Letter 1005: **From:** Ennodius, deacon of Milan

Ennodius to Faustus. Having prayed for God's abundant mercy, I commend to him the auspices of a happy year, and, already exalted by the gifts of his benefactions, I approach a man of consular rank as though his equal. Until now foreign ornaments had bestowed upon our family the pomp of the consular buskin, and we rejoiced that we belonged to him who gave his name to the year by affinity rather than by descent. It was a favor, not a debt, that we were added in the discriminating talk of men to the possessors of the curule chair. How often has that tongue, which exalted us in the eyes of others, made us beholden to itself, so that, the order of our condition being changed, the insignia of our nobility were owed to another's service? But now let envy be gone. A restorer of the ancient fasces, a new consul has shone forth, and a sturdy mover has unbarred the decayed doors of our dignities. The trembling thresholds of the withering hinges grow young again toward a revived vigor-thresholds which, I believe, with God as patron, would never thereafter have lain open to be closed by any bars. For of my Avienus this is not merely one consulship, but the first. As a forerunner he has gone before the ranks of his stock that are destined to bear the eagles, and he has shown the path of virtue to the principal service. If there is any reverence for worldly dignities, if it is any honor that a man should live on after the grave, if the cunning of the ancients foresaw anything by which men might overcome the years granted to them: rightly are pomps of this kind thought to have devised counsels whose long duration refuses both old age and an end. Good God, how great is the toil expended in the dictating of laws upon the name of a single man, that it can either establish or dissolve! Hail, young man of distinguished virtues, who through the path of your maternal lineage, blotted out though it was, have brought the life-giving axes of honors, with which you might lop away the aged obstacles of a most splendid road, lest they hold back your posterity. Let the praises of the men of old yield to this, by which the inventions of the learned brought forth nobility-praises which purchase their merit from the narrator with the trappings of supercilious words. For it is necessary that the meagerness of the theme be enlarged by the resources of the one narrating, so that the dowry which is not found in the material may be inserted by the advances of the pen. To pass over that the Fabii, the Torquati, the Camilli, the Decii have been surpassed: I judge that you yourself, my lord, who have outdone them all, have by his beginnings given way in fulfillment of your prayers. You, already grown older, through the well-worn track of the Scipios, your great-grandfathers and grandfathers, have walked almost joined to the sides of those who went before, in such a way that you advanced under the conjunction of a felicity never interrupted. It belongs to the still-tender virtues of my Avienus both to continue the fasces for your stock and to render them to ours. I give thanks to that purpose which will profit our common increase, through which, by God's benefaction, the brightness of good births, hitherto shut off, has shone again, and through which the radiant blood has recognized its own day. How I should have wished, present in person, to gaze upon the sum of my prayers, if the greatness of my sins did not deny to my sight the heavenly gift which it could not deny to my desires, and if it were not a sin that a man should at one and the same time earn all that he has wished for! Yet I believe this is to be reckoned among the greatest recompenses of our Redeemer, that my consul has, with the honor of an old man, crossed the threshold of a happy infancy. By hope I anticipate what is being prepared for his labors, when such things are displayed at the outset. With auspicious