Letter 4024: A sick spirit endures silence no more than a sick body endures stillness.
Ennodius of Pavia→Faustus|c. 512 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
illness
From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To: Faustus
Date: ~513 AD
Context: A letter from a troubled spirit — Ennodius cannot endure silence but also struggles with the limitations of what he can put into words.
Ennodius to Faustus.
A sick spirit endures silence no more than a sick body endures stillness. I must speak, even when speaking brings no cure. The restlessness that drives my pen is the restlessness of a man who cares too much to remain quiet.
Bear with me. The words may be imperfect, but the concern that produces them is not. Farewell.
XXIIII. ENNODIVS FAVSTO.
Aeger animus sicut silentia non patitur, ita processum narrationis
abiurat: contestationi maeroris nec taciturnitas nec
conloquia prolixa conueniunt: artatur pagina cui uix inter
gemitus uerba tribuuntur. sed quid adsero linguae ferias plus
loquendo et coactam necessariis epistulam terminis garrulitate
polliceor? deum quaeso, ut anxietati meae de manifesto pro-
speritatis uestrae succurrat indicio. ille admittat lacrimas meas,
cui clausa ora fabulantur, cui ad plenam legationem sufficit
a conpunctione defluens imber oculorum. ego labefactatam non
2 dampnum LV 4 suadet] suae et B memoriae B
5 adcessit B inperaiti B 7 ingeniis (iia in ras.) T 8 qm
poasitamieusT9iudicantiumb11aom.Bm
poasit amicas T 9 iudicantium b 11 a om. B tribiali
B 12 obseqtL B feri B 15 to Y 16 inuitare] finit
ndd. B
XXIIII. 19 eger B 20 meroris LTV 21 arctatur TV
22 tribnntnr L 24 pollioeor] prolixo fort.; sed ef. Epist. VII12
queeo TV allegationem fort . 27 inber B labefactam T1
8*
solum quietem meam sed et salutem inimicorum ualitudine et
rumorum procellis agnosco. potens est diuinitas inmensae
tempestatis incerta bono serenitatis amouere. uos, si de deo
mereor, saluete et amanti in uobis conscientiam con Rauennates
excubias tabellarum promulgatione consulite.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To:Faustus
Date:~513 AD
Context:A letter from a troubled spirit — Ennodius cannot endure silence but also struggles with the limitations of what he can put into words.
Ennodius to Faustus.
A sick spirit endures silence no more than a sick body endures stillness. I must speak, even when speaking brings no cure. The restlessness that drives my pen is the restlessness of a man who cares too much to remain quiet.
Bear with me. The words may be imperfect, but the concern that produces them is not. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.