THE EMPEROR CÆSAR FLAVIUS JUSTINIANUS
PIOUS, FORTUNATE, RENOWNED, CONQUERER AND TRIUMPHER, EVER AUGUSTUS,
TO TRIBONIANUS HIS QUÆSTOR:GREETINGS.
Governing with the aid of God the Creator our Empire which was delivered to Us by His Heavenly Majesty, we have ended the war successfully, glorified peace and sustained the Republic, and in such a way we lift our spirit to implore the protection of God the Almighty that we do not trust upon arms, nor upon our soldiers, nor upon those who conduct our wars, or upon our own genius, but we place all our hope solely upon the providence of the Most High Trinity, from which are derived the elements of the entire world and their disposition throughout the globe.
— The emperor Justinian, constitution Deo auctore, at the beginning of the Digest, part of the corpus of Roman civil law. This is the English translation of the text that appears on the header photo of this blog.