Letter 2009: As a certain towering authority on eloquence has observed, the true art of letter-writing lies in a studied...
Ennodius of Pavia→Olybrius|c. 499 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
education booksfriendship
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Olybrius [a member of the Roman senatorial aristocracy]
Date: ~499 AD
Context: A letter to the aristocrat Olybrius, touching on literary style and the art of letter-writing itself — Ennodius at his most self-consciously literary.
Ennodius to Olybrius.
As a certain towering authority on eloquence has observed, the true art of letter-writing lies in a studied carelessness — where the appearance of effortless genius is itself the product of hidden labor. The author who sweats over his words should never let the sweat show. What comes from the forge of the workshop should not announce the heat that produced it.
This is the standard to which I aspire and from which I consistently fall short. But between friends, the attempt itself has value. I write to you without pretense, offering plain speech in place of polished rhetoric — not because you deserve less, but because honesty is the one ornament I can reliably provide.
Accept these words as a token of the friendship that produced them. The rest — the wit, the elegance, the learning — I leave to men better equipped than I am. Farewell.
VIIII. ENNODIVS OLVBRIO.
Vix aliquando mihi ea quae diu cupita sunt ex sententia
successerunt, ut sitim, quam ex litterarum uestrarum ardore
conceperam, eloquentiae diuitis unda satiaret et aestus, quos
expectatio longa geminauerat, adridentia labiis fluenta restinguerent.
sed cur me ad uotorum adseram summam fuisse perductum,
cui maius nascitur de inpetratione desiderium, dum
de sermonum uestrorum flumine pectus ardescit? ostenditur
mihi liquido quam sit rerum nescia mens humana, quae dum
pretium propriae ambitionis intellegit, adsuescit plus amare
ad quod tarde peruenit, et dum abundat in praesentia quo
laetetur, magis superest quod requirat. nunc, confiteor, in
litteris uestris superforaneam cautionem mei aestimator expaui,
ubi dum secundis in altum loquelae uestrae portarentur uela
h h
1 pertraunt B 2 similia (ia in ras.) T 3 Bubtraunt B
beoificii B 4 diligetis Bx 5 offerenda LTV adj et T
6 comercio T perdncant T mihi BLV 7 ualetudine (ne
ex nie corr. m. 1) V, constitutis ualitudine B 8 porregantur B
VIIII. 11 olibrio T 12 copita B 18 Bitem B qui
B s. I . 14 diutis L 15 expectio B1 restingerent T
16 perducta ̃ Lx 17 cui] an Pb maius (m in ras.) V
18 peccatus T1 ardiscit B 20 praetium B, pcium L VT nist
I.
quod T m. 1 pe pcium exh . 21 quo laetetur coni. SchaUus, quod
letetur T, quod laedetnr (ledetur L) BLY, quo delectetur Pb
23 super foramet Ll estimator LTV 24 loquillae B
prouentibus et in obsequio militaret quicquid spirat, remigium
uestris dicitis deesse conloquiis. non est licita ueri diligentia
sequestrata quam pingunt uerba formido. remis opus est, quotiens
nullo flaminum puppes iuuantur inpulsu: his non eget
cui secundam nauigationem fecit conspiratio deuota uentorum
sol facibus non iuuatur nec lunaris globi claritudinem minorum
siderum aliquando inlustrauere collegia. domine, ut supra honorem
salutati exhibens precor, ut apud magnitudinem uestram
studiorum meorum fructu non caream, postquam uobis quid
cuperem non celaui, ut scriptionis operam quam hactenus
protulistis stili frequentia uel ubertate pensetis.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Olybrius [a member of the Roman senatorial aristocracy]
Date:~499 AD
Context:A letter to the aristocrat Olybrius, touching on literary style and the art of letter-writing itself — Ennodius at his most self-consciously literary.
Ennodius to Olybrius.
As a certain towering authority on eloquence has observed, the true art of letter-writing lies in a studied carelessness — where the appearance of effortless genius is itself the product of hidden labor. The author who sweats over his words should never let the sweat show. What comes from the forge of the workshop should not announce the heat that produced it.
This is the standard to which I aspire and from which I consistently fall short. But between friends, the attempt itself has value. I write to you without pretense, offering plain speech in place of polished rhetoric — not because you deserve less, but because honesty is the one ornament I can reliably provide.
Accept these words as a token of the friendship that produced them. The rest — the wit, the elegance, the learning — I leave to men better equipped than I am. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.