Letter 16

Ennodius to Florianus. Your Brotherhood could have rendered my love a service that would have profited with the true liberality of the giver's advantage and honor — in this respect, namely: that once you held my letters indicating my preference, you would have excused yourself from the toil of writing. Does anyone paint his face with colored enticements and then undermine his own reputation by vigorous assault, not content with a clear excuse, thinking it insufficient for a naively trusting conscience to prove what it has already demonstrated? You who irritate the appetites of voracious friends with the varied flavor of your conversation, so that while you slip in flattery, you alter what has been settled! For after I had written back that I loved silence, I received — as if in response to my plea — still more expansive pages, and drew forth a long-stored udder of eloquence after my refusal. What would you do if I had promised a contest, if I had rashly sunk my tooth into the fervor of your studies and failed, as an incompetent judge of myself, to protect my safe inner sanctum? I believe the depths of Ciceronian eloquence would have been deployed against me, the precision of Sallust, the elegance of Varro — and I would have found refuge nowhere. You even said that rhetorical cunning was in me, though for a long time the emotion of true speech has cut me off from oratorical display, and I can no longer be occupied with the flowers of words when the cry of duty summons me to groans and prayers. Restrain, therefore, your seductive and treacherous conversation. If what you write is feigned and adorned with the brush of falsehood, change your approach, now that you see your purpose has been exposed. If your words are true and descend from the scale of judgment, enclose them in the deep secret of your heart, so that you may show reverence for devotion by keeping things intact for a friend. Guard your unchangeable heart and beguile others with your conversations. See — in wishing to respond to your extended pages, I have exceeded the bounds of a letter. But a fault that has its author in another's errors does not deserve special punishment. My lord, restoring the greeting I owe, I pray that if you, an eager investigator, thrust yourself into my desires — which spring from a love of taciturnity — you will at least pardon the occupations that hinder me.

XVI. FLORIANO ENNODIVS. Illud fraternitas tua amori meo potuisset inpendere, quod uera liberalitate cum tribuentis conpendio proficeret et pudori, in ea scilicet parte, ut cum indices studii mei litteras iam teneres, ab scriptionis te cura suspenderes. quisquamne coloratis frontem pingit inlecebris et famam ualida inpugnatione labefactat nec manifesta excusatione contentus, male credulae conscientiae sufficere non aestimat quod probauit ? qui uario sapore conloquii edacium amicorum fauces inritat, ut dum blanda subicit, definita permutet. nam postquam me silentium amare rescripseram, quasi pro allegationis responso prolixiores paginas inpetraui et diu forte repositum post negationem meam eloquii uber elicui. quid faceres, si certamina promisissem, si studiorum tuorum feruorem quocumque dente incautus adtingerem nec mei idoneus existimator penetralia tuta seruarem ? adhibita credo aduersus me fuisset Tulliani profunditas gurgitis, Crispi proprietas, Varronis elegantia, nec in ulla inuenissem parte subsidium, cui nec illud profuit, quod scribendi contentiones, nec cum reticerem lacessitus, effugi. me etsi peritiae conscientia et dicendi uigor adtolleret, post diuersa scribentum discrimina laudem, quam multo sudore uos petitis, 1 occupatione L potui. T scribsi B 2 desidenas B XVI. 6 cum tribuentis BLV, contribuentis PTb . compendio LTV 7 indeces B, iudices Pb 8 tenebres ab scribtionis B suspenderes Pb, suspenderis BLTV quiaquam nec T 9 illecebris T ia in ras . 10 maIae BLT 14 rescribseram B, scripseram P\'b alligationis B 15 impetraui LTV 16 aeloquii B faceris B 17 incaustus B attingerem LP TV 18 exestimator LV, aestimator B 20 crispi Bb, crisippi LPTV propriętas L uarronis BLPlTV, maronis P\'b eligantia B 21 illut B 8. 1 . 23 attolleret LPTV 24 scribentium PTb petistis T formidarem. huc accedit, quod rhetoricam in me dixisti esse uersutiam, cum diu sit quod oratorium schema affectus a me orationis absciderit et nequeam occupari uerborum floribus, quem ad gemitus et preces euocat clamor officii. delenifica ergo et malesuada conpesce conloquii. si ficta sunt quae scribis et peniculo decorata mendacii, muta propositum, uel posteaquam uides mentem innotuisse quae feceris: si uera sunt et a iudicii lance descendunt, profundo ea pectoris include secreto, ut reuerentiam diligentiae, dum amico res integras seruas, exhibeas. mihi inmutabile cor custodiens alios demulce conloquiis. ecce epistulae modum, dum productae paginae cupio respondere, transcendi. sed non est culpa speciali plectenda supplicio, quae in erratis habet auctorem. domine mi, salutationem debendam restituens precor, ut si desideriis meis, quae de amore taciturnitatis concepi, pernix te scrutator interseris, saltem occupationibus, quibus inpedimur, ignoscas.