'You complain that your health is failing under the long pressure of your work, and that you fear, if you absent yourself, you may lose the emoluments of your office. At the same time you ask leave to visit the Baths of Baiae. Go then with a mind perfectly at rest as to your emoluments, which we will keep safe for you. Seek the Sun, seek the pure air and smiling shore of that lovely bay, thickly set with harbours and dotted with noble islands--that bay in which Nature displays all her marvels and invites man to explore her secrets. There is the Lake of Avernus, with its splendid supply of oysters. There are long piers jutting out into the sea; and the most delightful fishing in the world is to be had in the fish-ponds--open to the sky--on either side of them. There are warm baths, heated not by brick-work flues and smoky balls of fire, but by Nature herself. The pure air supplies the steam and softly stimulates perspiration, and the health-giving work is so much the better done as Nature is above Art. Let the Coralli [in Moesia, on the shore of the Euxine] boast their wonderful sea, let the pearl fisheries of India vaunt themselves. In our judgment Baiae, for its powers of bestowing pleasure and health, surpasses them all. Go then to Baiae to bathe, and have no fear about the emoluments.' 7. KING ATHALARIC TO REPARATUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY. [We learn from Procopius ('De Bello Gotthico' i. 26) that Reparatus was brother of Pope Vigilius; that in 537 he escaped from the captivity in which the other Senators were kept at Ravenna by Witigis, and fled to Milan. In 539 Reparatus, who was then Praefectus Praetorio, was captured at Milan by the Goths, hewn in pieces, and his flesh given to the dogs (Ibid. ii. 21).] [Sidenote: Reparatus appointed Praefectus Urbis.] 'The son of a high official naturally aspires to emulate his father's dignities. Your father had a distinguished career, first as Comes Largitionum, then as Praefectus Praetorio. While holding the latter office, he repaired the Senate-house, restored to the poor the gifts (?) of which they had been deprived[586], and though not himself a man of liberal education, pleased all by the natural charm of his manner. [Footnote 586: 'Curiam reparans, pauperibus ablata restituens.'] 'You have those advantages of mental training which were denied to your father. Education lifts an obscure man on to a level with nobles, but also adorns him who is of noble birth. You have moreover been chosen as son-in-law by a man of elevated character, whose choice is in itself a mark of your high merit. You are coming young to office[587]; but, with such a man's approbation, you cannot be said to be untried. [Footnote 587: 'Licet primaevus venias ad honorem.']