[Here, as in many other passages of Cassiodorus, _pietas_ shows signs of passing into the Italian _pieta_ (= pity).] 27. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO TEZUTZAT, AND 28. KING THEODORIC TO DUDA, SENATOR AND COMES. [Sidenote: Petrus assaulted by the Sajo who was assigned for his protection.] [Duda was also a Sajo, as we see from Letter 32. Dahn ('Koenige der Germanen' iv. 142, _n._ 3) thinks he was Comes Gothorum.] Both letters relate to the affair of Petrus (a Vir Spectabilis, and probably the same whose admission to the Senate is ordered by iv. 25). This Roman nobleman, according to a usage common under Theodoric's government, has had the Gothic Sajo Amara assigned to him as his Defensor. Amara, by an inversion of his functions, which the letter bitterly laments and upbraids, has turned upon his _protege_ and even used personal violence towards him. He has drawn a sword and wounded him in the hand; and nothing but the fact that Petrus was sheltered by a door saved him from losing his hand altogether. Yet, notwithstanding this assault, Amara has had the audacity to claim from his victim 'commodi nomine,' the usual payment made by the defended to the defender. The first letter decrees that this shall be refunded twofold, and assigns Tezutzat instead of Amara to the office of Defender, warning him not to follow the evil example of his predecessor. The second assigns to Duda the task of enquiring into the alleged assault and punishing it with the sword[346]. [Footnote 346: The story of this assault is a typical specimen of the style of Cassiodorus, high-flown yet not really pictorial: 'Ita ut ictum gladii in se demersum, aliquatenus postium retardaret objectio: subjecta est vulneri manus, quae ut in totum truncata non caderet, januarum percussa robora praestiterunt: ubi lassato impetu corusca ferri acies corporis extrema perstrinxit.'] 29. KING THEODORIC TO ARGOLICUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY. [Sidenote: Official tardiness rebuked.] A sharp rebuke to him for having (if the _suggestio_ of the Clarissimus Armentarius be correct) so long delayed, it is to be feared with a corrupt motive, complying with the instructions of the King to do justice in some case (not described) in which the honour of the Senate is concerned. As head of the Senate he ought to have been eager to examine into it, without any prompting from his master. 30. KING THEODORIC TO ALBINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN. [Sidenote: Workshops may be erected above the Porticus Curba, by the Roman Forum.]