'We order therefore that when _our_[597] decrees are being enforced against a beaten litigant, the gratuity claimed by the officer shall be the same which our glorious grandfather declared to be payable--according to the respective ranks of the litigants--to the Sajo who was charged with the enforcement of the decree; for gratuities ought not to be excessive[598]. [Footnote 597: 'Nostra' (the reading of Nivellius) seems evidently a better reading than 'vestra' (which Migne has adopted).] [Footnote 598: 'Commodum debet esse _cum modo_.' A derivation or a pun.] 'But if _your_ decrees are being enforced--and that must be only in cases against persons with whom the edicts allow you to interfere[599]--then your officer must receive half the gratuity allowed to him who carries our decrees into execution. It is obviously improper that the man who only performs _your_ orders should receive as much as is paid out of reverence for _our_ command. Anyone infringing this constitution is to restore fourfold. [Footnote 599: 'Duntaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te misceri edicta voluerunt.'] '(4) The edicts of our glorious grandfather, and all the precepts which he made for the government of Sicily, are to be so obediently observed that he shall be held guilty of sacrilege who, spurred on by his own beastly disposition, shall try to break down the bulwark of our commands[600]. [Footnote 600: 'Quisquis belluinis moribus excitatus munimen tentaverit irrumpere jussionum.'] '(5) It is said that you cite causes between two Romans, even against their will, before your tribunal. If you are conscious that this has been done by you, do not so presume in future, lest while seeking the office of Judge, for which you are incompetent, you wake up to find yourself a culprit. You, of all men, ought to be mindful of the Edictum, since you insist on its being followed by others. If not, if this rule is not observed by you, your whole power of decreeing shall be taken from you. Let the administration of the laws be preserved intact to the _Judices Ordinarii_. Let the litigants throng, as they ought to do, to the Courts of their _Cognitores_. Do not be gnawed by envy of their pomp. The true praise of the Goths is _law-abidingness_[601]. The more seldom the litigant is seen in your presence the greater is your renown. Do you defend the State with your arms; let the Romans plead before their own law courts in peace. [Footnote 601: 'Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita.']