Letter 4031: King Theodoric to Aemilianus, Venerable Bishop.

King Theodoric to Aemilianus, Venerable Bishop. What a wise man has undertaken should be brought to completion, since finished works earn praise just as abandoned efforts earn blame. To give up partway through reveals either wavering judgment or failed resources. Let Your Holiness therefore put aside any thought of such reproach: what you undertook with commendable care and our authority -- the repair of the aqueduct -- bring it swiftly to completion. What could be more fitting than for a most holy bishop to provide water to a thirsty people? Human foresight will quench the thirst of those whom even miracles might have been expected to nourish. You are imitating the ancient Moses, who, when the people of Israel were parched by a long drought, drew abundant streams from the barren rock and made wet currents run where there had been nothing but dry stone. If you bring flowing springs to the people through a construction of masonry, you accomplish through your labor for the people what Moses accomplished through miracles.

XXXI. AEMILIANO VIRO VENERABILI EPISCOPO THEODERICUS REX. [1] Ad finem debet perducere, quae prudentum intentio visa est suscepisse, quia sicut perfecta laudem pariunt, ita vituperationem generant, quae in mediis conatibus aegra deseruntur. defectus enim rerum aut consilium titubare aut vires arguit defuisse. quapropter sanctitas vestra a tali oblocutione refugiens, quae in aquae ductu reficiendo probabili cura ex nostra auctoritate suscepit, celeriter ad effectum faciat pervenire. [2] Nam quid aptius quam ut sitienti plebi provideat aquas sanctissimus sacerdos et humana providentia satiet quos etiam miraculis pascere debuisset? imitaris enim antiquissimum Moysen, qui Israhelitico populo longa ariditate siccato de saxi sterilitate copiosos latices eduxit et ad implendum miraculum inde fecit currere umidos liquores, ubi erat sicca durities. tu autem si fontes irriguos saxorum constructione deducis, hoc labore tuo praestas populis, quod ille miraculis.