'You are therefore to reside in Rome, and to put yourself in constant communication with the officers of the Praefectus Praetorio and the Magister Officiorum, so as not to allow any to leave the City using the horses of the _Cursus Publicus_ except the regularly commissioned agents of those two functionaries. Anyone transgressing is to pay a fine of 100 solidi (L60) per horse; not that the injury to the animal is represented by so high a figure, but in order to punish his impertinence. Our Sajones, when sent with a commission, are to go straight to the mark and return, not to make pleasure-tours at the public expense; and if they disobey this order, they are to pay the same fine as that just mentioned. 'Moreover, the extra horses (parhippi) are not to be weighted with a load of more than 100 lbs. For we wish our messengers[361] to travel in light marching order, not to make of their journey a regular domestic migration. [Footnote 361: 'Mittendarii.' A 'Scrinium Mittendariorum' formed part of the staff of the Count of Sacred Largesses. See Theodosian Code vi. 30. 7.] 'Cranes, when they are going to cross the sea, clasp little pebbles with their claws, in order to steady without overweighting themselves. Why cannot those who are sent on public errands follow so good an example? Every transport master[362] who violates this rule by loading a horse with more than 100 lbs. shall pay 50 solidi (L30). [Footnote 362: 'Catabulensis.' See iii. 10.] 'All fines levied under this edict are to go to the benefit of the postal-servants[363], and thus the evil will, as we so often see in human affairs, furnish its own remedy.' [Footnote 363: 'Mancipes mutationum.' The 'mutationes' were the places for changing horses; there are generally two of them between each 'mansio' (hostelry). Probably the horses were found by the 'Mancipes mutationum.' It was therefore a sort of _corvee_.] 48. KING THEODORIC TO EUSEBIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS. [Sidenote: Honourable retirement of Eusebius.] 'After the worries of the noisy City, and the heavy burden of your official duties, your Greatness is longing to taste the sweetness of country life. When therefore you have finished your present duties, we grant you by our authority a holiday of eight months in the charming recesses of Lucania [near Cassiodorus' own country], to be reckoned from the time when by Divine [royal?] favour you depart from the City. When those months are at an end, return with speed, much missed as you will be, to your Roman habitation, to the assembly of the nobles, and to social intercourse of a kind that is worthy of your character.' 49. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE PROVINCIALS AND THE LONG-HAIRED MEN[364], THE DEFENSORES AND THE CURIALES RESIDING IN SUAVIA[365].