To the Prefect Constantius, on the Taxes of Cyrrhus

If no necessity forced me to write to your greatness, I might perhaps be found guilty of presumption, for not taking my own measure and not recognizing the greatness of your power. But now everything that is left of the city and district God has entrusted to me is in danger of perishing completely, and certain men have dared to bring slanderous charges against the recent survey. So I am sure your magnificence will pardon the boldness of my letter when you look into the necessity of the case, which is my reason for writing. [a]

I groan and lament at being forced to write against a man over whose errors one ought to draw a veil, because he belongs to the clergy. Still, I write to defend the cause of the poor whom he is wronging. He was charged with many crimes and shut out from communion until the holy synod could meet. Alarmed at what the council of bishops would decide, he escaped from here, trampling, as he thought, on the laws of the church, and by his contempt for the sentence of excommunication he has laid bare his motive. He has taken up an accusation not fit even for men of the lowest trades, and because of his ill will toward the illustrious Philip he has gone after the wretched taxpayers. I think there is no need at all for me to speak of his character, his way of life from the beginning, or the greatness of his wrongdoing. But this one thing I do beg of your excellency: do not believe his lies, but ratify the survey and spare the wretched taxpayers. Yes, spare the thrice-wretched decurions, who cannot collect the money demanded of them.

Who does not know how heavily the land is taxed among us? Because of it most of our landowners have fled, our farmhands have run away, and most of our land lies deserted. In discussing the land there will be nothing improper in our using the terms of the surveyor. Our country is about thirty-seven miles long and the same in breadth. It includes many high mountains, some completely bare and some covered with plants that bear no crop. Within this district there are fifty thousand acres of free land, and besides that ten thousand that belong to the imperial treasury. Now let your wisdom only consider how great the wrong is. Even if none of the country had been uncultivated, and all of it had been easy farming for the farmhands, they would still have sunk under the tribute, unable to endure such heavy taxation. And here is proof of what I say. In the time of Isidorus of glorious memory, fifteen thousand acres were taxed in gold. But the collectors of the Comitian assessment, unable to bear the loss, complained again and again, and with offerings begged your high office to let them off two thousand five hundred acres for the unproductive land. Your excellency’s predecessors in this office ordered the unproductive acreage to be taken off the unfortunate decurions, and an equal number to be put in place of the Comitian; and even so they cannot make up the full amount.

So with many words I ask your favor, and beg your magnificence to set aside the false accusations made against the wretched taxpayers, to hold back the tide of distress in this unhappy district, and to let it lift its head once more. In this way you will leave an undying memory of honor to future generations. All the saints of our district join me in this plea to you, and above all that most holy and devout man of God, the lord Jacobus. He values silence so highly that he cannot be persuaded to write, but he prays that our city, which is made famous by having him as its neighbor and is protected by his prayers, may receive the favor I am asking. [i]