successes the increases of advancement are bound to come to him whom we see to have begun from the fasces. It is less than this with which old fame flatters itself in the praises of the ancients concerning the outcome of prosperity. What gray hair worn down by dust, what a life spent under the fasces barely deserved, what the aged man, never certain of attainment, used to wish for-this the supernal gift has heaped upon my oft-mentioned young man. It is added that, in the beginning of his life, having been instructed in the best disciplines, he seems to have deserved what he obtained, nor does he deign that the whole be attributed in himself to good fortune, in whom even more can be granted to virtue. Having pursued schools and the studies of letters to the adornment of his nature, an emulator of his father's perfection, by his own industry he has rendered himself such a son as another could scarcely have managed to choose. Whatever Attic, whatever the Roman tongue holds as foremost he has come to know; he has weighed out the gold of Demosthenes and the iron of Cicero, and as a Latin narrator he has filled out both sequences of speaking. He has embraced, for the sake of liberty, the bars of grammatical instruction and those legal narrows of speaking. By pursuing the oratorical pomp, with the arms of a manly diction he has led his equals up to oratory. But I recognize whither the advance of an affection that refuses any limit is carrying me: divided in my purpose, with an intellect unequal to it, I hail an erudite consul. I return to you, with whom I share a common joy, an equal longing, an equal supplication. Let us pray to God-since our prayers refuse measure-that he himself make perpetual what he has bestowed, and never set a limit to his gifts around us, he who in giving has felt no losses. Yet rejoice in your so excellent good, you to whom it is permitted, after your own consular robes, to have a son consular in attendance upon you. If indeed heavenly power works within my judgment, and my whole mind, bowed down by human transgressions, does not lie subject to them, then this dignity obtained around your offspring is the repayment of your faithful prayers. The City would have enough in as many intercessors as a single house possesses. Happy mother, mistress of so many commanders, a brave matron, she lifts you up before God by her prayers. Through such great persons the heavenly kingdom suffers force, by whose merits what is requested is wrung from the divine clemency. For we remember it is written, the Lord saying to his disciples: If two or three of you shall agree, whatever you ask you shall obtain. I believe that the Redeemer, having foreseen the rarity of the just, said that two would suffice for those who would petition for their salvation. One may weigh it by conjecture: whether anything could be denied to three petitioning for the benefit of their own. Animated, therefore, by these hopes and exalted by my kinship with the just, I trust, from the supernal benevolence, that I too shall attain to a fullness of the grace I have wished for. If by Abraham's merits Lot is admitted to the throngs of the saints, if those who lacked their own merits deserved to be led to the heights by the virtues of their kinsmen: this year will bring forth dignities for your family. For if I am dear to your hearts, I am easily led, by the obtaining of my wishes, to heavenly grace. My lord, paying the reverence of a greeting, I ask pardon. Concerning the length of the discourse-since it is difficult for one rejoicing in great things to be content to speak little.

