Letter 4006: I believed that once Your Greatness was devoted to the public good and your leisure had been transformed into glory...
Ennodius of Pavia→Agapitus|c. 497 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendship
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Agapitus [a Roman aristocrat serving at the court in Ravenna]
Date: ~497 AD
Context: A letter to a friend now occupied with public duties at Ravenna — the administrative capital of Ostrogothic Italy — mixing congratulations with the conventional complaint that public life steals friends from their private obligations.
To Agapitus, from Ennodius.
I believed that once Your Greatness was devoted to the public good and your leisure had been transformed into glory — once you were consumed by your duties at Ravenna, neglecting your own rest for the sake of the realm — I believed, I say, that you would have no time left for us.
But affection is stubborn, and I refuse to release you from its claims simply because the court has first call on your attention. A man who can serve the kingdom and keep faith with his friends at the same time is rare. I trust you are that man.
Write when you can. Even a short letter from Ravenna is worth more than a long silence. Farewell.
VI. AGAPITO ENNODIVS.
Credidi, postquam magnitudo uestra bonis est inpensa generalibus
et otium migrauit in gloriam, postquam Rauennatibus
excubiis occupati, dum quietem uestram neglegitis, nostram
omni soliditate firmatis et priuatus genius ad regni decora
transiuit, quando nouam lucem de domesticis abstractam sini.
bus palatinus sibi fulgor adiecit et angustiorem fuisse regni
sui pompam rerum dominus cum uos non habuit recte metitus
est, pro uicinitate regionum crebris me releuandum esse conloquiis.
sed inefficacibus spei meae inluserunt peccata consiliis:
nullas paginas ad diligentiae testimonium mens serena transmittit.
graue est si amorem non merui, grauius si quem exegeram
forte turbaui. scio tamen haec congruentibus ueritati
excusationum nubibus esse claudenda, in priuatis inueniri munera
litterarum, non recte ab occupatis ista disquiri. sed noui firmam
in affectione conscientiam inter quaeuis pondera et aduersa
distractam debita sua gratiae non negare. nunc nolo esse
1 siciliae L predicti B 2 actenas B iurae L
3 quidquid BL 4 mi] mihi B 1 reipublice B mini∗atis
B uale om. B .
VI. 9 acapito L 11 in] ad T 12 negligites B 18 fir.
mates B 14 domisticis B 16 habuerit Т1 mentitus LV1
18 inluserunt B, luserunt LPTVb 20 exigeram B, eiegerum V1
21 torbaui forte LV1 22 laudenda L 24 q ̃ ///ui T 25 distraatam
(ctam s. t m. 2) T, districtam LPb ebita ex aedita T m . »
uolo Tl
prodigus in querelis. salutationis reuerentiam soluens deprecor,
ut suggestionem, quam apud uos deposuerit praesentium portitor,
ad uotiuum perducatis effectum. uale.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Agapitus [a Roman aristocrat serving at the court in Ravenna]
Date:~497 AD
Context:A letter to a friend now occupied with public duties at Ravenna — the administrative capital of Ostrogothic Italy — mixing congratulations with the conventional complaint that public life steals friends from their private obligations.
To Agapitus, from Ennodius.
I believed that once Your Greatness was devoted to the public good and your leisure had been transformed into glory — once you were consumed by your duties at Ravenna, neglecting your own rest for the sake of the realm — I believed, I say, that you would have no time left for us.
But affection is stubborn, and I refuse to release you from its claims simply because the court has first call on your attention. A man who can serve the kingdom and keep faith with his friends at the same time is rare. I trust you are that man.
Write when you can. Even a short letter from Ravenna is worth more than a long silence. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.