1Is the weather harsh and stormy there too? 1Here there are constant storms and frequent floods. 1The Tiber has left its bed and pours deep over its lower banks; 2although drained by the channel which our most provident emperor made, it fills the valleys, flows over the plains, and wherever the ground is level, it is seen in place of the ground. 2Then, as if going to meet the rivers which it usually receives and carries down mingled with itself, it forces them back, and so covers with other waters fields which it does not touch itself. 3The Anio, the most delightful of streams and therefore, as it were, invited and detained by the villas lying beside it, has for the most part broken and swept away the woods by which it is shaded; 3it has undermined hills, and, blocked in several places by the mass of what has fallen, while seeking its lost course it has battered down buildings and thrown itself out and risen over the ruins.
4Those whom the storm caught on higher ground saw, in one place the furnishings of the rich and heavy furniture, in another farm implements, here oxen, ploughs and ploughmen, there herds loosed and free, and among these the trunks of trees or the beams and roofs of villas floating here and there far and wide. 5Nor were even those places free from harm to which the river did not rise. 5For instead of the river there was incessant rain and whirlwinds hurled down from the clouds, the walls with which valuable estates are enclosed were thrown down, and monuments were shaken and even toppled. 5Many people were maimed, overwhelmed and crushed by mishaps of this kind, and losses were increased by bereavements.
6I fear, in proportion to the danger, that something similar may have happened there, and I ask you, if nothing of the kind has, to relieve my anxiety as soon as possible, but if it has, to send me word of that too. 6For it makes very little difference whether you suffer misfortune or await it; 6except that there is a limit to grief, but none to fear. 6For you grieve as much as you know has happened, but fear as much as can happen. 6Farewell.