Letter 2032: It pleases us, Senators, when citizens show devotion to public welfare, because when we recognize the praiseworthy...

KING THEODERIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME. [1] The devotion expended upon public benefits is pleasing to us, conscript fathers, because, while we approve the praiseworthy spirits of the citizens, we find an occasion for just rewards. For what is so senatorial as that a man should expend his zeal upon public benefits, so that he may be of service to the fatherland for which he was born? [2] And so the magnificent man and patrician Decius, bound by a glorious love for the commonwealth, has of his own accord requested with a wondrous vow what could scarcely have been imposed under the counsel of our authority. He has promised to swallow up, by opening a mouth of trenches, the Decennovian marsh that lays waste the neighboring region after the manner of an enemy—that notorious devastation of the age, which, under the long continuance of unchecked license, settled into a kind of marshy sea and, pouring out a flood hostile to the cultivated places, confounded with its water the charm of the land together with the horror of the wilderness. Nourishing nothing useful beneath the water, the soil was stripped of its fruits once it began to be subject to the swamps. [3] And therefore we marvel at this man of ancient confidence, that a private hand should have taken up what public virtue long shrank from. He has therefore promised that he will undertake this bold labor with a praiseworthy completion, so that, with the ruinous whirlpool destroyed, the things that had been lost should perish no further. Hence he requests the orders of our serenity concerning this matter, that by public authority he may take up the distinguished work, which will be of benefit to all travelers. [4] But we, conscript fathers, to whom it is dear to assist a good desire with appointed helps, grant by the present decrees that you direct two men from your body to the very places of the Decennovium, so that, by their judgment, fixed boundaries may be noted to mark how great an extent of space the marshy overflow has occupied with its stagnant inroads, in order that, when the promises have reached their completion, the land restored to its liberator may yield him profit, and no one may presume to lay claim to anything from it, since for so long it could not be vindicated from the invading waters.

XXXII. SENATUI URBIS ROMAE THEODERICUS REX. [1] Grate nobis est, patres conscripti, circa utilitates publicas impensa devotio, quia, dum civium laudabiles animos comprobamus, locum iustis beneficiis repperimus. quid est enim tam senatorium quam si utilitatibus publicis impendat affectum, ut possit patriae prodesse, cui natus est? [2] Vir itaque magnificus atque patricius Decius, glorioso circa rem publicam amore devinctus, ultro postulavit voto mirabili, quod vix potuisset sub consilio nostrae potestatis imponi. paludem Decemnovii in hostis modum vicina vastantem fovearum ore patefacto promisit absorbere, illam famosam saeculi vastitatem, quam sub diuturnitate licentiae quoddam mare paludestre consedit cultisque locis inimicum superfundens unda diluvium terrenam gratiam silvestri pariter horrore confudit. nihil utile nutriens sub liquore spoliatum est solum fructibus, postquam obnoxium coepit esse paludibus. [3] Et ideo miramur priscae confidentiae virum, ut quod diu virtus publica refugit, manus privata susceperit. hunc ergo audacem laborem adgressurum se laudabili perfectione pollicitus est, ut, pereunte damnoso gurgite, quae fuerant amissa ulterius non perirent. unde nostrae super hac parte serenitatis postulat iussiones, ut auctoritate publica subeat opus eximium, quod erit cunctis viantibus profuturum. [4] Sed nos, patres conscripti, quibus cordi est bonum desiderium iuvare auxiliaribus constitutis, praesentibus decretis annuimus, ut ad loca ipsa Decemnovii duos ex vestro corpore dirigatis, quibus arbitrantibus, quantum spatii restagnatis incursibus paludestris illuvies occupavit, fixis terminus adnotetur, ut, cum ad perfectionem promissa pervenerint, liberatori suo reddita terra proficiat nec quisquam inde aliquid praesumat attingere, quod tam diu invadentibus aquis non potuit vindicare.