complain to me about the violence that your greed had spurred them to commit. I remember<hr>
well that I, dissatisfied with this greed in you, unworthy of the nephew of Theodoric,<hr>
did everything to make you understand that this sentiment was despicable and unjust. It is true<hr>
that I made you give back what did not belong to you, but it is also true that I did nothing<hr>
else than what reason and equity required me to do. I know that at the time I told you<hr>
that avarice was the infallible sign of a low soul, that the greedy were almost all<hr>
cowards, those who passionately sought to amass treasures barely cared<hr>
about acquiring glory, and finally that avarice was almost always the running mate of ingratitude.<hr>
       This, Theodat, is what I did for you: I tried to correct a bad instinct<hr>
with which you were born. But do you know what my intention was then? I was already thinking of putting<hr>
the crown on your head, I was thinking about making it so that my subjects have nothing to reproach you with<hr>
when you would be their king. I thought about preventing them from thinking that you were their tyrant rather than<hr>
their sovereign, and making sure they did not have to fear that he who had already stolen their<hr>
assets when he was their fellow citizen would completely ruin them when he became their master. This,<hr>
Theodat, is the true cause of the severity of this reproach which sparked the hatred you have for me. However, I am surprised that having spent most of your life studying the<hr>
philosophy of Plato, you do not accept that someone may have wanted to correct you. Those who learn<hr>
wisdom with such care should practice it, and I cannot help but find it<hr>
peculiar that you remember so well the sermons I gave you while you do not remember<hr>
the kindness I had towards you. When I decided to crown you, it was the result<hr>
of deep reflection. I considered what you were and tried to anticipate what<hr>
you would one day be. I saw two tendencies in you that did not please me. The first was the<hr>
pretension you always had for matters of war, and the second was your greedy desire<hr>
to acquire new wealth every day. However, I thought that the first<hr>
would force you to be cautious, and for the second, I thought that a man who used to satisfy<hr>
his greed by taking three or four feet of land from his neighbors would cure himself of this<hr>
horrible passion when I gave him a kingdom. I sincerely believe that this greed<hr>
could have transformed into good ambition. That from now on, you would have as much<hr>
concern to deserve the goods that I gave you as you always had to acquire<hr>
new wealth. And finally, I thought that from a greedy and lazy subject, I would<hr>
make a prudent and grateful king out of you. But I should have also thought that he who could not stand<hr>
having neighbors to his country house and who committed a hundred injustices<hr>
to extend its limits by a few steps would not be able to decide to share a throne with<hr>
me.<hr>
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                                                      73<hr>