Letter 4028: If things had gone as I wished, this letter would carry a different message.

Ennodius to Agapitus. If my days flowed according to my wish, I would devote my effort to leisured pages rather than to dutiful ones, nor would I divert the service of affection to errands that are alien to it. But, compelled, I have exchanged a matter of careful attention for one of necessity. For a man both lofty and magnificent toils under the deceitful snares of his enemies, and through me he implores the protection of your sense of justice, lest a crooked contrivance be permitted to assail his reputation and perhaps reap the profit of a fabricated rumor. My lord, offering you a most abundant greeting, I beg that the vigor which is known to dwell in you may rise up, and that what is sought from your side may, through the compliance of my discourse, be brought to a fitting fulfillment.

XXVIII. ENNODIVS AGAPITO. Si mihi ex sententia dies fluerent, non negotiosis operam paginis potius quam obsequentibus exhiberem nec munus .ł\' 1 fauor] amor T liberatis B ut Bb,-et LPTV 3 ae- thereaa Pb, aeternus Sirm . 5 dispendio non dabltum nichi frangatur T (corr m. 2) 6 animam T* 7 persona fort.; post personis uulgo interpungitur, cf. Wiener Studien II p. 231 \' 10 usus L S. t m . ant. cupias B 11 antecellant] finit add. B i XXVII. 14 et om. Sirm. 15 magnam L ***ista L . 16 sens*um L 17 domini B 19 disperationem JS 90 cegnoseere T 21 conloquia] finit add. B . caritatis ad officia peregrina transducerem. sed coactus rem diligentiae necessariis commutaui. sublimis enim et magnificus uir pro dolosis inimicorum laborat insidiis, qui per me aequitatis uestrae inplorat patrocinium, ne praua concinnatio opinionem eius permittatur incessere et fabricati rumoris ferat forte conpendium. domine mi, salutationem largissimam dicens deprecor, ut ille qui in uobis notus est uigor adsurgat et quod a partibus uestris poscitur mei sermonis obsequio ad inpetrationem congruam perducatur.