Maffei ('Verona Illustrata,' Book ix. Vol. 2, pp. 391-2 in ed. 1825) comments on this passage, and argues that Verruca = Dos Trento, a cliff about a mile from Trient, and this identification seems to have been accepted, for Ball ('Alpine Guide, Eastern Alps,' p. 404) says: 'In the centre of the valley, close to the city, rises a remarkable rock known as Dos Trento, and also called La Verruca, formerly frequented for the sake of the beautiful view which it commands. Since 1857 it has been strongly fortified, and permission to ascend to the summit is not easily obtained.'
Maffei says that the French bombarded Trient from this rock in 1703. He speaks of another 'Verruca, or Rocca,' on the other side of Aquileia, and thinks that the modern word 'rocca' (rock) may perhaps have been derived herefrom (?).
It is remarkable that there is a place called Verrua near the Po in Piedmont (about 20 miles east of Turin). 'Situated upon an abrupt and insulated hill, in a most defensible position, it opposed an obstinate resistance to the Emperor Frederick II. In more recent times (1704), the Duc de Vendôme attacked it without success' (Murray's 'Guide to Northern Italy,' p. 51). No doubt this was also originally called Verruca.]
[49.] King Theodoric to the Honoured Possessores, Defensores, and Curiales of the City of Catana.
Repair of
[amphitheatre]
of Catana.
'It is a great delight to the Ruler when his subjects of their own accord suggest that which is for the good of the State. You have called our attention to the ruinous state of your walls, and ask leave to use for [its] repair the stones of the amphitheatre, which have fallen down from age and are now of no ornament to your town, in fact only show disgraceful ruins. You have not only our permission to do this, but our hearty approval. Let the stones, which can be of no use while they lie there, rise again into the fabric of the walls; and your improved defence will be our boast and confidence.'
[Some remains of the amphitheatre are still visible at Catania; not, however, so important as those of the theatre.]
[50.] King Theodoric to the Provincials of Noricum.
The Alamanni and Noricans to exchange their cattle.
'It is an admirable arrangement when a favour can be conferred by which giver and receiver are alike benefited.