Letter 8032: We write to you again on the matter of Roman education, because the subject deserves our sustained attention.

32. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, A MAN OF SENATORIAL RANK. [1] When Nymphadius, a man of senatorial rank, was hastening to the most sacred court on his own affairs, worn out by the length of the journey and striving to restore his exhausted animals, he chose to fix his lodging at the spring of Arethusa, which is situated in the territory of Scyllacium, because those very places are both rich with the abundance of their pastures and made beautiful by the flooding of their waters. For there is, as it is said, at the foot of the hills, above the sand of the sea, a fertile plain, where a vast spring, issuing forth, has woven the edges of its banks with surrounding reeds into the likeness of a crown, exceedingly pleasant both for its shades of reeds and wondrous for the very power of its waters. [2] For when a silent man, deliberately keeping silence, has come there, he finds the waters of the flowing spring so quiet that, after the manner of a standing pool, they seem not so much to run as to stand still. But when a rattling cough has been let out, or perhaps a louder speech has sounded, by some unknown force the waters there are at once stirred up and leap forth: you would see that mouth of the deep waters bubble up, grievously roused, so that you would think the cold water had taken on the heat of a kindled pot: silent to a silent man, but answering one who speaks with noise and crashing, so that you would be astonished that it is thus suddenly disturbed, when no touch agitates it. [3] A novel force, an unheard-of property, that waters should be moved by the voice of men, and, as though they answered when addressed, thus provoked by the speech of men, they murmur I know not what. You would believe that some animal, laid down, rests there in sleep, which, when roused, answers you with a great din. It is read indeed that some springs gush with various marvels, so that some of them give a varied color to the animals that drink, another makes flocks white, certain ones turn wood that is cast in into the hardness of stone. But no reasoning comprehends these causes, since that which is applied so greatly to natural things is recognized to be above human understanding. [4] But to return quickly to the complaint of the petitioner, here, when the aforesaid Nymphadius had taken his lodging, he asserts that his horses were driven off from him by the ambushes of peasants: a thing which it does not befit the discipline of our times to allow, that the delight of that place should be rendered horrible by such a loss. We therefore decree that your liveliness should examine this matter with diligent investigation - you who are seen to have gathered both authority from our palace and justice from the laws - so that, after the manner of that very spring, you may be seen to avenge the crime that has been committed. [5] Let the thieves be sought out in deepest silence, let them be held quiet in their own dwellings, until, as soon as the executor of the law cries out, their hearts are troubled, they leap out into cries, and confound themselves with a terrible muttering. Thus let them judge that its waters have given them omens of their punishments. Let there be therefore a fitting vengeance upon them, so that the places may be open to passage: let the discipline that has been established invite the eagerness of travelers, lest such a marvel - which, when sought out, is known always to gladden - be shunned because of the excesses of robbers.

XXXII. SEVERO V. S. ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Cum Nymphadius v. s. pro causis suis ad comitatum sacratissimum festinaret, itineris longinquitate confectus, animalia fessa reparare contendens, ad fontem Arethusae in Scyllacino territorio constitutae elegit ponere mansionem, eo quod ipsa loca et pasturarum ubertate fecunda sint et aquarum inundatione pulchrescant. est enim, ut dicitur, sub pede collium supra maris harenam fertilis campus, ubi fons vastus egrediens cannis cingentibus in coronae speciem riparum suarum ora contexit, amoenus admodum et harundineis umbris et aquarum ipsarum virtute mirabilis. [2] Nam cum ibi tacitus homo et studiose silentiosus advenerit, aquas fontis irrigui reperit sic quietas, ut in morem stagni non tam currere quam stare videantur. at ubi concrepans tussis emissa fuerit aut sermo clarior fortasse sonuerit, nescio qua vi statim aquae ibidem concitatae prosiliunt: os illud gurgitis ebullire videas graviter excitatum, ut putes aquam rigentem succensae ollae suscepisse fervorum: silenti homini tacita, loquenti strepitu et fragore respondens, ut stupescas sic subito perturbatam, quam nullus tactus exagitat. [3] Nova vis, inaudita proprietas aquas voce hominum commoveri, et, quasi appellatae respondeant ita hominum sermonibus provocatae, nescio quid inmurmurant. credas ibi aliquod animal prostratum somno quiescere, quod excitatum magno tibi strepore respondeat. legitur quidem nonnullos fontium variis scaturrire miraculis, ut aliqui potati animalibus reddant varium colorem, alter greges albos efficiat, quidam in saxeam duritiam suscepta ligna convertant. sed has causas nulla ratio comprehendit, quia supra intellectum humanum esse cognoscitur quod tantum rebus naturalibus applicatur. [4] Sed ut ad querellam supplicantis cito redeamus, hic cum mansionem supradictus Nymphadius habuisset, insidiis rusticorum abactos sibi asserit caballos: quod temporum nostrorum habere non decet disciplinam, ut delectatio illius loci tali damno redderetur horribilis. quod vivacitatem tuam diligenti censemus examinatione discutere, quae et de palatio nostro auctoritatem et de legibus visa est iustitiam collegisse, ut more ipsius fontis scelus quod actum est videaris ulcisci. [5] Perquirantur fures summo silentio, teneantur in suis laribus quieti, dum, mox ut executor increpuerit, eorum corda turbentur, in voces prosiliant et se terribili murmuratione confundant. sic aquas suas omina sibi iudicent dedisse poenarum. sit ergo in eis competens vindicta, ut loca sint pervia: invitet posita disciplina studium commeantium, ne latronum excessibus vitetur tale miraculum, quod semper laetificare cognoscitur inquisitum.