Letter 9006: King Athalaric to the Chief Secretary [Primiscrinius].

VI. KING ATHALARIC TO THE PRIMISCRINIUS [chief of the clerical staff]. [1] Since you have kept watch through long-continued labors, you declare that you have been so gravely wounded by the weakness of your body that you cannot even present yourself to take up the renown of military service, to which it is established that you had hastened with headlong eagerness, fearing lest, through your absence, the sweetest fruit should seem to be snatched from you from out of its very jaws, as it were; and you ask, moreover, that, being constrained by the necessity of a chilled body, you may be relaxed by the dryness of the bath of Baiae. [2] Surely it is fitting that, among the highest rewards, we should grant this: that, just as we confer hope upon the vanquished, so we may bestow even health upon those who make supplication. Wherefore we both release you from the bond of the dread of your fee-bound duty and relieve you with the gift of the aforesaid bath, so that, first restored by gladness of mind, you may more easily recover the soundness of your limbs. For it is indeed a natural form of care to give cheerfulness to the sick: for make the weak man rejoice, and he is healed. [3] Go therefore to those pleasant retreats; go to a sun, so to speak, more brilliant, where, with the healthfulness of the air tempered, nature is more agreeable to the lands. There, when its marvels have been weighed with deep reflection, the human mind holds converse with the secrets of the world, and does not cease to wonder at the things which it learns can be done in that place: first, that the streams of Nereus are filled with the delicacies of the sea; that so many harbors, by nature's foresight, are set at intervals within the bays of the land; that so many noble islands are endowed with the embrace of the deep; and next, the standing sea sent into Avernus, where, for the pleasure of men, the life of oysters is governed, and it is brought about by the industry of mortals that a thing which elsewhere is a matter of chance should there always appear in abundance. [4] With what great masses have the boundaries of the sea there been becomingly invaded! Over what great spaces has the land been advanced into the very vitals of the deep! To right and to left the schools of fish play. Let plentiful delicacies be shut in elsewhere by industrious walls; let the watery flocks be held captive: here on every side the fishponds exist under liberty. Add to this that the fishing taken up is so delightful that, before the sumptuous banquet, it feeds the gaze of those who behold it. For it is a great joy to have caught the things desired; but in matters of this kind the pleasantness to the eye is for the most part more welcome than the usefulness of the catch. [5] But, that we may not wander too far afield, he is believed to dwell among the treasures of Neptune to whom the leisures of Baiae are granted. And so, fattened by these things in delightful exercise, you press on to the most beautiful baths, which are both full of marvels and precious in the quality of their healthfulness. For although they are known to have been fashioned by the care of men, they are nevertheless furnished by natural agencies. There no furnaces, fed by timbers hauled in, kindle the heat; with the flame at rest, a perpetual warmth does its work; there no smoke-bearing clouds are known; the breeze is most pure, which supplies the vapors and gently calls forth the panting sweats; and it is found to be more healthful than the common baths by just as much as nature is loftier than human industry. There you may see the waters steam with perpetual eddies, which so seem to fulfill the desires of the bathers that you would believe them tempered by human effort. [6] Let the ever-praised repute of the coral sea yield; let the fame of the Indian sea, made richer by the whiteness of its pearls, rise up. What have I to do with prices, if the spirit does not enjoy the things it longs for? Nothing can be more excellent than the shores of Baiae, where it falls to one both to feast upon the sweetest delicacies and to be filled with the priceless gift of health. Enjoy therefore the good things you have no less sought after: by our benefits you will arrive at your own advantages; by the remedies of Baiae you will obtain the matter of your health.

VI. PRIMISCRINIO ATHALARICUS REX. [1] Cum diuturnis laboribus excubares, ita te inbecillitate corporis asseris graviter sauciatum, ut nec ad famam militiae percipiendam possis occurrere, ad quam constat voto te praecipiti festinasse, metuens ne per absentiam tui ab ipsis paene faucibus dulcissimus tibi fructus videatur auferri, postulans etiam ut, algentis corporis necessitate constrictus, Baiani lavacri siccitate laxeris. [2] Dignum plane quod inter praemia summa praestemus, ut, sicut conferimus victis spem, ita tribuamus supplicantibus et salutem. quapropter et a vinculo te emolumenticii terroris absolvimus et praedicti lavacri munere sublevamus, ut primum mentis gaudio recreatus facilius membrorum recipias sospitatem. naturalis siquidem cura est aegris dare laetitiam: nam fac invalidum gaudere, sanatus est. [3] Perge igitur ad amoenos recessus: perge ad solem, ut ita dixerim, clariorem: ubi salubritate aeris temperata terris blandior est natura. illic miraculis alta cogitatione perpensis cum arcanis mundi mens humana colloquitur nec admirari desinit quae ibi agi posse cognoscit: primum Nerei fluenta marinis deliciis esse completa, tot portus naturae prudentia terrenis sinibus intermissos, tot insulas nobiles amplexu pelagi dotatas: deinde inmissum Averno stagneum mare, ubi ad voluptatem hominum vita regitur ostreorum, industriaque mortalium fieri, ut res alibi fortuita ibi semper appareat copiosa. [4] Quantis ibi molibus marini termini decenter invasi sunt! quantis spatiis in visceribus aequoris terra promota est! dextra laevaque greges piscium ludunt. claudantur alibi industriosis parietibus copiosae deliciae: captivi teneantur aquatiles greges: hic ubique sub libertate vivaria sunt. adde quod tam amoena est suscepta piscatio, ut ante epulosum convivium intuentium pascat aspectum. magnum est enim gaudium desiderata cepisse: sed in huiusmodi rebus gratior est plerumque amoenitas oculi quam utilitas captionis. [5] Sed ne longius evagemur, inter Neptunias gazas habitare creditur, cui otia Baiana praestantur. his itaque rebus deliciosa exercitatione saginati ad pulcherrima lavacra contenditis, quae sunt et miraculis plena et salutis qualitate pretiosa. nam etsi hominum cura fabricata noscuntur, naturalibus certe ministeriis exhibentur. fornaces ibi non robora convecta succendunt: cessante flamma perpetuus calor operatur: illic globi fumiferi nesciuntur: aura est purissima, quae ministrat vapores, sudores provocat dulciter anhelos: et tantum a communibus balneis salubrior invenitur, quantum ab humana industria celsior est natura. videas illic undas perpetuis fumare gurgitibus, quae ita videntur lavantum explere desideria, ut humano credas studio temperatas. [6] Cedat corallici pelagi laudata semper opinio: adsurgat Indici maris de albarum candore fama locupletior. quid mihi cum pretiis, si animus non fruatur optatis? baianis litoribus nil potest esse praestantius, ubi contingit et dulcissimis deliciis vesci et impretiabili munere sanitatis expleri. fruere igitur bonis nihilominus expetitis: nostris beneficiis ad tua emolumenta pervenies: Baianis remediis consequere rem salutis.