Letter 5002: King Theodoric to the Haesti [a Baltic people].

II. King Theoderic to the Aesti [a people of the Baltic coast]. [1] When your envoys, such-and-such and such-and-such, came to us, we learned that you had a great eagerness for our acquaintance, so that, though settled on the shores of the Ocean, you might be joined with us in mind: a request altogether pleasant and welcome to us, that our fame should reach you, to whom we could send no instructions. Love now, once known, him whom you ambitiously sought out while unknown. For to venture upon a road among so many peoples is no easy thing to have desired. [2] And therefore, seeking you out with an affectionate greeting, we make known that the amber which was sent by you through the bearers of this letter was received with a grateful spirit. The wave of the Ocean, descending to you, carries off this very light substance, as the report of your own people also contained; but they said that you do not know whence it comes, which, before all men, your own native land offering it, you receive. By the account of a certain Cornelius it is read that, in the inner islands of the Ocean, it flows down from the sap of a tree, whence too it is called sucinum [amber], and that gradually, by the heat of the sun, it hardens. [3] For it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, now reddening with a saffron color, now growing rich with a flame-like brightness, so that, when it has slipped down into the borders of the sea, cleansed by the alternating tide, it is delivered up, laid out, upon your shores. This we judged ought to be made known, lest you should suppose that what you believe yourselves to hold hidden altogether escapes our knowledge. Accordingly, seek us out more often by the roads which your love has opened, since the won concord of wealthy kings is always profitable - kings who, while they are soothed by a small gift, always provide with a greater recompense in return. We have also charged you with certain things by word through your envoys, through whom we declare that we have sent the things which ought to be welcome.

II. HESTIS THEODERICUS REX. [1] Illo et illo legatis vestris venientibus grande vos studium notitiae nostrae habuisse cognovimus, ut in Oceani litoribus constituti cum nostra mente iungamini: suavis nobis admodum et grata petitio, ut ad vos perveniret fama nostra, ad quos nulla potuimus destinare mandata. amate iam cognitum, quem requisistis ambienter ignotum. nam inter tot gentes viam praesumere non est aliquid facile concupisse. [2] Et ideo salutatione vos affectuosa requirentes indicamus sucina, quae a vobis per harum portitores directa sunt, grato animo fuisse suscepta. quae ad vos Oceani unda descendens hanc levissimam substantiam, sicut et vestrorum relatio continebat, exportat: sed unde veniat, incognitum vos habere dixerunt, quam ante omnes homines patria vestra offerente suscipitis. haec quodam Cornelio describente legitur in interioribus insulis Oceani ex arboris suco defluens, unde et sucinum dicitur, paulatim solis ardore coalescere. [3] Fit enim sudatile metallum, teneritudo perspicua, modo croceo colore rubens, modo flammea claritate pinguescens, ut, cum in maris fuerit delapsa confinio, aestu alternante purata vestris litoribus tradatur exposita. quod ideo iudicavimus indicandum, ne omnino putetis notitiam nostram fugere, quod occultum creditis vos habere. proinde requirite nos saepius per vias, quas amor vester aperuit, quia semper prodest divitum regum adquisita concordia, qui, dum parvo munere leniuntur, maiore semper compensatione prospiciunt. aliqua vobis etiam per legatos vestros verbo mandavimus, per quos, quae grata esse debeant, nos destinasse declaramus.