himself to justice. We decide that the capital punishment
shall be remitted out of reverence for his place of refuge, but he
shall be banished to the Vulcanian [Lipari] Islands, there to live
away from the paternal hearth, but ever in the midst of burning, like
a salamander, which is a small and subtile beast, of kin to the
slippery worm, clothed with a yellow colour.

'The substance of volcanoes, which is perpetually destroyed, is by the
inextricable power of Nature perpetually renewed.

'The Vulcanian Islands are named from Vulcan, the god of fire, and
burst into eruption on the day when Hannibal took poison at the Court
of Prusias. It is especially wonderful that a mountain kindling into
such a multitude of flames, should yet be half hidden by the waves of
the sea.'

48. KING THEODORIC TO ALL GOTHS AND ROMANS LIVING NEAR THE FORT OF
VERRUCA[304].

[Footnote 304: The double 'r' seems to be the correct spelling, though
the MSS. of the Variarum apparently have the single 'r.']

[Sidenote: Fortification of Verruca in the Tyrol.]

'It is the duty and the glory of a ruler to provide with wise
forethought for the safety of his subjects. We have therefore ordered
the Sajo Leodifrid that under his superintendence you should build
yourselves houses in the fort Verruca, which from its position
receives its most suitable name[305].

[Footnote 305: 'Milites ad Verrucam illum--_sic enim M. Cato locum
editum asperumque appellat_--ire jubeas' (Gell. 3. 7. 6). Verruca
therefore means primarily a steep cliff, and only secondarily a wart.
See White and Biddell, s.v.]

'For it is in the midst of the plains a hill of stone roundly arising,
which with its tall sides, being bare of woods, is all one great
mountain fortress. Its lower parts are slenderer (graciliora) than its
summit, and like some softest fungus the top broadens out, while it is
thin at bottom. It is a mound not made by soldiers[306], a stronghold
made safe by Nature[307], where the besieged can try no _coup-de-main_
and the besieged need feel no panic. Past this fort swirls the Adige,
that prince of rivers, with the pleasant gurgle of his clear waters,
affording a defence and an adornment in one. It is a fort almost
unequalled in the whole world, "a key that unlocks a kingdom[308];"
and all the more important because it bars the invasion of wild and
savage nations. This admirable defence what inhabitant would not wish
to share, since even foreigners delight to