II. KING THEODERIC TO THEON, A MAN OF DISTINCTION.
[1] Through the report of Count Stephanus, we have learned that the work on the sacred vestment — which we wished to be completed with all necessary speed — hangs in suspension, the labor interrupted rather than advancing. By withholding its customary use, you are known to be inflicting an abominable delay. For we believe that some negligence has occurred: either those milky-white threads, dipped two or three times in the fleshy cup, have not blushed with a sufficiently beautiful intoxication, or the wool has not drunk in the most precious quality of the revered murex. [2] For if the diver of the Hydrontine sea had properly gathered the crushed shellfish at the appointed season, that heap of Neptune's bounty — the perpetual generator of flourishing purple, the adorner of the throne — would have been dissolved by an abundance of water and released its courtly rain of fiery liquor. That color, blooming with extraordinary charm — a redness within darkness, a bloody blackness — distinguishes the ruler, makes the sovereign conspicuous, and ensures that no one can mistake the person of the prince among mankind. [3] It is remarkable that this substance, destroyed by death, exudes blood from itself after so long a time — what normally flows from living bodies when pierced by a wound. For when these marine delicacies have been separated from their living vigor for nearly six months, they prove to be in no way offensive to keen nostrils — so that this noble blood might breathe forth nothing of horror. Once the substance has been dyed, it never knows how to fade before the garment itself can be worn away. [4] But if the quality of the shellfish has not deteriorated, if the vintage of that press is unchanged, the fault will assuredly lie with the craftsman, from whom no supply has been withheld. Moreover, when the skilled operator has dipped the white hair of silk in those ruddy springs, he must maintain the purest bodily chastity, because the secrets of such work are said to shun the impure. [5] If all these conditions have been met, if no part of the due process appears to have been neglected, we are astonished that you have given so little thought to your own peril, since it is a sacrilegious offense of negligence to err in the matter of such a vestment. For what purpose do so many craftsmen, so many crews of sailors, so many households of rustics labor? You too, advanced by the dignity of your comitiva, issue great commands and defend yourself with such presumption of your office that, while you claim to be performing royal work, you appear in many ways to be lording it over your fellow citizens. [6] This is what your slackness has neglected — the very thing that had elevated you in your province and was making you come honorably before the gaze of the prince. But if any care for your own fortune has not yet abandoned you, if any concern for your own safety touches you, then within such-and-such a day — with the bearer of this letter pressing you — hasten to come with the purple cloth that you are accustomed to provide for our chamber annually. For now we are sending you not a summoner but an avenger, should you think to delay by any trickery. [7] But consider with what easy and chance beginning so great and valuable a thing was discovered! When a dog, ravenous with hunger on the Tyrian shore, crushed some discarded shells in its jaws, they — naturally bleeding their sanguine fluid — dyed its mouth with a marvelous color. And as men are wont to turn chance discoveries to systematic arts, those who studied such examples devised from them a noble ornament for princes — making a thing of modest substance serve the highest dignity. Eastern Tyre has its own; the Italian counterpart is Hydruntum — truly a courtly wardrobe, not guarding ancient stocks but continually sending fresh supplies. Consider, then, whether anyone will tolerate your failing to fulfill what you know we require so urgently.
II. THEONI V. S. THEODERICUS REX.
[1] Comitis Stephani insinuatione comperimus sacrae vestis operam, quam nos voluimus necessaria festinatione compleri, disrupto magis labore pendere: cui usum subtrahendo sollemnem abominandam potius inferre cognosceris tarditatem. credimus enim aliquem provenisse neglectum, ut aut crines illi lactei, carneo poculo bis terque satiati, pulcherrima minus ebrietate rubuerint aut lanae non hauserint adorandi muricis pretiosissimam qualitatem. [2] Quapropter si perscrutator Hydrontini maris intusa conchylia sollemniter condidisset apto tempore, acervus ille Neptunius, generator florentis semper purpurae, ornator solii, aquarum copia resolutus imbrem aulicum flammeo liquore laxaverat. color nimio lepore vernans, obscuritas rubens, nigredo sanguinea regnantem discernit, dominum conspicuum facit et praestat humano generi, ne de aspectu principis possit errari. [3] Mirum est substantiam illam morte confectam cruorem de se post spatia tam longi temporis exudare quod solet vivis corporibus vulnere sauciatis effluere. nam cum sex paene mensibus marinae deliciae a vitali fuerint vigore separatae, sagacibus naribus nesciunt esse gravissimae, scilicet ne sanguis ille nobilis aliquid spiraret horroris. haec cum infecta semel substantia perseverat, nescit ante subtrahi quam vestis possit absumi. [4] Quod si conchyliorum qualitas non mutatur, si torcularis illius una vindemia est, culpa nimirum artificis erit, cui se copia nulla subtraxit. in illis autem rubicundis fontibus cum albentis comas serici doctus moderator intinxerit, habere debet corporis purissimam castitatem, quia talium rerum secreta