Letter 3016: It has been a long time since my spirit enjoyed the refreshment your letters once provided.

From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia To: Laconius Date: ~505 AD Context: A letter lamenting a prolonged disruption in their correspondence — Ennodius misses the spiritual refreshment that Laconius's letters once provided. Ennodius to Laconius. It has been a long time since my spirit enjoyed the refreshment your letters once provided. The connection that used to sustain me through the difficulties of daily life has been severed — not, I hope, by any cooling of affection, but by the same press of business that afflicts us all. I write to reopen the channel. The thirst is real, and your letters are the only remedy. Do not make me wait longer than friendship allows. Farewell.

XVI. ENNODIVS LACONIO. Diu est quod animus meus illa qua solebat releuari expectatione torquetur. in longum traxistis silentia, nulla necessitate conpulsi. non fui huius imitator neglegentiae, ut neque ego scripta prorogarem, sed ad dies conticui superuenturi spe inlusus alloquii. nunc tamen uicit deliberationem meam iam matura amplitudinis uestrae taciturnitas. debet euelli silentium, quod duriter in quadam radice conualuit. geminis ergo prospiciunt scripta nostra conpendiis: et perlatorem Benenatum hominem propter fugaces suos uenientem conmendo et desideriorum bona non differo. ergo uale, mi domine, et pro uoto tuo circa me geri prospera cognoscens paribus me accelera releuare sermonibus, quatenus et perlator de beneficio gaudeat et ego subleuer de responso.