'For the gift of kingly power we owe an infinite debt to God, whose ministers ye are. 'Ye state in your tearful memorial to us that it has been an ordinance of long custom that anyone who has a suit of any kind against a servant of the sacrosanct Roman Church should first address himself to the chief Priest of that City, lest haply your clergy, being profaned by the litigation of the Forum, should be occupied in secular rather than religious matters. And you add that one of your Deacons has, to the disgrace of religion, been so sharply handled by legal process that the Sajo[548] has dared actually to take him into his own custody. [Footnote 548: In the text, 'Sajus.'] 'This dishonour to the Ministers of holy things is highly displeasing to our inborn reverence, yet we are glad that it gives us the opportunity of paying part of our debt to Heaven. 'Therefore, considering the honour of the Apostolic See, and wishing to meet the desires of the petitioners, we by the authority of this letter decree in regular course[549]: [Footnote 549: 'Praesenti auctoritate moderato ordine definimus.' Dahn interprets 'moderato ordine,' 'not so absolutely as the Roman clergy desires.' Is not this to attribute rather too much force to the conventional language of Cassiodorus?] 'That if anyone shall think he has a good cause for going to law with a person belonging to the Roman clergy, he shall first present himself for hearing at the judgment-seat of the most blessed Pope, in order that the latter may either decide between the two in his own holy manner, or may delegate the cause to a Jurisconsult to be ended by him. And if, perchance, which it is impiety to believe, the reasonable desire of the petitioner shall have been evaded, then may he come to the secular courts with his grievance, when he can prove that his petitions have been spurned by the Bishop of the aforesaid See[550]. [Footnote 550: 'Definimus, ut si quispiam ad Romanum Clerum aliquem pertinentem, in qualibet causa probabili crediderit actione pulsandum, ad beatissimi Papae judicium prius conveniat audiendus. Ut aut ipse inter utrosque more suae sanctitatis agnoscat, aut causam deleget aequitatis studio terminandam: et si forte, quod credi nefas est, competens desiderium fuerit petitoris elusum, tuno ad saecularia fora jurgaturus occurrat, quando suas petitiones probaverit a supradictae sedis praesule fuisse contemptas.'] 'Should any litigant be so dishonest and so irreverent, both towards the Holy See and our authority, as to disregard this order [and proceed first in our tribunals against one of the Roman clergy], he shall forfeit 10 lbs. of gold [L400], to be exacted by the officers of the Count of Sacred Largesses and distributed by the Pope to the poor; and he shall lose his suit in addition, notwithstanding any decree which he may have gained in the secular court.