refugere dicuntur immunda. [5] Haec si omnia constiterint, si in nulla parte praetermissa videtur esse sollemnitas, miramur tua te pericula minime cogitasse, dum sacrilegus sit reatus neglegentiae in tali veste peccare. quid enim agunt tot artifices, tot nautarum catervae, tot familiae rusticorum? tu quoque comitiva subvectus tantis iubes, tanta te istius nominis praesumptione defendis, ut, cum regale opus crederis agere, in multis videaris tibi civibus imperare. [6] Hoc ergo remissio tua neglegit, quod te et in provincia subvexerat et ad conspectum principis honorabilem venire faciebat. quod si te facultatis tuae adhuc cura non deserit, si salutis propriae tangit affectus, intra illum diem, imminente tibi harum portitore, cum blatta, quam nostro cubiculo dare annis singulis consuesti, venire festina: quia iam non compulsorem ad te mittimus, sed ultorem, si aliqua credideris ludificatione tardandum. [7] Verum talis tantaque res quam facili legitur inventa compendio! cum fame canis avida in Tyrio litore proiecta conchylia impressis mandibulis contudisset, illa naturaliter umorem sanguineum defluentia ore eius mirabili colore tinxerunt. et ut est hominibus occasiones repentinas ad artes ducere, talia exempla meditantes fecerunt principibus decus nobile dare rem, quae substantiam noscitur habere mediocrem. Eoa Tyros est Hydron Italica, aulicum profecto vestiarium, non antiqua custodiens, sed iugiter novella transmittens. vide ergo, si quis te patiatur minus implere, quod nos tam necessarie cognoscis expetere.
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II. KING THEODERIC TO THEON, A MAN OF DISTINCTION.
[1] Through the report of Count Stephanus, we have learned that the work on the sacred vestment — which we wished to be completed with all necessary speed — hangs in suspension, the labor interrupted rather than advancing. By withholding its customary use, you are known to be inflicting an abominable delay. For we believe that some negligence has occurred: either those milky-white threads, dipped two or three times in the fleshy cup, have not blushed with a sufficiently beautiful intoxication, or the wool has not drunk in the most precious quality of the revered murex. [2] For if the diver of the Hydrontine sea had properly gathered the crushed shellfish at the appointed season, that heap of Neptune's bounty — the perpetual generator of flourishing purple, the adorner of the throne — would have been dissolved by an abundance of water and released its courtly rain of fiery liquor. That color, blooming with extraordinary charm — a redness within darkness, a bloody blackness — distinguishes the ruler, makes the sovereign conspicuous, and ensures that no one can mistake the person of the prince among mankind. [3] It is remarkable that this substance, destroyed by death, exudes blood from itself after so long a time — what normally flows from living bodies when pierced by a wound. For when these marine delicacies have been separated from their living vigor for nearly six months, they prove to be in no way offensive to keen nostrils — so that this noble blood might breathe forth nothing of horror. Once the substance has been dyed, it never knows how to fade before the garment itself can be worn away. [4] But if the quality of the shellfish has not deteriorated, if the vintage of that press is unchanged, the fault will assuredly lie with the craftsman, from whom no supply has been withheld. Moreover, when the skilled operator has dipped the white hair of silk in those ruddy springs, he must maintain the purest bodily chastity, because the secrets of such work are said to shun the impure. [5] If all these conditions have been met, if no part of the due process appears to have been neglected, we are astonished that you have given so little thought to your own peril, since it is a sacrilegious offense of negligence to err in the matter of such a vestment. For what purpose do so many craftsmen, so many crews of sailors, so many households of rustics labor? You too, advanced by the dignity of your comitiva, issue great commands and defend yourself with such presumption of your office that, while you claim to be performing royal work, you appear in many ways to be lording it over your fellow citizens. [6] This is what your slackness has neglected — the very thing that had elevated you in your province and was making you come honorably before the gaze of the prince. But if any care for your own fortune has not yet abandoned you, if any concern for your own safety touches you, then within such-and-such a day — with the bearer of this letter pressing you — hasten to come with the purple cloth that you are accustomed to provide for our chamber annually. For now we are sending you not a summoner but an avenger, should you think to delay by any trickery. [7] But consider with what easy and chance beginning so great and valuable a thing was discovered! When a dog, ravenous with hunger on the Tyrian shore, crushed some discarded shells in its jaws, they — naturally bleeding their sanguine fluid — dyed its mouth with a marvelous color. And as men are wont to turn chance discoveries to systematic arts, those who studied such examples devised from them a noble ornament for princes — making a thing of modest substance serve the highest dignity. Eastern Tyre has its own; the Italian counterpart is Hydruntum — truly a courtly wardrobe, not guarding ancient stocks but continually sending fresh supplies. Consider, then, whether anyone will tolerate your failing to fulfill what you know we require so urgently.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.