[Sidenote: Provision-ships to follow movements of Theodoric's Court.]

'Let any provision-ships [_sulcatoriæ?_] which may be now lying at
Ravenna be ordered round to Liguria (which in ordinary times supplies
the needs of Ravenna herself).

'Our presence and that of our Court (Comitatus) attracts many
spectators and petitioners to those parts, for whose maintenance an
extra effort must be made.' [See Dahn, 'Könige der Germanen' iii.
282.]


21. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES THE APPARITOR.

[Sidenote: A concession too timidly acted upon.]

'The King has conceded to the Spectabiles Spes and Domitius a certain
tract of land which was laid waste by wide and muddy streams, and
which neither showed a pure expanse of water nor had preserved the
comeliness of solid earth, for them to reclaim and cultivate.

'The petition of the _Actores_ of Spes sets forth that the operation
is put in jeopardy by the ill-timed parsimony of Domitius, which
throws back the labourers to the point from which they set out at
first[258]. Therefore let Domitius be stirred up to finish his part of
the work, or if he thinks that too expensive, let him throw up his
share of the concession and allow his partner to work it out.'

[Footnote 258: 'Cum jam in soli faciem paulatim mollities siccata
duresceret, celatamque longâ voracitate tellurem sol insuetus