rendered a most precious tribute in their fidelity to us. After this year, however, the taxes will be collected as usual.' 33. KING THEODORIC TO ARGOLICUS, ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY. [Sidenote: Promotion of Armentarius and Superbus to post of Referendi Curiae.] Armentarius (Clarissimus) and his son Superbus are to receive the privilege of _Referendi Curiae_[299]. Thus will the profession of the law be, as is most fitting, adorned with the honours of the Senate. [Footnote 299: Possibly Referendi is the same as Referendarii. See Var. vi. 17.] Praises of Rhetoric. The man who has swayed the judges by his eloquence is sure to have a favouring audience in the Senate. 34. KING THEODORIC TO THE INHABITANTS OF MASSILIA. [Sidenote: Count Marabad Governor of Marseilles.] 'In accordance with our usual policy of sending persons of tried ability and moderation to govern the Provinces, we are sending Count Marabad [a Gothic name?] to act as your Governor, to bring solace to the lowly and repress the insolent, and to force all into the path of justice, which is the secret of the prosperity of our Empire. As befits your long-tried loyalty, welcome and obey him.' 35. KING THEODORIC TO ROMULUS. [It is surely possible that this is the dethroned Emperor. The name Romulus, which, as we know, he derived from his maternal grandfather, was not a very common one in Rome (it must be admitted there is another Romulus, ii. 14). And is there not something rather peculiar in the entire absence of all titles of honour, the superscription being simply 'Romulo Theodoricus Rex,' as if neither King nor scribe quite knew how to address an ex-Emperor?] [Sidenote: Gifts to Romulus shall not be revoked.] 'The liberality of the Prince must be kept firm and unshaken by the arts of malignant men. Therefore any gift which shall be proved to have been given according to our orders by the Patrician Liberius, to you _or to your mother_, by written instrument (pictacium or pittacium), shall remain in full force, and you need not fear its being questioned.' [For Liberius, see ii. 16. A man of that eminence, who was employed to arrange disputes between the Goths and Romans at the first settlement of the former in Italy, was the very man to be also employed to arrange terms with Augustulus. There is some reason to think that the mother of the deposed Emperor was named Barbaria, and that she is mentioned in the history of the translation of the relics of St. Severinus. See 'Italy and her Invaders' iii. 190.] 36. KING THEODORIC TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS COUNT ARIGERN.