Cassiodorus→Honorati, landowners, defenders, and curials of city of Tridentum (Trento)|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus|AI-assisted
barbarian invasion
XXXVIII.
King Theodoric to all the landholders.
[1] Our particular care for the public works admonishes us that those things which can grow to harmful effect we ought to cut away the more quickly, so that both the solidity of the aqueduct may, with God's help, be preserved uncorrupted, and the labor which is applied to young trees may be light for you. For the saplings which now exist will become, if they are neglected, full timber. Indeed, those things which at present are removed by an easy pulling-up, afterwards scarcely yield even when struck by axes. And therefore you ought to strive with combined haste, so that by present diligence you may escape the inconveniences of future toil. For this is a civic overthrow, a destruction without a siege, a battering-ram, so to speak, against buildings. [2] Wherefore we order that every wood which rises up as an enemy to the walls be cut away by the roots from the Ravenna aqueduct, so that the repaired construction of the waterproof-cemented channel may conduct to us such water as it was able to receive in purity from the springs. Then there will be a seemly presentation of the baths; then the pools will surge with glassy springs; then there will be water that cleanses, not befouls, after which it will not be necessary to bathe again at once. It is added also that, if a pleasant flow comes in for drinking, all things are rendered acceptable to our sustenance, since no food is made agreeable to human life where the clearness of sweet waters is not to be had. For if we desire to bathe in the purest liquids, how much more do we hasten to be sated with such waters? And if these matters that are to come are now dealt with, the labor causes weariness to no one, since it is undertaken for the delight of all.
XXXVIII.
UNIVERSIS POSSESSORIBUS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Ammonet nos formarum cura praecipua, ut quae possunt noxie crescere, debeamus celerius amputare, quatenus et soliditas aquaeductus deo auxiliante incorrupta servetur et vobis leve sit opus, quod in teneris arboribus adhibetur. nam quae nunc virgulta sunt, erunt, si neglegantur, et robora. ista enim quae modo facili avulsione dirimuntur, postea vix securibus icta succumbunt. atque ideo sociata debetis properatione contendere, ut praesenti diligentia futuri laboris evadatis incommoda. haec est enim civilis eversio, sine oppugnatione discidium, aries, ut ita dixerim, fabricarum. [2] Quapropter omnem silvam, quae parietibus inimica consurgit, de Ravennati forma iubemus radicitus amputari, ut signini alvei reparata constructio talem nobis deducat liquorem, qualem potuit a fontibus suscipere puritatem. tunc erit exhibitio decora thermarum, tunc piscinae vitreis fontibus fluctuabunt: tunc erit quae diluat aqua, non inquinet, post quam lavari continuo non sit necesse. additur etiam quod, si ad potandum unda suavis influxerit, omnia nostro victui redduntur accepta, quando humanae vitae nullus cibus gratus efficitur, ubi aquarum dulcium perspicuitas non habetur. nam si lavari cupimus purissimis liquoribus, quanto magis satiari talibus festinamus? quae si nunc futura tractentur, nulli labor facit taedium, qui sumitur pro delectatione cunctorum.
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XXXVIII. King Theodoric to all the landholders.
[1] Our particular care for the public works admonishes us that those things which can grow to harmful effect we ought to cut away the more quickly, so that both the solidity of the aqueduct may, with God's help, be preserved uncorrupted, and the labor which is applied to young trees may be light for you. For the saplings which now exist will become, if they are neglected, full timber. Indeed, those things which at present are removed by an easy pulling-up, afterwards scarcely yield even when struck by axes. And therefore you ought to strive with combined haste, so that by present diligence you may escape the inconveniences of future toil. For this is a civic overthrow, a destruction without a siege, a battering-ram, so to speak, against buildings. [2] Wherefore we order that every wood which rises up as an enemy to the walls be cut away by the roots from the Ravenna aqueduct, so that the repaired construction of the waterproof-cemented channel may conduct to us such water as it was able to receive in purity from the springs. Then there will be a seemly presentation of the baths; then the pools will surge with glassy springs; then there will be water that cleanses, not befouls, after which it will not be necessary to bathe again at once. It is added also that, if a pleasant flow comes in for drinking, all things are rendered acceptable to our sustenance, since no food is made agreeable to human life where the clearness of sweet waters is not to be had. For if we desire to bathe in the purest liquids, how much more do we hasten to be sated with such waters? And if these matters that are to come are now dealt with, the labor causes weariness to no one, since it is undertaken for the delight of all.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
XXXVIII. UNIVERSIS POSSESSORIBUS THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Ammonet nos formarum cura praecipua, ut quae possunt noxie crescere, debeamus celerius amputare, quatenus et soliditas aquaeductus deo auxiliante incorrupta servetur et vobis leve sit opus, quod in teneris arboribus adhibetur. nam quae nunc virgulta sunt, erunt, si neglegantur, et robora. ista enim quae modo facili avulsione dirimuntur, postea vix securibus icta succumbunt. atque ideo sociata debetis properatione contendere, ut praesenti diligentia futuri laboris evadatis incommoda. haec est enim civilis eversio, sine oppugnatione discidium, aries, ut ita dixerim, fabricarum. [2] Quapropter omnem silvam, quae parietibus inimica consurgit, de Ravennati forma iubemus radicitus amputari, ut signini alvei reparata constructio talem nobis deducat liquorem, qualem potuit a fontibus suscipere puritatem. tunc erit exhibitio decora thermarum, tunc piscinae vitreis fontibus fluctuabunt: tunc erit quae diluat aqua, non inquinet, post quam lavari continuo non sit necesse. additur etiam quod, si ad potandum unda suavis influxerit, omnia nostro victui redduntur accepta, quando humanae vitae nullus cibus gratus efficitur, ubi aquarum dulcium perspicuitas non habetur. nam si lavari cupimus purissimis liquoribus, quanto magis satiari talibus festinamus? quae si nunc futura tractentur, nulli labor facit taedium, qui sumitur pro delectatione cunctorum.