38. King Theodoric to all Cultivators  ¹ .

Shrubs obstructing the aqueduct of Ravenna to be rooted up.

'The aqueducts are an object of our special care. We desire you at once to root up the shrubs growing in the Signine Channel  ² , which will before long become big trees scarcely to be hewn down with the axe, and which interfere with the purity of the water in the aqueduct of Ravenna. Vegetation is the peaceable overturner of buildings, the battering-ram which brings them to the ground, though the trumpets never sound for siege.

'We shall now again have baths that we may look upon with pleasure; water which will cleanse, not stain; water after using which we shall not require to wash ourselves again; drinking-water such that the mere sight of it will not take away all our appetite for food  ³ .'