Letter 2006: How long will this abstinence be permitted?

How long will so great an abstinence be permitted? How long will your noble reputation, deprived of epistolary exchange, grow stale? I do not wish to escape the reputation of being rash, provided I can arrive at the acquaintance of one who is perfect. I wish to be the first to dispatch pages, so that the good things of Gaul may migrate to Italy, transferred without any loss of their form. Or did you perhaps think you could hide in whatever place, when the light of your learning displayed you to the sight of those far away? And unless domestic report — reliable enough but poor through its own lack of skill — narrows me in your praises, and the slenderness of the reporter constrains the most ample commendations of your merits, you have bitten off the greatest portions of perfection coming from both libraries on either side, taking care that your talent should grow fat on such nourishment. I pass over the supreme gift of heavenly grace bestowed and one instructed by divine endowments without human aid. For rightly is this judged to come from above which among men stands on no example. But these things I think better reserved for subsequent times, with life accompanying. I come to that point on which you, though most remote, have instructed me. According to the testimony of the bearer of this letter, the holy Felix, in my letters dictated without care you, a nursling of the Rhone, were seeking Roman smoothness and the vein of the Latian stream. An anxious searcher, I believe, and diligent — what did the file find to polish, while it ran through unfashioned words? We do not know with what mind a man can have read something who delivers his judgment with such deliberation? Especially when it is written: "The very father of poets, the prince of Helicon, Homer, endured the harsh shafts of critical judgment." I ask also whether among natives and those versed in the wrestling-ground of their studies, Latin eloquence shines: wondrous to say, since it loves foreigners. I ought not and do not presume to make trial of the pomp of eloquence, to test how anyone may be strong, when it suffices for my profession to devote itself to simple doctrine. Yet if someone had bitten me with such a tooth when I was still rejoicing in the freshness of liberal studies, I would have prepared either what would serve as an adequate excuse or what would not be shameful when thrown back. Now be well, my lord, and exercise toward me the favor of ecclesiastical discipline rather. Write or tell me what parents Melchisedech had, the explanation of the threshing-floor, the secret of circumcision, and the things enclosed in prophetic mysteries. Those things which are the patterns of the secular — intent on perishable persuasions, resembling the web of Penelope — let them be rejected.

VI. ENNODIVS POMERIO. Quousque tantum licebit abstinentiae? quousque fama nobilis epistularibus destituta conmerciis ueterescet ? nolo euadere opinionem temerarii, dummodo ad notitiam possim peruenire perfecti. uolo esse paginarum praeuius destinator, ut Galliarum bona ad Italiam migrent sine ullo formae suae translata dispendio. an forsitan putabas te in quocumque loci delitescere, quem scientiae lux longe positorum monstrabat aspectui? et nisi me in laudibus tuis domestica quidem relatio, sed per inperitiam sui pauper angustet et amplissima meritorum tuorum praeconia relatoris artet exilitas, utriusque bibliothecae fibula perfectionis ex gemino latere uenientis partes maximas momordisti, procurando ut tali ingenium tuum saturitate pinguesceret. taceo summam caelestis conlatam beneficii et dotibus sine humano adiutorio supernis instructum. recte enim hoc aestimatur uenire de superis quod inter homines nullo constat 1 conpotare B 4 exspectans V non uolui B 7 mi PT, mihi BLV 8 distinatum B 10 contigat B berborum Bl VI. 13 abstinentiae B, absentiae LPTVb 14 distituta B, t U destitna V commercium T ueterescit B 16 praeius L 18 dilitisciTe B, delitiscire L corr. V, delitiscere LlT 21 angustit B\' ut uidetur 22 relatoris B, perlatoris LPTVb bybliotheeae BV (sed V y in ras.) 23 partis Bl 24 pinguisceret B 25 summam] ecclesiam add. B et] et te fort . exemplo. sed haec melius secuturis uita comite censeo reseruanda temporibus. ad illud uenio, in quo me seiunctissimus instruxisti. quantum habuit praesentium portitoris sancti Felicis adsertio, in epistulis meis sine cura dictatis Romanam aequalitatem et Latiaris undae uenam alumnus Rhodani perquirebas. sollicitus credo scrutator et diligens quid lima poliret inuenit, dum per infabricata uerba discurreret. nescimus qua quid mente homo legerit quod hac profert deliberatione sententiam? maxime cum scriptum sit: ipse parens uatum, princeps Heliconis, Homerus, iudicis excepit tela seuera notae. rogo et si indigenis et inter studiorum suorum palaestra uersatis fulget latinitas: mirum dictu, quod amat extraneos. periclum facere de eloquentiae pompa non debeo nec praesumo qualiter quis ualeat experiri, cum professionem meam simplici sufficiat studere doctrinae. si me tamen quondam studiorum liberalium adhuc nouitate gaudentem aliquis tali dente tetigisset, parassem uel quod ad excusationem esset idoneum uel quod non puderet obiectum. nunc uale, mi domine, et circa me ecclesiasticae magis disciplinae exerce fauorem. scribe uel manda Melchisedech parentes quos habuerit, 10 Claudianus in Aletium Carm. min. VI (LXXIV) ns. 13 (= II p. 140 lo.) c 1 hac L, hae V saecutaris B 3 instrux|∗insti L felices B 5 alumpnus PT rodani BLPTVb 6 polliret P, T polleret b 7 infabicata B bene scimus maiim qua quid T corr., quia quid LPTlV, quia quid qua B b 8 quod T in ras . m. 2 10 Homerus] umerus B 11 excipit B note BT, no∗te L, sui b 12 rogo et si] raro si et fort., cf. Wiener Studien II p. 244 indigenis scripai, indigenas BLPTVb palestra BLPTV uersatis L, uersatus BV1, uersatos PTV corr. b tl 13 fulgit BV (g ex c corr.), fnlit L lanita∗∗s L ti eras. et ti s. I . n add . m. 2 quod B, quod V (si alio atramento supra scr.), quod si T, uel Bi L, quid Pb 14 facere om. L\' 15 ualeat] debeat Pb professiomem B1 17 nobilitate Sirm . 18 excussationem L\' 20 fauorem LT, fautorem Bb, fautorem V, fouerem P 21 mandata V melcbisedhaec L, melcisedech B explanationem areae, circumcisionis secretum et quae propheticis mysteriis includuntur. ista quae sunt saecularium schemata respuantur, caducis intenta persuasionibus, telae similia Penelopae. v