Ennodius to Opilio, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious].
I certainly owe replies to your earlier letters, and in the service of my principles -- or at least my shame -- I should double the correspondence I have received, lest I displease you with my rustic writing and a man of higher station regret having condescended by recoiling from the tedium. For it is through our own fault that those placed on high do not forget their pride: they follow the path of that particular vice all the more readily if even humble people seem to suspect it. After all, it is self-discipline that elevates the most eminent, and the fullness of worldly honors grows only through this art. So it must be considered what damage the constraints of low station inflict on those who have not measured it.
Let it suffice, then, for Your Magnitude that, after two letters from you, I now recognize the error I committed through silence. But I was afraid, I confess, that the attempt to avoid one fault might lead me into another, and that words intended as a courtesy, unpolished by any skill, might give offense instead. I shrank from the kind of horror that ignorance breeds from the mere occasion of obedience.
There -- I have shown that I possessed both the soul of a man making a confession and the modesty of one who, knowing his own powers, hesitates to make restitution. It remains, most refined of men, for me to learn whether this, too, pleases you: that I have not repaid what I received until now. For an honest assessment of our own capabilities is the best guide, and, as in all things, the most effective guardian of reputation is a restraint exercised around the meagerness of one's tongue. If eloquent men gain credit from modesty, then the name of wisdom is easily won when it is through wisdom itself that one's lack of eloquence falls silent.
Nevertheless, I risk my reputation for the case you have entrusted to me, and in carrying out your orders I commit my good name to uncertain chances. Agnellus of the Casae property keeps deceiving me with various false promises, wanting us to name the purchase price ourselves. But you know the insatiable greed of a bad man, who can only be cured by contempt for money. My lord, I send my greetings and ask that the bond of faithful love and our agreement be honored toward me.
III. ENNODIVS OPILIONI V. I.
Debeo equidem prioribus responsa conloquiis et in obsequio
propositi uel pudoris, nisi pagina rusticante displiceam, accepta
geminare, ne potioris dignatio ad paenitentiam redeat
1 dotis LV 2 stimmata B, stemata LTV continuisset
Bb 4 in ueteribuB ex meteribus L m. ant . 5 consuetus B
6 cum ex con T m. 2 7 erudieio BL bono ex beato T m. 3
sobolis LTV sepulchra LPTYb 8 actenus B et Bb, om.
LPTV 9 concessus] censondus b w mg . reglgens B, negligens
LTV 10 potui om. B disperare B 12 facites ee (es ex
is eorr.) B 14 infeconda Tl 16 causedicus BL V 17 reserastis
B 18 incombe T\' 19 utj aut L 20 sarculo T,
arculo L purgandoJ finit add. B
III. 22 ui. B, VI b, om. T 28 pro prioribus B 25 penitentiam
BLTV .
de abiuratione fastidii. nostro enim uitio in culmine constituti
supercilii memoriam non amittunt, si illud mali genus sectari
et humiles suspicentur. cum enim eminentissimos adtollat
castigatio sua et honorum plenitudo saecularium hoc solo artificio
patiatur augmenta, considerandum est quid abiectis detrimenti
pariat status angustia non metiti. ergo sufficiat magnitudini
uestrae, quod post duplicem scriptionem sentio quid per
silentium erroris incurrerim. sed timui confiteor, ne ad uitium
me duceret fuga culparum et [sermo deputatus ad gratiam,
dum nulla peritiae lima comeretur, inueniret offensam. refugi
horrorem, qui ignaris de parendi occasione generatur. ecce
asserui habuisse me et animam depositum confitentis et bene
de uiribus conscii in restitutione uerecundiam. restat autem,
emendatissimi hominum, et illud placere uobis allegationis
meae inspectione cognoscam, quod hactenus accepta non reddidi.
fida enim index est possibilitatis nostrae consideratio et
sicut in omnibus praecipua, ita famam muniens circa linguae
maciem custodita, quia, si crescit eloquentium dos pudore, facile
prudentiae nomen adipiscitur, cum per ipsum conticescat,
infantia. causae tamen, quam iniunxistis, iacturam frontis exhibeo
et dum imperata exsequor, opinionem ad incerta transmitto.
Agnellus de casis per uarias promissionum mihi inludit
effigies, uolens a nobis summam pretii designari. sed mali
9 cf. Hor. A. p. us. 31
1 abiurtatione T 2 rapplicii T 3 eminentissim| B
.0
4 plenifcuda L1 saecularum L 5 aumenta B, agmenta T
7 post om. T p 8. I. add . m. 2 8 silentium V sed sil in ras. 3
lite. quarum prima c incurrerem B cuteor uereor V uereor exp . et
afiteor 8. scr. m. 1 10 offesam (eeam in ras.) B 11 parendi B
PТ2b, pariendi LТ1V 13 uerecondiam T restatute mendatis-
Bimi B 14 et] ut fort . allegationee F1 15 actenus B
16 indiz B 17 ita] prima T famam B (ut proposui Wiener
Studten II p. 255), fama LPTVb 18 custodite L1 Quia si
b, qui aai B, quasi LPTV, qua si conieceram l . c. dos] de T
19 conticiscat B 20 iniancxistis BV 21 obsequor T 22 inludet
B 23 nobis L et Sirm . summa L1
hominis ardorem insatiabilem esse didicistis, qui nisi contemptu
pecuniae non sanetur. domine mi, saluto et rogo, ut religio
circa. me pii amoris seruetur et foederis.
◆
Ennodius to Opilio, Vir Illustris [Most Illustrious].
I certainly owe replies to your earlier letters, and in the service of my principles -- or at least my shame -- I should double the correspondence I have received, lest I displease you with my rustic writing and a man of higher station regret having condescended by recoiling from the tedium. For it is through our own fault that those placed on high do not forget their pride: they follow the path of that particular vice all the more readily if even humble people seem to suspect it. After all, it is self-discipline that elevates the most eminent, and the fullness of worldly honors grows only through this art. So it must be considered what damage the constraints of low station inflict on those who have not measured it.
Let it suffice, then, for Your Magnitude that, after two letters from you, I now recognize the error I committed through silence. But I was afraid, I confess, that the attempt to avoid one fault might lead me into another, and that words intended as a courtesy, unpolished by any skill, might give offense instead. I shrank from the kind of horror that ignorance breeds from the mere occasion of obedience.
There -- I have shown that I possessed both the soul of a man making a confession and the modesty of one who, knowing his own powers, hesitates to make restitution. It remains, most refined of men, for me to learn whether this, too, pleases you: that I have not repaid what I received until now. For an honest assessment of our own capabilities is the best guide, and, as in all things, the most effective guardian of reputation is a restraint exercised around the meagerness of one's tongue. If eloquent men gain credit from modesty, then the name of wisdom is easily won when it is through wisdom itself that one's lack of eloquence falls silent.
Nevertheless, I risk my reputation for the case you have entrusted to me, and in carrying out your orders I commit my good name to uncertain chances. Agnellus of the Casae property keeps deceiving me with various false promises, wanting us to name the purchase price ourselves. But you know the insatiable greed of a bad man, who can only be cured by contempt for money. My lord, I send my greetings and ask that the bond of faithful love and our agreement be honored toward me.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.