Letter 3034: ---

--- There is nothing, to be sure, that an ambitious rhetoric cannot lift high above the plain truth. And yet, when it comes to expressing my devotion to you, I find myself suffering from the poverty of my own speech. The tongue has never been equal to affection; the mouth's service has always fallen short of what the heart knows to be right. It is for this reason that I claim the frank liberty of one who ventures to give counsel. I could not have believed that for so long a time Your Greatness would grow so forgetful of me — that you would abstain even from those customary exchanges of greeting, that the very gestures which ordinarily simulate affection with a studied and polished face would be withheld between persons bound to one another by the chains of covenant and fellowship. If I had the power to express what this means, perhaps I could also find the power to bear it. And yet — here I am, writing again. What I assert in words I now confirm by deed, offering the very example I urge you to follow. You will judge for yourself, in the days ahead, what it means to neglect the honest wishes of a friend. As for me: long schooled in endurance, I apply patience to my pain. Farewell.

XXXIIII. ENNODIVS SENARIO. Nihil est equidem quod non a ueritate in altum ambitioso tollatur eloquio. sed ego ad diligentiam circa uos meam patior 1 saluite B\', salue Pb domini B, domine LPTVb 2 celestia B conpletae B1 3 ceperit BT Xxxm. 7 comendatio (co ex con corr. m. 2) L; commendati operis (praestatur om. spatio 3-4 lift. uacuo) B 8 relegionis B 9 summisBorum LTV 10 uiderit ses (es ex is corr.) B 11 agnoscitis B 12 alliganda LT1 V, uallicanda B 13 relegiosam B presumentem B 14 prefatus B fragilitati si BPb, fragilitatis LTV 15 decesse L 16 salutationis B, salutis V ( add. m . 1), salutis LTb 17 nobis quid nobis T remanserit b 19 affectus B b uale om. Pb XXXIIIL 22 nichil T, ninil B «quidem (e eras.) L, quidem Pb ambitiosa L 23 patior meam LPTVb sermonis infantiam. numquam par fuit lingua caritati, semper subiacuit oris officium bono conscientiae. ob hoc utor securitate monitoris. non credidi tanto tempore amplitudinem tuam mei inmemorem sic futuram, ut etiam sollemnibus conloquiis abstineres, ut illa, quae solent affectionem imaginata fronte simulare, negarentur inter personas catenis foederis obligatas. haec si ualerem narrare, poteram sustinere. ecce iterum scribo et quae uerbis adsero sequenda testor exemplis. uos uideritis quale sit posthac desideria honesta neglegere: ego dolori patientiam usu institutus adhibeo. uale. 1 lingusm L ottitatm B 2 bonae Sirm 4 soletnnibus L 6 cathenis T 7 nalerem] stfficienter ualerem B 9 pest haec LPTV (sed a exp. m. 1. V) honestate L 10 usui B eihibeo P