Letter 4050: King Theodoric to Faustus, Praetorian Prefect.

King Theodoric to Faustus, Praetorian Prefect. The people of Campania, devastated by the hostility of Mount Vesuvius, have poured out their tears before our clemency as suppliants, begging to be relieved of the tax burden now that the fruits of their fields have been stripped away. Our mercy rightly agrees that this should be done. But since the unchecked extent of any individual's losses remains uncertain to us, we order Your Greatness to send a man of proven reliability to the territories of Nola and Naples, where the disaster strikes close to home. After careful inspection of the fields there, relief shall be granted in proportion to each landowner's losses -- so that the measure of the benefit may be calibrated precisely when the full extent of the damage is known. This afflicted province suffers from one peculiar curse: it is shaken by the recurrent violence of this terror, so that it is never allowed to enjoy unbroken prosperity. Yet the terrible event is not entirely without warning -- it sends grave signs ahead, so that the disaster may be borne more tolerably. When the great masses of the mountain's interior convulse, its crater roars with a great groaning rumble that terrifies the surrounding countryside. The skies are darkened by its foul exhalations, and across nearly all of Italy it is known when that fury stirs. Burnt ash flies through the immense void; clouds of earth rise up and shower distant provinces across the sea with dusty drops. What Campania can suffer is felt when its affliction reaches the other side of the world. You can see rivers of dust flowing there, and barren streams of sand rushing in a hot torrent as if they were liquid currents. You would be amazed to see the level of the fields suddenly rise to the tops of the trees, and land that had been painted in the most joyful green suddenly devastated by searing heat. That perpetual furnace vomits up pumice sands that, though dried by long burning, are nevertheless fertile -- once they receive seeds, they quickly produce new growth and repair with remarkable speed what they had just destroyed. What a singular phenomenon: one mountain roars so violently that it is proven to terrify so many parts of the world through the very air, scattering its own substance everywhere without appearing to diminish. Far and wide it rains down dust; on its neighbors it hurls great masses. And though it has poured itself out for so many centuries, it is still called a mountain. Who would believe that such enormous boulders, carried all the way down to the plains, erupted from such deep chasms, and that the breath of the mountain spat them from its mouth like light chaff? Elsewhere, great peaks of earth are seen to burn only locally; but the fires of Vesuvius are known to nearly the entire world. How then can we not believe the inhabitants, when what they report can be confirmed by universal testimony? Therefore, as we have said, let your prudence choose a man who will both bring relief to the afflicted and leave no room for fraud.

L. FAUSTO PPO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Campani Vesuvii montis hostilitate vastati clementiae nostrae supplices lacrimas profuderunt, ut agrorum fructibus enudati subleventur onere tributariae functionis. quod fieri debere nostra merito pietas adquiescit. [2] Sed quia nobis dubia est uniuscuiusque indiscussa calamitas, magnitudinem vestram ad Nolanum sive Neapolitanum territorium probatae fidei virum praecipimus destinare, ubi necessitas ipsa domestica quadam laesione grassatur, ut agris ibidem diligenter inspectis, in quantum possessoris laboravit utilitas, sublevetur: quatenus mensurate conferatur quantitas beneficii, dum modus integer cognoscitur laesionis. [3] Laborat enim hoc uno malo terris deflorata provincia, quae ne perfecta beatitudine frueretur, huius timoris frequenter acerbitate concutitur. sed non in totum durus est eventus ille terribilis: praemittit signa gravia, ut tolerabilius sustineantur adversa. [4] Tantis enim molibus natura rixante montis illius hiatus immurmurat, ut excitatus quidam spiritus grandisono fremitu vicina terrificet. fuscantur enim aera loci illius exhalatione taeterrima et per totam paene Italiam cognoscitur, quando illa indignatio commovetur. volat per inane magnum cinis decoctus et terrenis nubibus excitatis transmarinas quoque provincias pulvereis guttis compluit, et quid Campania pati possit, agnoscitur, quando malum eius in orbis alia parte sentitur. [5] Videas illic quasi quosdam fluvios ire pulvereos et harenarum sterile impetu fervente velut liquida fluenta decurrere. stupeas subito usque ad arborum cacumina dorsa intumuisse camporum et luctuoso subito calore vastata, quae laetissima fuerant viriditate depicta. vomit fornax illa perpetua pumiceas quidem, sed fertiles harenas, quae licet diuturna fuerint adustione siccatae, in varios fetus suscepta germina mox producunt et magna quadam celeritate reparant, quae paulo ante vastaverant. quae est ista singularis exceptio unum montem sic infremere, ut tot mundi partes probetur aeris permutatione terrere et sic suam substantiam ubique dispergere, ut non videatur damna sentire? [6] Longe lateque pulveres rorat, vicinis autem quasdam moles cructuat et tot saeculis mons habetur, qui erogationibus tantis expenditur. quis credat tam ingentes glebas usque in plana deductas de tam profundis hiatibus ebullisse et spiritu quodam efflante montis ore consputas quasi leves paleas fuisse proiectas? [7] Alibi cacumina magna terrarum localiter videntur ardere: huius incendia paene mundo datum est posse cognoscere. quemadmodum ergo non credamus incolis, quod testimonio potest universitatis agnosci? quapropter, ut dictum est, talem eligat vestra prudentia, qui et remedia laesis conferat et locum subreptionibus non relinquat.