Letter 5001: KING THEODERIC TO THE KING OF THE WARNI

1. KING THEODERIC TO THE KING OF THE WARNI. [1] Since your Brotherhood has sent to us pitch-black [fur] mantles and boys gleaming with the fairness of your nation, together with swords capable of cutting even through armor, richer by their iron than by the value of gold: there shines in them a polished brightness, such that they give back the faces of those who gaze upon them with faithful clearness; their edges run down to a point with such evenness that you would believe them not shaped by files, but poured forth from fiery furnaces. The middle parts of these, hollowed out into beautiful channels, seem as though they could be wrinkled with certain little worms [a watered, wavy pattern]: there so great a shadow of variation plays together that you would sooner believe the gleaming metal to be interwoven with diverse colors. [2] Your whetstone cleans this off carefully, your most splendid powder so industriously wipes it that it makes of the iron a kind of mirror for men; this powder, granted to your homeland by nature's bounty, was given for this purpose, that it might make the reputation of this thing singular to you: swords which by their own beauty might be thought to be Vulcan's, who was seen to refine the smith's craft with such elegance that what was fashioned by his hands was believed to be not the work of mortals, but divine. [3] Therefore, through such-and-such and such-and-such, your envoys, discharging the affection of the salutation owed to you, we declare that we have gladly received your gifts, which have conveyed zeal for good peace: rendering in return a gift of our own, in consideration of your expenditures, which may be rendered to you as welcome as yours were most pleasing to us. May the powers of heaven grant concord, so that, doing these things between us with a grateful mind, we may join the wills of our peoples and, mutually attentive, be able to bind ourselves to each other by reciprocal benefits.

I. REGI VVARNORUM THEODERICUS REX. [1] Cum piceis timbribus et pueros gentili candore relucentes, spathas nobis etiam arma desecantes vestra fraternitas destinavit, ferro magis quam auri pretio ditiores. splendet illic claritas expolita ut intuentium facies fideli puritate restituant, quarum margines in acutum tali aequalitate descendunt, ut non limis compositae, sed igneis fornacibus credantur effusae. harum media pulchris alveis excavata quibusdam videntur crispari posse vermiculis: ubi tanta varietatis umbra conludit, ut intextum magis credas variis coloribus lucidum metallum. [2] Hoc vestra cotis diligenter emundat, hoc vester splendidissimus pulvis ita industriose detergit, ut speculum quoddam virorum faciat ferream lucem, qui ideo patriae vestrae natura largiente concessus est, ut huius rei opinionem vobis faceret singularem: enses, qui pulchritudine sui putentur esse Vulcani, qui tanta elegantia fabrilia visus est excolere, ut quod eius manibus formabatur, non opus mortalium, sed crederetur esse divinum. [3] Proinde per illum et illum legatos vestros solventes debitae salutationis affectum arma vestra libenter nos accepisse declaramus, quae bonae pacis studia transmiserunt: vicissitudinem muneris pro expensarum vestrarum consideratione tribuentes, quae tantum vobis reddantur accepta, quantum nobis vestra fuere gratissima. praestent divina concordiam, ut haec inter nos grata mente facientes gentium nostrarum velle iungamus et invicem solliciti mutuis possimus utilitatibus obligari.