The Free Sea

...from those of you who are near to us, there has always been authority among us. Warn us, and we will obey. Indeed, if we have sinned in this matter, we do not beg off from your wrath or, finally, from the hatred of the human race. But if the matter stands otherwise, we leave it to your religious conscience and equity to judge what must be thought and what must be done. Long ago, among more civilized peoples, it was considered a supreme wickedness to attack with arms those who were willing to submit their affairs to arbitrators. Conversely, those who refused such a fair condition were suppressed by the common aid of all, not as enemies of one, but as enemies of all. Thus, we see treaties struck to that end and judges appointed. Kings themselves and powerful nations considered nothing as glorious or magnificent as restraining the insolence of others and relieving the weakness and innocence of others. If this custom were observed today, such that men considered nothing human to be foreign to themselves a reference to the famous line by Terence: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", we would certainly enjoy a much more peaceful world. For the audacity of many would cool, and those who currently neglect justice for the sake of profit...