Res Gestae

Now King Theodoric was without training in letters, and of such dull comprehension that for ten years of his reign he had been wholly unable to learn the four letters necessary for endorsing his edicts. For that reason he had a golden plate with

slits made, containing the four letters legi;[*](I have read (it). Or perhaps θεοδ; see regis, crit. note 2, and supply nominis. ) then, if he wished to endorse anything, he placed the plate over the paper and drew his pen through the slits, so that only this subscription of his was seen.[*](The same story is told by Procopius, Anecdota, 6, 15, of the emperor Justinus.)