Ennodius to Deuterius.
How I would wish to neglect the duty of visitation more often, if the fault brings so sweet a reward — and knowingly to disregard the commandment of heaven, if what merits reproof wins favor for my desires! To me alone has it happened that from the merit of an offense I gained cause for joy: I have now learned, by such recompense, to pursue my failings.
These things are not, most excellent teacher, opposed to the sacred law of friendship that I bring compelled into the open. Indeed, it was precisely on account of a confession worthy of your way of life that I never, like one ungrateful, wished for any doubt about your health; on the contrary, to the extent that I was able, I opposed the hands of prayer against the afflictions pressing upon you. But see how lively a mind — not founded upon the body's prosperous health — your letter displays, in which you have shone with both kinds of light.
I ask you: are your eyes dimmed by the cloud of pain, you whose poems are so brilliant? Can a man who speaks of light complain about his sight? How I fear that I shall be found too sparing a praiser of your merits! To you it is rightly ascribed that you give eyes to all and illuminate the darkness of minds with an unfamiliar splendor. Do you then think that what you bestow upon others has no power for you yourself? Banish, I beg, from your mind these cares, conceived perhaps from excessive or overly cautious anxiety. God grant that whatever bodily discomfort has come upon you may be cleansed by the brightness of your soul, which gleams through clear skies.
XVIIII. DEVTERIO ENNODIVS.
Quam uelim saepe officium uisitationis omittere, si dulcem
tribuit culpa mercedem, et caelestis mandati sententiam sciens
prudensque neglegere, si desideriis copiam uindicanda conciliant!
mihi uni contigit de offensionis merito euenisse quod
gaudeam: didici nunc tali remuneratione errata sectari. non
1 imminentia LTV 3 aquilaa ex aliquas corr. L 4 lumine
TlVl corr. m. 1 quoo B tonicis BLV oxsunntur B
5 parare BLPTV, ponere b (cf. Cartn. II150 us. 8 non aliter — doctrinae
radiis opponit onra parentis); fort . probare (cf . schoi. in mg. T:
nota qualiter aquile pulloa BUOB probent) 7 impietas LTV 8 de
fetibQs] defectibuB T 9 genetrix BP 10 oepta PT, coepita
LVl prosequere Pb 13 de T s. l. m. 2 pauiscas B
14 scalpentS T 15 turbidum in turpidum L corr. m. rec .
16 uale. T mi BPaTV b, mihi LVl, michi P1
XVIIII. 21 uellim aepe B 22 celesti T mandatis B
25 remuratidne V
sunt aduersa, doctor optime, amicitiarum religioni quae profero
coactus in medium. immo propter confessionem dignam
proposito ualitudinis tuae dubia numquam uelut ingratus optaui:
quin etiam, quantum in me fuit, contra ingruentes tibi inaequalitates
precum manus opposui. sed ecce quam alacer sensus
est, non in prospera membrorum salute fundata ostendit pagina,
in qua utraque luce fulsisti. tua, quaeso, lumina nube doloris
hebetantur, cuius tam clara sunt carmina, et qui lucem loqueris,
de uisione causaris? quam timeo, ne parcus in meritis
tuis laudator inueniar. tibi recte adscribitur cunctis dare oculos
et obscura mentium peregrino splendore radiare. ergo putas
tibi ualidum non esse quod tribuis? pelle, quaeso, animo curas
superflua forsitan sollicitudine aut cautione conceptas. dabit
deus, ut quicquid corporalis accessit incommodi uice animae
tuae per sudum rutilantis nitore mundetur.
◆
Ennodius to Deuterius.
How I would wish to neglect the duty of visitation more often, if the fault brings so sweet a reward — and knowingly to disregard the commandment of heaven, if what merits reproof wins favor for my desires! To me alone has it happened that from the merit of an offense I gained cause for joy: I have now learned, by such recompense, to pursue my failings.
These things are not, most excellent teacher, opposed to the sacred law of friendship that I bring compelled into the open. Indeed, it was precisely on account of a confession worthy of your way of life that I never, like one ungrateful, wished for any doubt about your health; on the contrary, to the extent that I was able, I opposed the hands of prayer against the afflictions pressing upon you. But see how lively a mind — not founded upon the body's prosperous health — your letter displays, in which you have shone with both kinds of light.
I ask you: are your eyes dimmed by the cloud of pain, you whose poems are so brilliant? Can a man who speaks of light complain about his sight? How I fear that I shall be found too sparing a praiser of your merits! To you it is rightly ascribed that you give eyes to all and illuminate the darkness of minds with an unfamiliar splendor. Do you then think that what you bestow upon others has no power for you yourself? Banish, I beg, from your mind these cares, conceived perhaps from excessive or overly cautious anxiety. God grant that whatever bodily discomfort has come upon you may be cleansed by the brightness of your soul, which gleams through clear skies.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.