Letter 2015: ---

Ennodius to Euprepia. By the dispensation of a heavenly mystery, at one and the same moment the affection of a sister was restored to me, and that of a mother to Lupicinus, and the bond of a twin kinship deserved, after long intervals, to receive one returning from her wanderings. You have come back to life among us, by the kindness of a letter, after the death of that love which you yourself had brought about: we have seen affection rising up, as it were, out of a kind of grave. The news of your well-being reached our hearing unexpectedly -- you whom we believed, out of contempt for us, to be filling the tomb while yet living. We believe that you have endured hard things, but I confess that you have inflicted the harshest. That which you have borne is something you share with good people; that which you have done, with cruel ones. In what land, until now, has a mother's care lain hidden? Where has the debt owed to a brother gone astray? Your mind had withdrawn farther off than your body. If adversity had driven you, as a companion in pilgrimage, to the furthest borders of the lands, thither a sister's faithfulness and a mother's solicitude ought to have followed. But at the setting of the sun, to which you are reported to have been very near, you kept a heart cold toward dutiful love. You would have done better to imitate, in the diligence that was owed, the star of the upper air, which after its waning is happily reborn, and you would not have carried forever a mind on holiday from grace. You took on the disposition of the provincials whom you visited: you changed your region and renounced your resolve of family devotion. For in forswearing fellowship with Italy, you have thrust away not only your friends, but even the pledges of your own blood. Finally, a change of soul came over you together with the change of land. How I fear that I am assailing your negligence with long discourses! What will she do when offended, who when unharmed has shown contempt? I have given a just grief to the pursuits of one who does not love: I have heaped up the very charges that may make you appear innocent. But this reproach, if it is regarded in itself, is harsh; if its origin is examined, it is seasoned with all the honey of sweetness. He who freely accuses a parent's silence takes hard the negligence shown toward affection. You will be able to correct your errors -- if you cannot do so by your presence -- by writing many times over. Therefore, presenting the favor of a greeting, I beg that you remember me, who have gone before you in prayers and vows on behalf of our common son. For I considered what I ought to owe before I learned what you might wish. Do you appease God by your devotion, and dispose Him by the constancy of your prayers on our behalf, that He may look upon my intention toward that boy's advancement and upon the secrets of my heart, so that what I promise by my labor He may grant by His help.

XV. EVPREPIAE ENNODIVS. Caelestis dispensatione mysterii uno tempore mihi sororis, Lupicino refusus est matris affectus, et geminae copula necessitudinis peregrinantem recipere meruit post interualla. reuixisti apud nos post dilectionis quem procuraueras obitum beneficio litterarum: uidimus amorem quasi de quadam sepultura surgentem. inauspicato nobis incolumitatis uestrae nuntius accessit auditu, quam credebamus per contemptum nostri uiuentem busta conplesse. credimus te dura perpessam, sed confiteur inrogasse durissima. quod sustinuisti commune cum bonis est, cum crudelibus quod fecisti. ubinam gentium materna hactenus cura delituit? ubi quod fratri debebatur errauit? ad longiora animus tuus quam corpus abscesserat. si te ad ultima terrarum confinia peregrinationi socia dispulisset aduersitas, illuc sequi debuit germanae fides et sollicitudo genetricis. sed in occasu solis, cui proxima fuisse narraris, frigidum pii amoris pectus habuisti. imitata fuisses aetherii sideris circa debitam diligentiam defectum feliciter renascentem et feriatum a gratia non perpetuo animum gessisses. suscepisti mentem prouincialium, quos adisti: mutasti regionem et propositum pietatis abdicasti. nam abiurans Italiae communionem, non solum circa amicos, sed etiam circa interna pignora reppulisti. XV. 4 effectus T 5 inter∗nalla B 6 obitil B supra u ras. 8 inauepecato B 9 adcessit B nostrum Sirm., nestri Pb 10 coplesse T 11 sustenuisti B, sustinuisti V ti et proxima syllaba com in rcu. cfoTin ras . 13 «actenus L, haotinus B deli|tuit L li ex le eorr. m. rec . 14 abcesserat T 15 peregrinationis ocia (otia T) LTV1 dispolisset B 16 illuc P et Sirm., illic BLTVb genitricis T 17 occasu L\' pio B 18 amores B habuistis T etherii BL, etherei PV, etberi T 20 ani. h mam om. in textu add. in mg. V m. 1 gesiassee B suscepti B 21 preuintialium V 22 abdi∗casti (s ? erat.) L, om. V sed abdi add. m. 1, abdicasse| B nam (a ex u corr.) V, ntl in mg. add. B, non Pb non s. c. a. a. etiam Y in ras . m. 1 italiam aut curam circa scribendum uidetur 23 prius circa T 9. 1. m. 2, alt . circa V s. I. m. 1 repulisti T postremo animae tibi mutatio accessit cum mutatione telluris. quam timeo quod longis incuriam tuam incesso conloquiis! quid offensa faciet quae inlaesa contempsit ? dedi iustum dolorem studiis non amantis: quae te innocentem faciant causas ingessi. sed exprobratio ista, si per se respiciatur, . aspera est, si origo eius inquiratur, omni dulcedinis melle condita. grauiter fert circa caritatem neglegentiam qui parentis silentium liber accusat. poteris errata corrigere, si praesentia non uales, scriptione multiplici. salutis ergo gratiam praesentans quaeso, ut mei memineris, qui preces tuas circa communem filium et uota praecessi. ante enim quid debuissem consideraui, quam quid uelles agnoscerem. tu deum religione placa et precum circa nos adsiduitate conpone, qui intentionem meam in eius profectum et cordis secreta respiciat, ut quod ego labore polliceor ille praestet auxilio.