Ennodius of Pavia→Senarius, an man (a Roman official at Burgundian court)|c. 518 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendshiptravel mobility
From: Ennodius, deacon of Milan (later bishop of Pavia)
To: Senarius, senior official at the court of Theoderic the Great
Date: ~505 AD
Context: A letter that turns a rebuke for Senarius's silence into a sophisticated argument about the nature of friendship — love, Ennodius insists, is simply too impatient to observe the courtesies of restraint — before pivoting to commend a letter-bearer to Senarius's protection.
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If love would yield to shame, if the restless urgency of affection could be held in check by the law of decorum, I would restrain myself from the duty of filling pages and would take up your own model of silence as my guide. I would not be so rash a judge as to conclude that what receives no return from you is therefore unloved — nor that the easiest way to persuade men schooled in the arts of the court [the *comitatus*, Theoderic's traveling royal household] to abstain from writing is simply by saying nothing, proclaiming through the holidays of the tongue what they reject. But it is not so.
Your Greatness is not so precisely squared by a craftsman's rule that it could escape the eyes of one who loves you, however many veils might be drawn across it — for the mind of a friend looks into the innermost chamber without the obstruction of any garment. Let no one imagine that the polished refinement of the court, fired and forged in courtly furnaces, can conceal from those it holds dear the inner workings of a hidden intention.
But I suspect you will oppose my complaints with exactly the kind of excuse that suits your station: that the duties of the idle cannot properly be demanded of the busy; that men bound tight to royal service can scarcely step down to such obligations. I have heard this argument often enough, I confess, but I have never accepted it — because necessity frequently outstrips desire, and because fear, without pause, gives way to affection. It is the *will* that is at fault when it defends itself with so neatly assembled an excuse.
And so, my lord, see how great are the things I grieve — things I have given voice to in the very act of greeting you. I commend to you the bearer of this letter, a man of proven faithfulness and honorable birth, asking that through the benefit of Your Eminence's patronage, the insolence of his enemies — crushed beneath the weight of their own schemes — may be made to yield.
Farewell.
XXXIII. ENNODIVS SENARIO.
Si amor pudori adquiesceret, si caritatis inpatientia uerecundiae
lege teneretur, a paginalibus officiis temperarem et
silentii formam uestri imitator adsumerem, non inprouidus
aestimator coniciens illa, quibus remuneratio a uobis subtrahitur,
non amari nec suaderi facilius tabellarum abstinentiam
quam tacendo, uiros comitatensis exercitii per linguae
ferias clamare quid respuant. sed non ita est magnitudo
2 muniis Pb, munue BLT1V, moneribus T* ab] a Pb
3 confi**|tetur (te eras.) L negligentiam BT 4 est T s. I .
5 occiosi T 7 gratia B, anime T 9 affaerit LPTVb
dampnatis T, damnates B 11 utrorumquę B 13 recipi B
14 podore B1 geminati T* 15 querqns B 16 memore.
Ll m eras. et re in rS corr. m. ant . multiplicet] finit add. B
XXXIII. 19 pudore fbrt . inpacientia B 90 tenetor L
21 silentii in silentium carr. T m. 2 formam Bb, om. LPTV
imitatur B impronide Pb 22 aestimatar B subtrahetur
B 24 uiro comittat enais Bb
tua lineis quadrata fabrilibus, ut quolibet tecta uelamine
amantis oculos possit effugere, quia sine obstaculo uestium
penetralia respicit mens amici. nemo aestimet quod latentis
interna consilii apud caros aulicis excocta fornacibus celet urbanitas.
sed credo, querelis meis illud ordinis uestri aptum
excusationibus genus opponas: non recte ab occupatis otiosorum
munia postulari, uix ad haec officia posse descendere
obsequiis principalibus adhaerentes. audiui quidem saepe talia,
sed confiteor non recepi, quia frequenter necessitates desideria
transcendunt et sine intermissione timor cedit affectui uoluntas
in culpa est, quae concinnata excusatione defenditur. ecce,
mi domine, quam magna doleam, cum officio salutationis adserui,
perlatorem utrimque earum pro fide sua et nobilitate
commendans, ut beneficio culminis uestri inimicorum eius insolentia
technis suis oppressa subiaceat. uale.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon of Milan (later bishop of Pavia)
To:Senarius, senior official at the court of Theoderic the Great
Date:~505 AD
Context:A letter that turns a rebuke for Senarius's silence into a sophisticated argument about the nature of friendship — love, Ennodius insists, is simply too impatient to observe the courtesies of restraint — before pivoting to commend a letter-bearer to Senarius's protection.
---
If love would yield to shame, if the restless urgency of affection could be held in check by the law of decorum, I would restrain myself from the duty of filling pages and would take up your own model of silence as my guide. I would not be so rash a judge as to conclude that what receives no return from you is therefore unloved — nor that the easiest way to persuade men schooled in the arts of the court [the *comitatus*, Theoderic's traveling royal household] to abstain from writing is simply by saying nothing, proclaiming through the holidays of the tongue what they reject. But it is not so.
Your Greatness is not so precisely squared by a craftsman's rule that it could escape the eyes of one who loves you, however many veils might be drawn across it — for the mind of a friend looks into the innermost chamber without the obstruction of any garment. Let no one imagine that the polished refinement of the court, fired and forged in courtly furnaces, can conceal from those it holds dear the inner workings of a hidden intention.
But I suspect you will oppose my complaints with exactly the kind of excuse that suits your station: that the duties of the idle cannot properly be demanded of the busy; that men bound tight to royal service can scarcely step down to such obligations. I have heard this argument often enough, I confess, but I have never accepted it — because necessity frequently outstrips desire, and because fear, without pause, gives way to affection. It is the *will* that is at fault when it defends itself with so neatly assembled an excuse.
And so, my lord, see how great are the things I grieve — things I have given voice to in the very act of greeting you. I commend to you the bearer of this letter, a man of proven faithfulness and honorable birth, asking that through the benefit of Your Eminence's patronage, the insolence of his enemies — crushed beneath the weight of their own schemes — may be made to yield.
Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.