V. FAVSTO ENNODIVS. Abundantem dei misericordiam precatus commendo ipsi anni felicis auspicia et beneficiorum eius muneribus sublimis iam consularem uirum quasi aequalis adgredior. hactenus trabealis coturni pompam familiae nostrae peregrina ornamenta tribuebant et pertinere nos ad eum magis adfinitate quam genere gaudebamus, qui anno nomen inposuit. munus erat, non debitum, quod inter curulium possessores diligentum fabulis addebamur. quotiens nos obnoxios sibi fecit lingua, quae apud alios exaltauit, ut commutato condicionis ordine alienis nostrae nobilitatis insignia stipendiis deberentur? at nunc facessat inuidia. 2 Tob. 2, 21 5 Terentius Eun. YB. 591; cf. August Conf. I c. 16 - la 1 comiMoribus T, commessoribaB B 4 flectitare L in a. , I. m. 2 hiltona. L 5 papirus PT homucio B, homnntio PT 7 fodetis B, fouetis LPTyfj 8 admessorem B 9 fa!btis si ecribri B 12 mulcare T sed c ex g corr., mnltare Pb V. 14 Ennodius Pausto TV 15 habundantem T 16 felicis \' L e in ras. 3 fere titt . et ex en L corr . 17 aequalem Plb aggredior LTV actenus B 18 familiae∗∗∗ L 19 affinitate LTV . genera. B 20..anno B, annoe LTV, ante noe Pb, anno suo ., (on . imposuit LTV debitur L , _21 cu*rulium L r eras. diligentium L1Pb fabulis in flbulis. corr. L man. rec . addebatur T\' 22 exaltabit B, eicitauit 1 23 conditionis LTV 24 deberentur stipendiis LPTVb ad B uetustorum reparator fascium nouellos consul inluxit et dignitatum nostrarum cariosas fores robustus reserauit inpulsor. ad rediuiuam ualitudinem tremebunda marcescentium cardinum limina iuueniscunt, quae nullis credo deo auspice quia posthaec obicibus claudenda patuissent. nam Auieni mei non unus, sed primus est consulatus. stirpis suae gestatura aquilas agmina praeuius antecessit et ad principalem militiam iter uirtutis ostendit. si qua est saecularium reuerentia dignitatum, si quis honos est hominem uiuere post sepulcra, si quid prouidit astutia ueterum, per quod ab hominibus anni uincantur indulti: iure fastus huiuscemodi putantur inuenisse consilia, quorum longaeuitas et senectutem refutat et terminum. deus bone, quantum est unius uocabulum hominis inpensum in dictandis legibus laborem uel stabilire posse uel soluere! macte insignium adulescens uirtutum, qui per oblitteratum materni stemmatis callem uitales honorum secures adtulisti, quibus annosas, ne posteritatem tuam retinerent, splendidissimi itineris obices amputares. cedant huic priscorum laudes, quibus nobilitatem doctorum commenta pepererunt, quae faleratis uerborum superciliis meritum a relatore mercantur. necesse enim est exilitatem. thematis narrantis opibus ampliari, ut dos, quae in materia non inuenitur, stili processionibus inseratur. ut taceam Fabios Torquatos Camillos Decios fuisse superatos: te ipsum, mi domine, qui uniuersos uicisti, eius primordiis existimo uotiue 1 dignitatis nostrae Pb 2 reserauit Sirm., reserabit LPTVb impulsor TV 8 tremibnnda B 5 patiscent fort . 6 consolatnts BL 9 bonus LV, onus B, bonos in T (in in ras.) est T 8. I . sepnlchra B 10 anni om. T indnlti BP, indnlgi LTV, Multi b 11 fastua BTVb, fatus L, fanstus P, fastos Sirm . consilia suspectum, fort. ex gloss . cons. (I. e. consulares) ortum longeuitas B 14 aduliscens B, adolescens PTb 15 oblitterarum Lx, obliteratum B stimmatis B, stematis LPTV d 16 attulisti LTV 17 splendiissimi L amputares Sirm., amputaris BLPTVb 19 faleratis BLV, fabulatis T 22 atilo B fabioa ex fauius V m. 1, fanius B 23 torquatns camillus decius BV. (em. m . 1 us in os) snperatus B 24 existimo b, extimo P, stemo BLTV uotiuae B cessisse. tu per duratum proauorum auorumque scipionum tramitem iam grandior, pene praecedentium conexus lateribus ambulasti, ita ut sub coniunctione numquam interpolatae felicitatis incederes. ad Auieni mei adhuc teneri uirtutes pertinet et tuo generi continuare fasces et nostro reddere. ago gratias intentioni in commune augmentum profuturae, per quam cum dei beneficio natalium bonorum claritas hactenus interclusa resplenduit, per quam diem suum lucidus sanguis agnouit. quam uoluissem uotorum meorum summam coram positus intueri, si non peccatorum magnitudo munus caeleste, quod non potuit desideriis, denegaret aspectibus, et nefas sit hominem uno eodemque tempore uniuersa optata promereri! illud tamen inter maximas redemptoris nostri remunerationes