[Footnote 271: I think this is Cassiodorus' meaning, but his language
is obscure.]

'This fountain then, as we before said, deserves a worthy habitation.
If there be anything to repair in the _thermae_ themselves or in the
passages (cuniculi), let this be done out of the money which we now
send you. Let the thorns and briers which have grown up around it be
rooted up. Let the palace, shaken with extreme old age, be
strengthened by careful restoration. Let the space which intervenes
between the public building and the source of the hot-spring be
cleared of its woodland roughness, and the turf around rejoice in the
green beauty which it derives from the heated waters.'

[The hot-springs of Abano, the ancient Aponum, are situated near the
Euganean Hills, and are about six miles from Padua. The heat of the
water varies from 77° to 185° (Fahr.). The chief chemical ingredients
are, as stated by Cassiodorus, salt and sulphur. Some of the minute
description of Cassiodorus (greatly condensed in the above abstract)
seems to be still applicable; but he does not mention the mud-baths
which now take a prominent place in the cure. On the other hand, the
wonderful moral qualities of the spring are not mentioned by modern
travellers.]


40. KING THEODORIC TO BOETIUS THE PATRICIAN.

[Sidenote: Boetius to choose a harper for the King of the Franks.]

'The King of the Franks [Clovis] has asked us to send him a harper. We
felt that in you lay our best chance of complying with his request,