31. King Theodoric to Aemilianus, Vir Venerabilis, Bishop.

An aqueduct to be promptly finished.

'Wise men should finish what they have begun, and not incur the reproach which attends half-done work.

'Let your Holiness therefore promptly complete what by our authority you so well began in the matter of the aqueduct, and thus most fitly provide water for your thirsting flock, imitating by labour the miracle of Moses, who made water gush forth from the flinty rock.'