Ennodius to Marcianus.
While my mind was tossing between hope and fear in anxious uncertainty about you, you opened up sure signs of your progress with the sweetness of conversation. You are pursuing the eloquence that is native to your family line, a faithful heir of genuine learning. The vein of language does not degenerate, as I see, and the succession of skill runs by the same right as inherited property. I used to think that the gifts of knowledge were a matter of individual talent alone, not of family -- that what is achieved through continuous labor and tireless effort could not be traced through pedigrees.
But it now appears that eloquence keeps its proper order, and that the splendor of speech which overflowed in the elders migrates to their descendants. The course of learning and the course of rivers agree: the stream of speech flows along its accustomed channels. Education has come to you along with your father's estate, and in the goodness of the offspring, Asterius [Marcianus's father] is restored from the grave.
I confess I have been envious of earlier generations until now, sighing for the age that had been granted his company -- a careless judge of heavenly blessings, since I could have despaired of the harvest when the root's substance remained intact. But divine providence, in order to add grace to its gifts, makes what it bestows unexpected, and by exceeding our expectations, reveals its power through generosity.
Liguria [northern Italy] is not barren of good offspring. She nurtures for the forum seedlings that even the Senate would gladly embrace. The advocate and the senator are joined by a familiar kinship: the consular robe smiles invitingly upon those who have made good use of the toga of the courts. Farewell, my dearest friend, and devote yourself fully to these fine accomplishments. Let honorable studies claim you entirely. Hasten to arrive at your father's harvest, purging your tongue with the hoe of reading and your character through the imitation of good men.
II. ENNODIVS MARCIANO.
Dum inter spem et metum animus meus anxio de te iactaretur
incerto., solida profectus tui indicia conloquii melle reserasti,
quia domesticam origini tuae facundiam fidelis doctrinae
heres insequeris. non degenerat, ut uideo, uena. linguarum et
peritiae successio illo quo patrimonia iure discurrit... putabam
2 semper—mediocris om. L* add. m. ant. in mg . 4 et terminos
B 5 in h.] inhumanas T concinatione B trangesus B
6 nris AT 7 celo nobis B, nobis caelo B 9 per] pro B
placere B affecto T caritatis L 10 incerta B 11 poet
iungat 8 litt . ras. in B affectus PRb 12 ueniat LPT1V, ueniet
B ualete — affectui om. AB, inclusit Sirm. domine B,
domiae P (asd e corr.) b 13 tamantem B reoelate T con-
i loqis B 14 preatentur B a effectui V (a s. I. M. 1), effectui
Pb; flnit add. B, codices A et B autem hanc exhibent subecriptionem:
data xvin, kldaram noubrm die indictione VIII. (octaaa flnit add.
A) AR
H. 16 marttano T 17 com T anxio de te B, de te aIIdo
LPTV, de te anxius b 19 facondiam Tl 21 diacurret et B
scientiae dotes rem tantum ingeniorum esse non familiae nec
duci per stemmata quod labor continuus et indefessus sudor
adipiscitur. sed, quantum apparet, ordines suos seruat eloquentia
et oris pompa, quae exundauit in ueteribus, migrat
ad posteros: concordat scientiae cursus et fluminum, per consuetos
alueos et dicendi unda praelabitur. uenit ad te cum
censu patris eruditio et bono subolis Asterium sepulcra restituunt.
inuidi fateor hactenus annis senioribus et aetatem, cui
ille concessus fuerat, suspiraui, beneficiorum caelestium neglegens
aestimator, quando potui desperare de togae fructibus
radicis manente substantia. sed superna dispensatio ut det
genium beneficiis, inprouisum facit esse quod tribuit et dum
nota. transgreditur, potentiam suam liberalitate manifestat.
non est bonis partubus infecunda Liguria: nutrit foro germina,
quae libenter amplectatur et curia. nota proximitate
sociantur causidicus et senator: his qui bene toga usi fuerint
reseratis susceptura sinibus palmata blanditur. uale, dulcissime,
et ad haec decora multus incumbe: totum te studia
honesta suscipiant: festina, ut ad messem patriam uenias, linguam
lectionis sarculo, mores bonorum imitatione purgando.
◆
Ennodius to Marcianus.
While my mind was tossing between hope and fear in anxious uncertainty about you, you opened up sure signs of your progress with the sweetness of conversation. You are pursuing the eloquence that is native to your family line, a faithful heir of genuine learning. The vein of language does not degenerate, as I see, and the succession of skill runs by the same right as inherited property. I used to think that the gifts of knowledge were a matter of individual talent alone, not of family -- that what is achieved through continuous labor and tireless effort could not be traced through pedigrees.
But it now appears that eloquence keeps its proper order, and that the splendor of speech which overflowed in the elders migrates to their descendants. The course of learning and the course of rivers agree: the stream of speech flows along its accustomed channels. Education has come to you along with your father's estate, and in the goodness of the offspring, Asterius [Marcianus's father] is restored from the grave.
I confess I have been envious of earlier generations until now, sighing for the age that had been granted his company -- a careless judge of heavenly blessings, since I could have despaired of the harvest when the root's substance remained intact. But divine providence, in order to add grace to its gifts, makes what it bestows unexpected, and by exceeding our expectations, reveals its power through generosity.
Liguria [northern Italy] is not barren of good offspring. She nurtures for the forum seedlings that even the Senate would gladly embrace. The advocate and the senator are joined by a familiar kinship: the consular robe smiles invitingly upon those who have made good use of the toga of the courts. Farewell, my dearest friend, and devote yourself fully to these fine accomplishments. Let honorable studies claim you entirely. Hasten to arrive at your father's harvest, purging your tongue with the hoe of reading and your character through the imitation of good men.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.