Letter 3053: Your greatness's report has informed us that a water diviner has come to Rome from the regions of Africa, where this...

LIII. KING THEODERIC TO APRONIANUS, ILLUSTRIOUS MAN, COUNT OF THE PRIVATE ESTATES. [1] From the report of Your Greatness we have learned that a water-finder has come to Rome from the African regions, where this very art is always cultivated with great zeal on account of the dryness of the localities, a man who can supply waters undetectable in arid places, so that by his service he may make habitable lands that have been parched by excessive barrenness. [2] Know that this has been pleasing to us, inasmuch as that skill, set forth in the books of the ancients, has come to be confirmed in our own times. For by the signs of green herbs and by the loftiness of trees he fittingly infers the nearness of waters. For to those lands beneath which sweet moisture lies not far down, an abundance of certain growths always smiles, such as the watery rush, the slender reed, the strong bramble, the glad willow, the green poplar, and the remaining kinds of trees, which nevertheless flourish beyond their own nature in fortunate loftiness. [3] There are also other indications of this art: when, as night comes on, dry wool is placed upon ground already prepared and is left covered with a rough cooking-pot, then, if the nearness of water has smiled upon it, it is found moist in the morning. But once the sun has appeared, the masters also observe the places attentively, and where they have caught sight of a thick swarm of the very tiniest flies hovering above the ground, then they promise that the delightful thing which is sought may be found. They add too that a certain very thin smoke is seen in the shape of a column, and by however great a height it is extended toward the top, by just so much do they recognize that the waters lie hidden in the depths below, so that this is marvelous, that through these and other various signs a fixed measurement is foretold, at what depth the thing sought is shown to be. They also foretell the tastes of the waters, so that neither should the harsh water be sought with wasteful labor, nor should the sweet and necessary water be despised as without honor. [4] This knowledge they handed down beautifully to those who followed: among the Greeks that man [the famed Greek authority], among the Latins Marcellus; men who treated carefully not only of subterranean streams but also of the very mouth of springs. For they say that the waters which burst forth toward the east and the south are sweet and clear, and on account of their lightness are found most healthful, but whatever waters flow toward the north and the west, though they are indeed approved as exceedingly cold, are nonetheless inconvenient by the thickness of their heaviness. [5] And therefore, if to that aforesaid man Your Wisdom shall see, both by the reading of books and by the practice of affairs, that what has been foretold holds true, you shall relieve his journeying and his want by allotting suitable provisions from the public store: and he is to receive his wages when he has rendered the gifts of his art. [6] For although the Roman city abounds in watering streams and rejoices in springs and is most richly supplied by the inundation of aqueducts, there are nevertheless found very many suburban districts which seem to desire this expertise, and rightly is that man retained who is recognized to be necessary even in part. To this man, however, a mechanic is by all means to be joined, so that the waters which the one has found, the other may raise up and by skill make to ascend where it has no power to rise by nature. Let this man too, therefore, be held among the masters of the other arts, lest anything desirable should be thought to have been lacking which, under our rule, the Roman city could not contain. Cassiodorus

LIII. APRONIANO ILLUSTRI VIRO COMITI PRIVATARUM THEODERICUS REX. [1] Magnitudinis vestrae relatione comperimus aquilegum Romam venisse de partibus Africanis, ubi ars ipsa pro locorum siccitate magno studio semper excolitur, qui aridis locis aquas dare possit imatiles, ut beneficio suo habitari faciat loca nimia sterilitate siccata. [2] Hoc nobis gratum fuisse cognosce, quatenus industria illa maiorum libris exposita nostris temporibus venerit approbanda. signis quippe virentium herbarum ac proceritate arborum vicinitatem colligit decenter undarum. terris enim, quibus dulcis umor non longe subest, ubertas quorundam germinum semper arridet, ut est iuncus aquatilis, canna levis, validus rubus, salix laeta, populus virens et reliqua arborum genera, quae tamen ultra naturam suam felici proceritate luxuriant. [3] Sunt et alia huius artis indicia: cum nocte adveniente lana sicca in terram ponitur iam provisam et rudi caccabo tecta relinquitur, tunc, si aquae proximitas arriserit, mane umida reperitur. sole autem declarato intuentur etiam magistri loca solliciti et ubi supra terram volitare spissitudinem minutissimarum conspexerint omnino muscarum, tunc promittunt laetificale quod quaeritur inveniri. addunt etiam in columnae speciem conspici quendam tenuissimum fumum, qui quanta fuerit altitudine porrectus ad summum, tantum in imum latices latere cognoscunt, ut hoc sit mirabile, quod per haec aliaque signa diversa mensura definita praedicitur, quanta profunditate quaesita monstretur. praedicunt etiam sapores aquarum, ut nec aspera dispendioso labore debeat quaeri, nec dulcis necessariaque inhonora contemni. [4] Hanc scientiam sequentibus pulchre tradiderunt apud Graecos ille, apud Latinos Marcellus: qui son solum de subterraneis fluentis, sed de ipso quoque ore fontium sollicite tractaverunt. dicunt enim aquas, quae ad orientem austrumque prorumpunt, dulces atque perspicuas esse et pro sua levitate saluberrimas inveniri, in septentrionem vero atque occidentem quaecumque manant, probari quidem nimis frigidas, sed crassitudine suae gravitatis incommodas. [5] Atque ideo, si memorato illi viderit sapientia vestra et lectione codicum et usu rerum quae sunt praedicta constare, conpetentibus annonis de publico deputatis peregrinationem eius inopiamque relevabis: accepturus mercedes, ubi artis suae dona praestiterit. [6] Nam quamvis Romana civitas aquis abundet irriguis sitque fontibus gaudens et formarum inundatione ditissima, reperiuntur tamen plurima suburbana quae hanc videantur desiderare peritiam, et merito continetur, qui vel pro parte necessarius esse cognoscitur. huic tamen mechanicus omnino iungendus est, ut undas, quas iste repperit, ille levet et arte subire faciat, quod ascendere non praevalet per naturam. habeatur ergo et iste inter reliquarum artium magistros, ne quid desiderabile putetur fuisse, quod sub nobis non potuit Romana civitas continere. Cassiodorus