Letter 4014: Things that are often given with modest means gain a value beyond their cost whenever they flow from a generous heart.

Ennodius to Faustus. Things that are often given with modest means gain a value beyond their cost whenever they flow from a generous heart. The gift that is repeated is never diminished; it is multiplied. I apply this principle to our correspondence. My letters are poor in style but rich in intention, and their frequency — which another man might find burdensome — is my way of saying that no single letter can contain what I owe you. Accept them as they are: imperfect offerings from a friend who would give more if he could. Farewell.

XIIII. ENNODIVS FAVSTO. Quae saepe mediocriter gratis inpensa sunt quotiens exhibentur uerba coniunctis, quicquid fauori obsecutum est sereno mancipetur affectui. non depictis amorem mentitur alloquiis qui perlatori caro reddenda dominis scripta conmittit. in sublimis et magnifici uiri Panfroni mei conmendatione ore feriato mens dictat epistolam. nescio enim in quale culmen merita apud me uiri, quem sum praefatus, extollam, in quo linguae macies debitum pectoris nequit exprimere. sed abdicandum esset mihi, etiam si subpeteret, facundiae lenocinium, quia pauper sermo uberem diligentiam rectius confitetur et si eleuamus per effusas paginas illos, quos arcana nesciunt, iure tribuenda amantibus in artum tabella concluditur. causam ergo modici sermonis elocutus foederatum fratrem quam quam paucis uerbis insinuo, tamen multis obsequiis, ut iutus magnitudine uestra, in negotio suo circumstrepentium aliquando uideatur superasse conmenta. quod restat, famulantem salutationem exhibens me ualere significo, si tamen prospera uestra certis indiciis mihi dispensatio superna concedat.