Ennodius to Avienus.
How well it is that what you modestly decline, you happily emulate; and while you complain that your Greatness is spurred by examples too difficult to follow, you have displayed the very pomp of narration that you, as a capable advocate, profess to shun! I embrace the charming plea of your timidity, which the vein of your rich talent commends. Do not shrink from the father who is to be honored in the examples of your exhortation: from him comes what you speak.
I know what soil produces nobler gold, in whose bosom the nurtured metals gleam more brightly; often my diligent searching has revealed to me the nourishing back of the tawny element. I know what shells enclose pearls proud in their price, whence comes the gem destined to lend its genius to empires. Do not attribute what I have done to ignorance or error. The offspring of a brave man recognizes the face of arms in his father's embrace, and in obeying nature learns to love what is fearsome. Virgil, the root of the learned and the shaper of your eloquence, so describes a son animated by a father's words that he says: "Learn valor from me, my boy," and elsewhere: "And father Aeneas." Was that boy already rising to battle with strong arms, or expected to wage the wars that threatened with a man's strength? No — virtue animated by fresh examples rather than precepts awaited the body's growth.
Those who understand such things say that eagles prepare their own chicks, at the very threshold of life when they are stripped of the shells' covering, for the rays of the sun, and discern the stock of their offspring by holding them up against the immense brilliance. Is there cruelty in so strict a test, when the judgment is right in its choice? They do not wish any of their young to perish, but those that fail they do not acknowledge as their own. Rightly is that sublimity among the birds considered the mother of victors.
Now therefore, my sweet one, pursue what you have well begun, and with God's favor, as you match your grandfather in name, so match your father in learning. Do not think what I urge is burdensome. And since I judge you by your stock, do not shrink from your beginnings. He too was once a beginner who is now feared, and whenever water is drawn through dust by a finger scratching the earth, everything that is first flows turbid.
For the rest, farewell, my lord, and honor one who loves you with frequent gifts of letters — studies about which, if you remember me, it does not become you to be idle.
XVIII. AVIEMO ENNODIVS.
Quam bene quod uerecunde renuis feliciter imitaris et
dum difficilibus magnitudinem tuam exemplis quereris incitari,
narrandi pompam quam adsertor idoneus refugis ostendisti!
amplector amabilem allegationem formidinis, quam in te ingenii
diuitis uena commendat. nolo colendum bonis patrem in adhortationis
tuae positum pauescas exemplis: ab ipso ueniunt
ista quae loqueris. scio quae aurum pariat terra nobilius,
cuius soli nutrita sinibus metalla plus rutilent: saepe mihi
labor efficax inquirenti altricia terga fului ostendit elementi:
scio quae conchae superbas pretio gemmas includant, unde
ueniat lapis imperiis genium conlaturus. non inperitiae quod
feci adplices, non errori. uiri fortis progenies armorum faciem
inter patris agnoscit amplexus et dum naturae obsequitur,
discit amare terrorem. doctorum radix Maro, uestri formator
eloquii, sic animatum uerbis patris filium memorat, ut dicat:
disce, puer, uirtutem ex me, et alibi: et pater Aeneas.
numquid ille iam fortibus ad certamina brachiis adsurgebat
24 Verg. Aen. X 435.440.
1 scribta B 4 quod BLPTVb; ut quid vel praestitit et
fort. reoipiat T a in raa. 5 nicessitudine B
XVIII. 9 reDuis L n s. I. m. 2, rennnes B 10 qaaereris B, quaeris
LPTVb 12 adlegationem T 14 paniicas B 15 loquęris
L nobilibus B\' 16 signibus P, ignibus b 17 efficaz
T x in roe . falni] flunios Pb elimenti BLV 18 concae
BLV precio LPTV 19 imperitiae TV, imperlcię L
20 applices LPTV 23 fl∗∗lium V de eros., fldelium L di*cat
T 24 pater B s. l. corr . 25 iam BLV, tam PTb braciis B
aut uirili ualitudine inminentia putabatur bella gesturus? sed
melius uirtus recentibus exemplis animata quam monitis profectum
corporis expectabat. scientes rerum aquilas ferunt
pullos suos in ipso uitae limine, quo ouorum tunicis exuuntur,
ad solis parare radios et lucem seminis sui inmensi splendoris
obiectione cognoscere. numquid est in districta probatione
inpietas, cum recta sit iudicii in electione sententia? nolunt
quemquam perire de fetibus, sed suos esse qui cesserint non
agnoscunt. recte enim illa inter aues sublimitas genetrix putatur
esse uictorum. nunc ergo tu, dulce meum, bene coepta persequere
et fauente deo, ut auum nomine, ita patrem redde
doctrina. non aestimes graue esse quod moneo. et quia ego
te de germine censeo, tu de primordiis non pauescas. fuit et
ille incipiens qui timetur, et quotiens scalpente terram digito
ductus aquae per puluerem trahitur, turbidum fluit omne
quod primum est. de reliquo uale, mi domine, et amantem
tui frequentibus cole muniis litterarum, circa quae studia, si
mei memor es, pigrum te esse non conuenit.
◆
Ennodius to Avienus.
How well it is that what you modestly decline, you happily emulate; and while you complain that your Greatness is spurred by examples too difficult to follow, you have displayed the very pomp of narration that you, as a capable advocate, profess to shun! I embrace the charming plea of your timidity, which the vein of your rich talent commends. Do not shrink from the father who is to be honored in the examples of your exhortation: from him comes what you speak.
I know what soil produces nobler gold, in whose bosom the nurtured metals gleam more brightly; often my diligent searching has revealed to me the nourishing back of the tawny element. I know what shells enclose pearls proud in their price, whence comes the gem destined to lend its genius to empires. Do not attribute what I have done to ignorance or error. The offspring of a brave man recognizes the face of arms in his father's embrace, and in obeying nature learns to love what is fearsome. Virgil, the root of the learned and the shaper of your eloquence, so describes a son animated by a father's words that he says: "Learn valor from me, my boy," and elsewhere: "And father Aeneas." Was that boy already rising to battle with strong arms, or expected to wage the wars that threatened with a man's strength? No — virtue animated by fresh examples rather than precepts awaited the body's growth.
Those who understand such things say that eagles prepare their own chicks, at the very threshold of life when they are stripped of the shells' covering, for the rays of the sun, and discern the stock of their offspring by holding them up against the immense brilliance. Is there cruelty in so strict a test, when the judgment is right in its choice? They do not wish any of their young to perish, but those that fail they do not acknowledge as their own. Rightly is that sublimity among the birds considered the mother of victors.
Now therefore, my sweet one, pursue what you have well begun, and with God's favor, as you match your grandfather in name, so match your father in learning. Do not think what I urge is burdensome. And since I judge you by your stock, do not shrink from your beginnings. He too was once a beginner who is now feared, and whenever water is drawn through dust by a finger scratching the earth, everything that is first flows turbid.
For the rest, farewell, my lord, and honor one who loves you with frequent gifts of letters — studies about which, if you remember me, it does not become you to be idle.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.