credo numerandum, quod limen felicis infantiae consul mens cum honore senis ingressus est. spe praecipio quid paretur laboribus, cum talia primordiis exhibentur. inauspicatis successibus illi profectuum incrementa uentura sunt, quem coepisse uidemus a fascibus. minus est quod sibi de prosperitatis euentu in antiquorum praeconiis uetus fama blanditur. quod adtrita puluere canities, quod uita sub fasce acta uix meruit, quod grandaeuus de inpetratione numquam certus optauit, hoc memorato saepius adulescenti meo supernum munus ingessit. additur quod in principio uitae disciplinis optimis institutus uidetur meruisse quod adeptus est, nec dignatur totum in se felicitati tribui, in quo possunt etiam dari plura uirtuti. naturae in decus scolas et litterarum studia consecutus, paternae perfectionis aemulator, talem se industria sua filium reddidit, qualem alter 1 aaorum B 8. I 2 conezibus T 3 nunquam V ..J 6 agmentum T 7 benificio B actenaa B .10 intueri L i Mtpra scr. tfI. ree . 14 felices B 15 spe] sed Sirm . praecipio BLV, percipio PTb 16 ex*ibentar L h in hac uoce saepislime eras . prouectuum b 17 cepiese BPT 19 attrita t LTV 20 grandeuos BLT 21 impetratione TV, imperatione L optabit B memorati LV, memorat B 22 aduliscenti B 24 in se totiun T 25 indeces (supra es ras.) B, indices toni. Schottue 26 colas B, scholas LPTVb 27 aemulatar B uix potuit elegisse. quicquid Attica, quicquid Romana praecipuum habet lingua cognouit, aurum. Demesthenis et ferrum Ciceronis expendit, utramque dicendi seriem Latinus relator impleuit. grammaticae instructionis repagula et illas dicendi legales angustias pro libertate conplexus est. oratoriam pompam sectando masculae dictionis brachiis aequales ad oratoriam eduxit. sed quo me rapiat processus affectionis terminum refutantis, agnosco: diuisus proposito consulem eruditum ingenio inpar appello. ad uos reuertor, cum quibus mihi commune gaudium, par desiderium, aequalis supplicatio est. oremus deum, quia uota nostra modum refutant, ut ipse faciat perenne esse quod tribuit nec umquam circa nos muneribus suis terminum ponat qui largiendo damna non sensit. nos gaudete tamen uestro tam excellenti bono, quibus fas est post trabeas suas habere filium in obsequio consularem. si tamen in sententia mea caelestis uigor operatur et tota mens humanis delictis inclinata non subiacet, fidelium orationum uestrarum retributio est circa sobolem dignitas inpetrata. urbi sufficerent quantos habet domus una precatores. felix mater, tot imperatorum domina, uos apud deum precibus suis matrona fortis adtollit. per tantos regnum caeleste uim patitur, quorum meritis a diuina clementia quod postulatur exigitur. scriptum enim meminimus dicente discipulis domino: si conuenerit duobus aut tribus uestrum, quicquid petieritis impetrabitis. credo redemptorem iustorum raritate prospecta prospecta salute petituros duos dixisse sufficere. licet 23 Matth. 18, 19 1 atteca B 2 ddmostertis B 3 utranque Pb, ntraque BLTV 4 grammatice B repagola B 5 augustas L complexus LTV 6 braciis B aequalis BLPVb, equal T 8 consule∗ T 9 impar LTV 10 equalis B saspicatio B 11 perhenne T 13 dampna LPV 15 consolarem B 18 impetrata LTV quantus B 19 praecatoree B 20 attoIGt TV 21 celesta L , a. T 22 mminimus L 23 domiao discipulis LPTVb conuenerint duo aut tres PT 24 imperabitis Ll 25 pspecta T . coniectura perpendi, si possit tribus aliquid denegari pro suorum utilitate poscentibus. his ergo: spebus animatus et iustorum cognatione sublimis, confido de superna benignitate etiam me ad optatae copiam gratiae peruenturum. si Abrahae meritis Loth sanctorum turbis adsciscitur, si hi qui caruere propriis propinquorum ad celsa perduci meruere uirtutibus: annus iste familiae, uestrae pariet dignitates. nam siuobis cordi sum, facile ad caelestem gratiam optata inpetratione perducor. domine mi, salutationis, reuerentiam soluens ueniam, , postulo. de prolixitate sermonis quia difficile est magna gaudentem parua loqui esse contentum.