Letter 12024: By a previous order, we directed that Istria should send its produce of wine, oil, and grain -- with which the...

From: Senator (Cassiodorus the Elder), Praetorian Prefect To: The Tribunes of the Maritime Communities Date: ~538 AD Context: Cassiodorus orders the maritime tribunes of the Venetian lagoon communities to organize the transport of wine, oil, and grain from Istria to Ravenna -- containing a famous early description of Venice. By a previous order, we directed that Istria should send its produce of wine, oil, and grain -- with which the present year has been generously blessed -- to Ravenna. These goods should be happily transported in your ships, which you keep moored in great numbers along your shores. For you live like sea birds, with your homes scattered across the water's surface. The land you inhabit, now solid ground and now water, recalls the Cyclades [Greek island chain], where nature's arrangement seems to shift between land and sea. You have secured your buildings by weaving together flexible branches and banking up the soil, and though your foundations seem fragile, you boldly oppose the open sea with so slight a barrier. Your people possess one great resource: fish is as plentiful for you as grain is for others. You may not all be wealthy, but you all live as equals in your poverty. One food nourishes all of you; similar dwellings shelter all of you. No one among you can envy his neighbor, and so you live free from the vice that rules the world. All your competition is in the salt pans, where instead of plows and sickles you roll your cylinders. All your harvest comes from there -- everything you produce depends on those pans, even things you cannot make yourself can be obtained through salt. Every kind of money may be doubted, but no one can deny the value of salt. Find someone who does not need salt, and I will show you a man who does not need to eat. Therefore, fit out your ships with all promptness and load the designated goods with speed. You who know these shallow waterways so well -- who can safely navigate channels that are dangerous to others -- should demonstrate in this service the devotion you have always shown. The opportunity for service brings the opportunity for reward, and we remember those who serve us faithfully when the time comes to distribute our generosity.

XXIIII. TRIBUNIS MARITIMORUM SENATOR PPO. [1] Data pridem iussione censuimus ut Histria vini, olei vel tritici species, quarum praesenti anno copia indulta perfruitur, ad Ravennatem feliciter dirigeret mansionem. sed vos, qui numerosa navigia in eius confinio possidetis, pari devotionis gratia providete, ut quod illa parata est tradere, vos studeatis sub celeritate portare. similis erit quippe utrisque gratia perfectionis, quando unum ex his dissociatum impleri non permittit effectum. estote ergo promptissimi ad vicina, qui saepe spatia transmittitis infinita. [2] Per hospitia quodammodo vestra discurritis, qui per patriam navigatis. accedit etiam commodis vestris, quod vobis aliud iter aperitur perpetua securitate tranquillum. nam cum ventis saevientibus mare fuerit clausum, via vobis panditur per amoenissima fluviorum. carinae vestrae flatus asperos non pavescunt: terram cum summa felicitate contingunt et perire nesciunt, quae frequenter inpingunt. putantur eminus quasi per prata ferri, cum eorum contingit alveum non videri. tractae funibus ambulant, quae stare rudentibus consuerunt, et condicione mutata pedibus iuvant homines naves suas: vectrices sine labore trahunt, et pro pavore velorum utuntur passu prosperiore nautarum. [3] Iuvat referre quemadmodum habitationes vestras sitas esse perspeximus. Venetiae praedicabiles quondam plenae nobilibus ab austro Ravennam Padumque contingunt, ab oriente iucunditate Ionii litoris perfruuntur: ubi alternus aestus egrediens modo claudit, modo aperit faciem reciproca inundatione camporum. hic vobis aquatilium avium more domus est. nam qui nunc terrestris, modo cernitur insularis, ut illic magis aestimes esse Cycladas, ubi subito locorum facies respicis immutatas. [4] Earum quippe similitudine per aequora longe patentia domicilia videntur sparsa, quae natura protulit, sed hominum cura fundavit. viminibus enim flexibilibus illigatis terrena illic soliditas aggregatur et marino fluctui tam fragilis munitio non dubitatur opponi, scilicet quando vadosum litus moles eicere nescit undarum et sine viribus fertur quod altitudinis auxilio non iuvatur. [5] Habitatoribus igitur una copia est, ut solis piscibus expleantur. paupertas ibi cum divitibus sub aequalitate convivit. unus cibus omnes reficit, habitatio similis universa concludit, nesciunt de penatibus invidere et sub hac mensura degentes evadunt vitium, cui mundum esse constat obnoxium. [6] In salinis autem exercendis tota contentio est: pro aratris, pro falcibus cylindros volvitis: inde vobis fructus omnis enascitur, quando in ipsis et quae non facitis possidetis. moneta illic quodammodo percutitur victualis. arti vestrae omnis fluctus addictus est. potest aurum aliquis minus quaerere, nemo est qui salem non desideret invenire, merito, quando isti debet omnis cibus quod potest esse gratissimus. [7] Proinde naves, quas more animalium vestris parietibus illigatis, diligenti cura reficite, ut, cum vos vir experientissimus Laurentius, qui ad procurandas species directus est, commonere temptaverit, festinetis excurrere, quatenus expensas necessarias nulla difficultate tardetis, qui pro qualitate aeris compendium vobis eligere potestis itineris.