'Let the cities then return to their old splendour; let none prefer the charms of the country to the walls reared by the men of old. Why should not everyone be attracted by the concourse of noble persons, by the pleasures of converse with his equals? To stroll through the Forum, to look in at some skilful craftsman at his work, to push one's own cause through the law courts, then between whiles to play with the counters of Palamedes (draughts), to go to the baths with one's acquaintances, to indulge in the friendly emulation of the banquet--these are the proper employments of a Roman noble; yet not one of them is tasted by the man who chooses to live always in the country with his farm-servants[565]. [Footnote 565: 'Cui enim minus grata nobilium videatur occursio. Cui non affectuosum sit cum paribus miscere sermonem, forum petere, honestas artes invisere, causas proprias legibus expedire, interdum Palamediacis calculis occupari, ad balneas ire cum sociis, prandia mutuis apparatibus exhibere? Caret profecto omnibus his, qui vitam suam vult semper habere cum famulis.'] 'We order therefore that all Possessores and Curiales shall, according to their relative means, find bail and give bonds, promising that they will for the larger part of the year reside in some city, such as they may choose[566]. And thus, while not wholly debarred from the pleasures of the country, they will furnish to the cities their proper adornment of citizens.' [Footnote 566: 'Datis fidejussoribus jam Possessores quam Curiales, sub aestimatione virium, poena interposita, promittant anni parte majore se in civitatibus manere, quas habitare delegerint.'] 32. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS. [Sidenote: The Fountain of Arethusa.] 'Nimfadius (Vir Sublimis) was journeying to the King's Comitatus on some affair of his own, when, wearied with his journey, he lay down to rest, and let his beasts of burden graze round the fountain of Arethusa. 'This fountain, situated in the territory of Squillace[567], at the foot of the hills and above the sand of the sea, makes a green and pleasant place all round it, fringed with rustling reeds as with a crown. It has certain marvellous properties: for let a man go to it in silence and he sees it calmly flowing, more like a pond than a fountain. But let him cough or speak with a loud voice, and it becomes violently agitated, heaving to and fro like a pot boiling. Strange power this of a fountain to answer a man. I have read that some fountains can change the colours of the animals that drink at them; that others can turn wood dropped into them to stone. The human reason is altogether unable to understand such things as these. [Footnote 567: 'In Scyllatino territoris.' Transcribers, thinking of the Arethusa at Syracuse, have tried to alter this into _Siciliano_; but there can be little doubt that the above reading is right. As to the situation of the Fountain of Arethusa, see Introduction, p. 72.]