Letter 12012: While I was dining with the lord of the realm [the king] at a formal banquet and the delicacies of various provinces...

XII. Senator, Praetorian Prefect, to Anastasius, Chancellor of Lucania and Bruttium. [1] When we were dining at the solemn feast in the presence of the lord of the world, and the various provinces were being praised for their delicacies, the conversation, running on as it usually does, came round to the wines of Bruttium and the sweetness of Silan cheese: for there, by the benefit of the herbs, it is produced with such a pleasantness of nature that you would not believe the taste of honey to be lacking, though you observe none mixed in by any quality. There the milk, lightly drawn forth, flows from the teats like pipes, and gathered as it were into other bellies by the abundance of nature, it does not rain down in drops but streams in with certain sudden torrents. A sweet and varied scent of herbs is fragrant: the pasturing of the flocks is recognized by the nostrils, which, fragrant with diverse virtue, is perceived to breathe forth things like incense. [2] To this so great a richness is joined that you would suppose the liquor of Pallas [olive oil] to be running down at the same time, were it not that it is distinguished from that grass-green greenness by its snowy whiteness. Then, when in wide-open vats that marvelous abundance, received by the more than joyful shepherd, has begun, by the admixture of rennet, to be hardened into a callous tenderness, it is brought into form as a most beautiful round, which, gathered together for a little while in underground storehouses, makes the substance of the cheese long-lasting. This, placed upon ships, you will dispatch as quickly as possible, that we may seem with a small gift to have satisfied royal desires. [3] The wine too, which antiquity, desiring to praise it, named Palmatian, seek out for us: tart, sharp, but pleasing in its sweetness. For although among the wines of Bruttium it may seem the least, yet it has become, by almost universal opinion, the foremost. For there is found there both an equal to the Gazan and a likeness to the Sabine, and one singular for its great fragrances. [4] But because that wine has claimed for itself a most noble fame, let this one too, exceedingly elegant in its own kind, be sought out, lest the prudence of our forebears should seem to have named anything improperly. For it is softly thick with a sweet richness, most firm in vivacity, violent to the nose, and clear too in its brightness, which so gives off its scent when belched from the mouth that the name seems deservedly to have been bestowed upon it from the palm of victory. [5] It binds together failing inward parts, dries up moist wounds, restores the weary breast, and what a drink skillfully compounded can scarcely manage to supply, this naturally provides untreated. But take care that you dispatch the above-mentioned kinds, exact in quality, since we cannot be deceived, who hold to this with the truth of fellow countrymen: for at present we have offered from our own cellars the things that were desired. You, however, do otherwise at your own peril, since you know that the proofs of these matters can already be held.

XII. ANASTASIO CANCELLARIO LUCANIAE ET BRUTTIORUM SENATOR PPO. [1] Cum apud dominum rerum sollemni munere pranderemus et diversae provinciae de suis deliciis laudarentur, ad vina Bruttiorum et Silani casei suavitatem currente, ut assolet, sermone perventum est: quod herbarum beneficio tanta ibi naturae iucunditate conficitur, ut non credas deesse mellis gustum, quem nulla conspicis qualitate permixtum. manat illic leviter provocatum lac uberibus fistulosis et quasi in alios ventres naturae ubertate collectum non guttis impluit, sed quibusdam repentinis torrentibus influescit. redolet suavis et varius odor herbarum: naribus agnoscitur pecudum pastus, qui fragrans virtute diversa thuris sentitur inspirare similia. [2] Huic tanta pinguedo sociatur, ut arbitreris simul decurrere Palladium liquorem, nisi quod ab illa prasina viriditate niveo candore discernitur. tunc cadis late patentibus copia illa mirabilis laeto nimium pastore suscepta cum ammixtione coaguli in callosam coeperit teneritudinem condurari, ad pulcherrimum orbem forma perducitur, quae subterraneis horreis aliquantulum congregata diuturnam casei facit esse substantiam. hoc quantocius superimpositum navigiis destinabis, ut desideriis regalibus parvo munere satisfecisse videamur. [3] Vinum quoque, quod laudare cupiens Palmatianum nominavit antiquitas, nos stipsim, asperum, sed gratum suavitate perquire. nam licet inter vina Bruttia videatur extremum, factum tamen est paene generali opinione praecipuum. ibi enim reperitur et Gazeto par et Sabino simile et magnis odoribus singulare. [4] Sed quia illud famam sibi nobilissimam vindicavit, hoc et in suo genere nimis elegans perquiratur, ne prudentia maiorum aliquid appellasse videatur inproprium. est enim suavi pinguedine molliter crassum, vivacitate firmissimum, nare violentum, candore quoque perspicuum, quod ita redolet ore ructatum, ut merito illi a palma nomen videatur impositum. [5] Viscera defecta constringit, vulnera madida desiccat, lassum reficit pectus et quod vix praevalet implere potus arte compositus, hic naturaliter praestat infectus. sed provide ut supra dictas species exactas debeas destinare, quia falli non possumus, qui hoc patriotica veritate retinemus: ad praesens enim de cellariis nostris quae desiderabantur optulimus. tu autem tuo periculo dissimilia facis, quorum iam indicia teneri posse cognoscis.