Letter 1035: VARIAE, BOOK 1, LETTER 35

XXXV. KING THEODERIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT. [1] Since the drought of the present year, which is wont to rage cruelly in particular regions at fixed seasons, has hardened the inward parts of the earth with excessive heat and has not so much brought forth the offspring of the harvest as cast it out in imperfect abundance, those things must now be sought with greater zeal which men are accustomed to demand even in times of plenty. [2] And therefore we are by every means disturbed that the public grain, which used to be dispatched from the Calabrian and Apulian shores through your cancellarius [chancery officer] in the summer season, has not arrived even in autumn, although the sun, running back across the southern constellations and regulated by the order of nature, rouses up tumultuous storms by the mixing of the air: a thing which is given to be understood even from the months themselves, since they have fittingly received their names from the number of the rains to come. What sort of delay, then, is this, that in such great calms the swift ships have not yet been dispatched, when the bright position of the unsetting stars invites the sails to be spread in haste, and the trustworthiness of a clear sky cannot frighten the wishes of those who hasten? [3] Or perhaps, with the south wind bearing down and the oars assisting, the echeneis has bound the courses of the ships with its bite amid the liquid waves; or the shells of the Indian sea have, with like power, fixed the backs of the ships to their lips: whose quiet touch is said to hold back more than the agitated elements can drive forward. The sluggish vessel stands, winged with swelling sails, and has no course, though the wind smiles upon it: without anchors it is fixed, without cables it is bound, and creatures so small offer more resistance than so many aids of fair fortune impel it. Thus, although the wave beneath drives the course headlong, the ship is fixed and stands firm upon the back of the sea, and in a wondrous manner things that float are held unshaken, while the wave is swept along with countless motions. [4] But to speak of yet another nature of fish, perhaps the sailors of the aforesaid ships have grown most sluggishly numb at the touch of the torpedo [electric ray]: by which the right hands of those who strike at it are so weighed down that, through the spear with which it has been wounded, it so infects the hand of the striker that a part of the living substance, without any sensation, grows numb and motionless. I believe such things have befallen those who cannot move themselves. But for those men the echeneis is obstructive venality, the bite of the shells is insatiable greed, the torpedo is fraudulent pretense. For they themselves, by their depraved zeal, contrive delays, so that they may appear to have met with adverse occasions. Let your Magnitude, to whom it especially belongs to give thought to such matters, have this set right by the swiftest correction, lest the scarcity should seem to have been born not so much from the barrenness of the season as from negligence, its mother.

XXXV. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Cum siccitas praesentis anni, quae localiter certis solet desaevire temporibus, terrenis visceribus nimio calore duratis abortivos messium fetus non tam edidit quam inperfecta ubertate proiecit, maiori nunc studio quaerenda sunt quae etiam in abundantia expeti consuerunt. [2] Et ideo frumenta publica, quae de Calabro atque Apulo litoribus per cancellarium vestrum aestatis tempore consuerant destinari, nec autumno venisse modis omnibus permovemur, cum solis reflexus australia signa discurrens, naturae ordine modificatus, tumultuosas procellas aeris permixtione resuscitat: quod ab ipsis quoque mensibus datur intellegi, quando ex numero imbrium futurorum competenter nomina susceperunt. quae ergo talis mora, ut in tantis tranquillitatibus velocia necdum fuerint destinata navigia, cum stellarum non mergentium lucidus situs tendi carbasa festinanter invitet et aeris sereni fides properantium nequeat vota terrere? [3] Aut forte incumbente austro remigiisque iuvantibus meatus navium echinais morsus inter undas liquidas alligavit: aut Indici maris conchae simili potentia labiis suis navium dorsa fixerunt: quarum quietus tactus plus dicitur retinere quam exagitata possunt elementa compellere. stat pigra ratis tumentibus alata velis et cursum non habet, cui ventus arridet: sine anchoris figitur, sine rudentibus alligatur et tam parva animalia plus resistunt quam tot auxilia prosperitatis impellunt. ita cum subiecta unda praecipitet cursum, supra maris tergum navigium stare constat infixum miroque modo natantia inconcusse retinentur, dum innumeris motibus unda rapiatur. [4] Sed ut dicamus aliam piscis naturam, forte nautae praedictarum navium tactu torpedinis segnissime torpuerunt: a qua tantum infigentum dexterae praegravantur, ut per hastam, qua fuerit vulnerata, ita manum percutientis inficiat, quatenus vivae substantiae pars sine sensu aliquo immobilis obstupescat. credo talia incurrerunt, qui se movere non possunt. sed echinais illis impedimentosa venalitas est, concharum morsus insatiata cupiditas, torpedo fraudulenta simulatio. ipsi enim studio pravo faciunt moras, ut occasiones incurrere videantur adversas. quod magnitudo tua, cui specialiter convenit cogitare de talibus, celerrima faciat emendatione recorrigi, ne inopia non tam ab sterilitate temporis quam a neglegentia matre nata esse videatur.