Letter 1007: Faustus, from Ennodius.

Ennodius to Faustus. How great is the burden of ill-will, how easy the path of doing harm, as often as a man under attack must struggle against a reputation that runs ahead of him! No one, as I see it, looks to what has actually been done or left undone: the only thing summoned forward as a witness to lend credit to the accusation is the bare allegation. May God almighty turn the altered turns of the established order toward something better, and may He flood with the brightness of a golden age that condition of affairs which has decayed through the corruption of the times or through the clouds of our own deserts. When has the shelter of an innocent office ever failed to cover over the most shameful crimes of men, and to excuse whatever serenity of the heavenly soldiery has come down from the cloud of conduct? Yet now the clerical state of a maliciously credulous interpreter is dragged into a snare; and what it was not fitting to have committed before our religious profession, this, after we renounced our faults through an ecclesiastical title, we are believed to carry out without any regard for honor. By what tempest, by what storm of monstrous sins, did you compel me to go to that notorious office? In that very office in which all the branches of error are wont to be cut down by the pruning-hook of the mistress of right living, in that office you make every crime be believed of me by those who deceive. That man bewailed that his slaves had been taken away from me, and against the power of an ecclesiastical soldier he thought he must call in the royal defense. I ask: what commentator would set this forth even on the stage? Which of the poets would furnish a little fable with such paint-strokes, or with fabricated characters? The Lord knows, He who with a mighty hand rises up as my champion to your aid, that I am ignorant of this whole contrivance. Some time before, two boys, who claimed that violence was being done to them by the aforesaid man, betook themselves to the help of the Church under a public appeal. I remember that I offered prayers, that what the deceased had wished concerning them might be preserved; he promised, with deceptive and flattering enticements, that he would give them a hearing. So that they might return to the service to which they had been assigned, I urged them, with the holy bishop your father present, who was furnishing them aid, and with the knowledge of the city. What happened afterward I did not know, except that later I received the name of one who had wrongfully held them back. May I be lying in this, unless these things have been established by the very attestation of my attacker - to whom nonetheless I give thanks, because under whatever occasion he extracted from me the longed-for letters, which brought me much grief through the uncertainty of your command. For concerning me [...] I see that it has been deliberated, if I learn from you whether or not I am to obey what you command, that I am in doubt. Yet no fault on this account will regard me, nor your greatness, before God, since I straightway compelled the aforesaid men to go to the service of that good man without the scales of any hearing. Conveying the most abundant greeting of my lord, how I could wish, if you do not deny me pages for these affairs, either to compose my accusers myself, or - what is more in keeping with our intimacy - to err often!

VII. FAVSTO ENNODIVS. Quantus est fascis inuidiae, quam facilis nocendi uia, quotiens praecedenti opinione laborat impetitus! nemo quid factum sit, ut uideo, quidue infectum respicit: ad inpugnationis fidem solum aduocatur pro teste propositum. deus omnipotens mutatas ordinum uices uertat in melius et rerum statum, qui labe temporis aut meritorum nostrorum nebulis obsoleuit, aurei saeculi candore perfundat. quando non hominum obscenissima crimina innocentis officii texit umbraculum et quicquid a morum 2 decorem Ll 3 quis L dicat-habitabilem L in ras . 6 nulla B, nulli LPTVb 7 sepalchra B 8 mariam B flumi T adduamqi B, adduam quae LTV quorum coni., quos BLPb, quo. T, quod Sirm . confusus B 9 in lacum B eo] eum B 11 quanta B 12 beniflcia B dedisset B et Sirm., qui ante si distinxit 13 perhennitate T 14 tuetatur B VII. 19 fa.ciв L s ercu., fascinua coni. Schottus 20 pcidenti B fõm P, sanctum b 21 infectum] infaudum b inpugnationis B is in ras . 24 obsoluit BL 26 ignoscentis T, incentis B nube descendit caelestis militiae serenitas excusauit? at nunc in aucupium trahitur male creduli interpretis clericatus, et quod ante religiosam professionem admisisse non decuit, hoc postquam . per titulum ecclesiasticum culpis renuntiauimus, sine honesti credimur consideratione peragere. qua me tempestate, procella inmanium peccatorum, ire ad famosum . officium conpulisti? in quo omnes, errorum rami. magistra uiuendi solent falce truncari, in eo de me facinus credi facis omne fallentibus. ille mancipia sua a me . sublata defieuit et contra potentiam ecclesiastici militis aduocandam credidit regiam defensionem. rogo, quis hoc conmentator uel in scena proponat? quis poetarum fabellam fucis. similibus aut commenticiis personis instrueret? nouit dominus, qui manu ualida in adiutorio. uestro mei propugnator adsurgat, totius me esse technae huius ignarum. ante aliquid temporis pueri duo, qui sibi a praefato adserebant inferri uiolentiam, ad opem se ecclesiae sub interpellatione publica contulerunt. preces adhibuisse me memini, ut circa eos quod defunctus uoluit seruaretur: auditurum se deceptiosis et blandis promisit inlecebris. ut ad obsequium reuerterentur, ad quod deputati fuerant, sancto episcopo patre uestro praesente, qui eisdem praebebat auxilium, sub notitia ciuitatis hortatus sum. quid postea euenerit ignoraui, nisi postquam male retentatoris nomen accepi. haec mentior, nisi inpugnatoris mei adtestatione constiterint, cui tamen gratias refero, quia I sub quauis occasione uotiuas exegit epistulas, quae mihi multum doloris iussionis uestrae dubitatione pepererunt. de me enim p. .. ,ł 1,.. 1 diacendit B 2 credoli interpraetis B 3 amisisae T 6 immanium L V pecorum T fqmoaum L1 7 compulisti LTV \' 8 irancari i r in ras . 11 commentator LTV 12 fav uellam B mmenticiis T In ras . 14 totius B, tocius P, tutiua LTV eet B ternae LV, tegne PT, igne B huiusmodi Plb 15 asserebant LTV 17 me om. b et Sirm . \' imimini L 18 quod] 5 T seruarentur T . deceptioniB B Ia. 19 reuerentur B 22 ortatas LPY 23 retentoria B impugnatoris T 24 atteatatione LTV constiUerint T 25 epistolas LTV deliberatum esse uideo, si uos, utrum audiam quae iubetis, in ancipiti esse cognosco. nulla me tamen nec magnitudinem uestram ex ea parte apud deum culpa respiciet, quia praefatos mox ad seruitium illius boni uiri sine alicuius audientiae libra ire conpuli. domini mei salutationem largissimam dicens, quam uellem, si istis negotiis paginas non negetis, aut accusatores meos ipse conponere aut, quod est familiarius, frequenter errare! .