Letter 11010: When our sovereign lords' clemency turned its thoughts to the health of their servant Danus — for it is their desire...

10. Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to the blessed Cancellarius, a man of senatorial rank. [1] When the mercy of the Lord of all things took thought for the health of his servant Danus, whose desire it is to rejoice in the well-being of all men, He commanded that he seek out the remedies of Mount Lactarius ["Milk Mountain," near Stabiae in Campania], so that, for one whom no human medicine had profited, the renowned benefit of that place might come to his aid: a man who, resounding with frequent coughing, had wasted away his limbs with a gasping chest, while the offices of nature, weakened by excessive shaking, were unable to unfold their powers toward health. For the food provided for the aid of the human body, when he does not properly digest it, he renders useless. Nor does it matter to such men whether they take food or endure fasting. Day by day the living substance fails, and like a cracked cask leaking little by little until it is emptied, it is spent. [2] To this most savage affliction, therefore, the divine powers have granted the benefit of that mountain, where the healthfulness of the air, agreeing with the fertility of the rich soil, brings forth herbs seasoned with a most sweet quality, by feeding on which a fattened multitude of cows produces milk of such healthfulness that, for those whom so many counsels of physicians know not how to help, that drink alone seems to give relief, restoring to its former order the strength of nature undone by afflictions. It refills the emptied limbs, renews the exhausted strength, and by a certain restorative comfort comes to the aid of the sick just as sleep comes to those wearied by toil. [3] And so it is a marvel to see these herds, in pasture so abundant, drained, so that that milky fluid does not benefit its own source, which is proven to restore the injured bodies of mortals, and in a wondrous manner the animals do not thrive on the herbs by which the limbs of men grow fat. Thin, they run about through the thickets of the mountains, they appear lean and endure the likeness of that very affliction which they cure. Yet the milk is so rich that it clings to the fingers when it is pressed out into the vessels. [4] On this account, provide to the man who comes the appointed provisions and the necessary transport, so that, healthfully fed in the aforesaid place with the herd's juice, his youth may be restored by the same nourishment by which his infancy was nourished. Rise up, you spirits laboring under such an affliction: now you will not shudder at a bitter antidote, but at a most sweet life. Drink with pleasure what you perceive to be most healthful. It is a kind of happiness to be cured by that with which the sick man, willing in spirit, may be satisfied.

X. BEATO V. C. CANCELLARIO SENATOR PPO. [1] Cum rerum domini clementia de famuli sui Dani salute cogitaret, cuius votum est de cunctorum sospitate laetari, remedia Lactarii montis eum iussit expetere, ut cui medella humana nil profuit, vulgatum loci beneficium subveniret: qui crebra tussi retonans anhelo pectore membra tenuavit, dum ministeria naturae nimia concussione debilitata virtutes suas explicare nequeunt ad salutem. escas enim in auxilium humani corporis contributas, dum apte non transigit, reddit inutiles. nec interest talibus an sumere cibum an sustinere ieiunium. in dies singulos substantia viva deficit et velut rimosum dolium paulatim defluens donec evacuetur, expenditur. [2] Huic igitur ferocissimae passioni beneficium montis illius divina tribuerunt, ubi aeris salubritas cum pinguis arvi fecunditate consentiens herbas producit dulcissima qualitate conditas, quarum pastu vaccarum turba saginata lac tanta salubritate conficit, ut quibus medicorum tot consilia nesciunt prodesse, solus videatur potus ille praestare, reddens pristino ordini resolutam passionibus vim naturae. replet membra vacuata, vires effetas instaurat et fomento quodam reparabili aegris ita subvenit quemadmodum somnus labore fatigatis. [3] Haec itaque armenta in tam abundanti pabulo exhausta videre miraculum est, ut umor ille lacteus non praestet origini suae, qui corpora mortalium probatur laesa reficere, miroque modo herbis animalia non proficiunt, unde hominum membra pinguescunt. exiles per dumeta discurrunt montium, tenues videntur et instar eius cui medentur sustinent passionis. lac autem tam pingue, ut haereat digitis, cum exprimatur in vasis. [4] Qua de re anonas deputatas subvectionemque necessariam praebete venienti, ut in supra dicto loco armentali suco salubriter pastus eodem alimento reparetur eius iuventus, quo nutritur infantia. consurgite, animi tali passione laborantium: iam non amaro antidoto horrebitis dulcissimam vitam. voluptuose bibite quae saluberrima sentiatis. felicitatis genus est inde curari, unde libens animo aeger possit expleri.