Letter 4012: It is the nature of things that anxiety should turn to joy and complaint should become praise whenever our desires...
Ennodius of Pavia→John|c. 502 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendship
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: John [Iohannes, identity uncertain]
Date: ~502 AD
Context: A letter forgiving a friend's long silence — Ennodius frames his forgiveness as a model of generous love that the recipient should study and imitate.
Ennodius to John.
It is the nature of things that anxiety should turn to joy and complaint should become praise whenever our desires are granted. I was uncertain what to make of Your Eminence's long silence, but now that I have received what I hoped for, I find myself searching for an honorable excuse on your behalf. See what a clear conscience in friendship can do: I forgive everything, as though the whole affair had gone exactly as I wished, mollified by a simple gift.
Here is a model of generous love for you to study, and an example of constancy in friendship for you to borrow. If you follow my lead, not even a multitude of offenses will separate you from my affection, and a single kindness from your friend will absolve all faults.
You accuse me of silence? You accuse me of forgetfulness? Where was your own spirit when my letters went unanswered and you showed no urgency to pick up a pen? You wrote freely to everyone else in Liguria, sending pages to those who had no greater claim on you than I did — and yet to me you offered only silence.
But I have said enough. Between friends who truly love each other, the complaint itself is proof that the bond survives. Farewell.
XII. ENNODIVS IOHANNI.
Natura partum est, ut cura migret in gaudium et mutetur
querela praeconiis, quotiens cupita tribuuntur. incertus animi
fui quid sibi uellet sublimitatis tuae tam longa cessatio, sed
cum potiri datur optato, ipse pro partibus tuis honestum excusationis
genus inquiro. uide quid faciant serena diligentiae:
quasi totum mihi ex sententia fluxerit, ita simplici munere
placatus errata concessi. habes unde pii amoris formam possis
adsumere et circa amicitiam constantiae exempla mutuari. me
si sequeris, nec plura te a coniunctione peccata retrahunt et
unum benefactum sodalis tui culpas absoluet. me silentii, frater,
me obliuionis incessis ? ubi erat iste animus, quando nec promulgata
conloquia meruere responsum nec ad stili imperandam
sollicitudinem praeuius existebas? ubi fuit inabstinentia tabellarum
non circa omnes in Liguria custodita ? multis a desiderio
tuo peregrinantibus in solacio doloris mei paginas exhibendo,
et mihi taciturnitatem continuasti et illis praebuisti contra
uota conloquium, quia est ista humanarum rerum ratio, ut
pro magna cognatione par studium semper existat. cuius ordinis
immemor uoluisti sociare quaedam imperita cum litteris,
putans coire posse in affectum toto calle distantia. quid promouit
suada oratio tua elucubratis concinnata sermonibus, quando
bonarum artium nescios appellabat amante posthabito? sed
hinc alias: nolo excessuum multitudinem relegare, qui breui
satisfactione delinitus sum. nam parcitate in eloquendis illis
usus fueram, nisi nosse uos crederem de offensis illud remanere
XII. 4 quaerilla B preconii T 5 neUit B 6 pro om.
B 8 Jmibi om. T manere L ut uidetur 9 abes B
poBsi L 11 retrahunt (supra ra ras.) B 12 absoloit fori .
frs L 15 preuius BL 16 ligorias eostoditor B 17 pere-
"
■ ; D
grinatibus B solatio LTVj in 8. pro in snstentatione dictum ui-
detur, nisi forte non eolacio uei solacia (om . in) scribendum est
m
exhibisti"_ T u s. I. m. 2 18 prebuisti B 22 core ponae Ll
tota T1 promouet BLPTVb, em. Sirm . 24 neBcius B
25 excess∗um L religere BLPTV, relegare b, em. Sirm . 26 de-
lenitus B 27 no seuos L
quod tegitur, [etj quod in uocem erumpit amoueri. domine mi,
precor, ut posthac ad ea quae male haberi didicisti non tamquam
emendationis contemptor adspires, sed crebro mihi dulces
paginas dirige, ut crescat dos facundo, dum seruat sacramenta
concordiae.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:John [Iohannes, identity uncertain]
Date:~502 AD
Context:A letter forgiving a friend's long silence — Ennodius frames his forgiveness as a model of generous love that the recipient should study and imitate.
Ennodius to John.
It is the nature of things that anxiety should turn to joy and complaint should become praise whenever our desires are granted. I was uncertain what to make of Your Eminence's long silence, but now that I have received what I hoped for, I find myself searching for an honorable excuse on your behalf. See what a clear conscience in friendship can do: I forgive everything, as though the whole affair had gone exactly as I wished, mollified by a simple gift.
Here is a model of generous love for you to study, and an example of constancy in friendship for you to borrow. If you follow my lead, not even a multitude of offenses will separate you from my affection, and a single kindness from your friend will absolve all faults.
You accuse me of silence? You accuse me of forgetfulness? Where was your own spirit when my letters went unanswered and you showed no urgency to pick up a pen? You wrote freely to everyone else in Liguria, sending pages to those who had no greater claim on you than I did — and yet to me you offered only silence.
But I have said enough. Between friends who truly love each other, the complaint itself is proof that the bond survives. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.