Letter 2009: I have already sent a letter through my servants informing you how much your recommendation has benefited brother...
Avitus of Vienne→Euphrasius|c. 500 AD|Avitus of Vienne
education books
From: Avitus, bishop of Vienne
To: Euphrasius, bishop
Date: ~500 AD
Context: Avitus discusses the recovery of a stolen manuscript and commends a newly ordained bishop.
Bishop Avitus to Bishop Euphrasius.
I have already sent a letter through my servants informing you how much your recommendation has benefited brother Emeterius in my eyes. But since I have no doubt that at the beginning of his episcopate he will, as is proper, pay his respects to his elder brother, I am happy to add this letter through him as well. I am even more pleased to report that the long-sought thief of my manuscript has finally fallen into my hands. Since he is bringing the book itself back to you, as he has informed me, I ask that you keep this little work — whatever its quality — for yourself.
Avitus episcopus Eufrasio episcopo.
Iam quidem per pueros meos litteras dedi, quibus scire vos facerem, quantum
fratri Emeterio apud me commendatio vestra profecerit. Tamen non dubitans eum
inter initia pontificatus sui senioris germani, sicut dignum est, officia curaturum, has
etiam per ipsum libenter adieci, quibus opusculi mei iam diu quaesitum praedonem
in manus meas venisse plus gaudeo. Et quia libellum ipsum, quantum mihi indicavit,
vobis reportat, peto ut, qualecumque est opusculum ipsum, nec ante editum nec omni-
modis emendatum viro sublimi ac piissimo, si dignamini, fratri nostro Apollinari pu-
blicare atque excusare dignemini. Cui impium fuerat non primum iure caritatis
offerri, si non rursus fuisset absurdum me domni Sidonii filio inter facundiae paternae
delicias meis temporibus nauseaturo movere etiam de praesumptione fastidium. Quo-
circa volumen per vos temperatius ingerendum si supradictus frater vel infantibus legi
debere censuerit, possum per quaecumque magnificentiae suae scripta cognoscere. Si
autem post flumina fontium paternorum, ut potius reor, paupertatem venae tenuissimo
rore manantem abiecerit, sine verecundia mea suaque impietate sufficiet me repre-
hensionis suae censuram hinc tantummodo intellexisse, si taceat.
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From:Avitus, bishop of Vienne
To:Euphrasius, bishop
Date:~500 AD
Context:Avitus discusses the recovery of a stolen manuscript and commends a newly ordained bishop.
Bishop Avitus to Bishop Euphrasius.
I have already sent a letter through my servants informing you how much your recommendation has benefited brother Emeterius in my eyes. But since I have no doubt that at the beginning of his episcopate he will, as is proper, pay his respects to his elder brother, I am happy to add this letter through him as well. I am even more pleased to report that the long-sought thief of my manuscript has finally fallen into my hands. Since he is bringing the book itself back to you, as he has informed me, I ask that you keep this little work — whatever its quality — for yourself.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.