'Nec tamen, haec quum sint hominumque boumque labores
Versando terram experti, nihil improbus anser,
Strymoniaeque grues, et amaris intuba fibris
Officiunt.'—Georgic i. 118-121.
[841] I must renounce the attempt to translate the rest of the sentence: 'Unde in morem nitri aliquid decerptum frangitur, dum a fecundo cespite segregatur.' There is an alternative reading, vitri for nitri; but I am still unable to understand the author's meaning.
[842] Apparently a kind of lamprey. See the fourth letter of this book.
[843] Perhaps Cassiodorus means to say this makes it more easy of capture, but he does not say so.
[844] The praises of the exormiston are not only foreign to the main subject of the letter, but to a certain extent weaken the writer's argument on behalf of his countrymen; but, as a good Bruttian, he cannot help vaunting the products of his country.
[845] The passage to and fro of travellers no doubt brought with it burdensome duties for the inhabitants in connection with the Cursus Publicus. It was therefore a reason for mitigating other taxes.
[846] This letter, being the description by Cassiodorus of his native place, is translated entire.
[847] 'Irrationabiliter dicitur praesumentium nimietate vexari.'
[848] 'Decenter.'