Letter 5008: [Petrus has recently received a promotion at court.

Ennodius to Petrus. [Petrus has recently received a promotion at court. Ennodius reproaches him for failing to write.] After the venerable justice of our prince rescued your endangered fortunes, granting you the seedling of honors in place of the harvest of your virtues, you have committed a double sin by nourishing an irreligious silence through a holiday of the tongue -- sinning both against your own eloquence and against my love for you. For eloquence, fortified by its natural defenses, naturally grows stronger whenever it serves as herald of good fortune. A richer fluency enlists in the service of advancing honors; the mouths of the skilled announce their own progress through corresponding successes. And so your unlovable silence has both robbed you of the spirit of speech and grudged me the pleasure of rejoicing. You may answer: "You could blame me for ignorance, my friend, if a report dedicated to you through ordinary messengers had suppressed the news of my promotion." But I do not allow myself to learn of the achievements of those I love through mere rumor, or to gather manifest joy from the unreliability of hearsay. I knew what hope of closer bond the straightforward testimony of a learned man had once given me. I believed I would vainly commit my heart to fair weather from a quarter where you were not commanding me to be cheerful. I thought that the speed of your pen -- fashioned, as it were, with the oars of a thousand wings -- could have outpaced the feet of common report, so that no one else would steal the fruit by telling me the welcome news before you did. So here, my lord: receive the honor of my greeting and, now that you know the causes of my grief, do not deny a swift remedy -- for I trust that neither faithfulness in devotion nor a well-polished style of speech deserts you when it comes to writing.

VIII. ENNODIVS PETRO. Postquam uenerabilis iustitia principis periclitatis moribus magnitudinis tuae donauit te honorum germine pro messe uirtutum, per linguae ferias fouens inreligiosa silentia et in eloquentia tua et in meo amore peccasti, quia naturalibus adolescit elocutio munita superciliis, quotiens prosperorum 2 saltibuss B uenerabilis—sine om. Bl add. corr. in mg . 3 scemate LPTV, scematę B 4 mi om. LPTV, mea b 5 spiri- tuis B illins] illius sc ̃ι P, sci uis b ledatur B 7 epytafium B; epitaphium-l. 17 deum om. T 8 ∙a ̣̇ ∙ nil et l. 17 deum ∙ ω ∙ L qui his litteris carminum initia et exitus significare solet ne° L t 10 mixa B 11 feminae otramite B 13 uiz erunt b praetiis B 14 stimma Bl, stema L Y 15 iudicium LP cui] tua P\'bj cf. indicem de cui 16 natos] tantos B VIII. 20 iustitia scripsi, iudicia BLPTYb, iudicium Sinn., iudicii princeps uel 0 uenerabilia indicia principis coni. Schottus 24 snpercialiis T prospiorum T famulatur indicio. copiosior facundia honorum militat incrementis: profectus BUOS non inparibus significant peritorum ora successibus. ecce inamabilis taciturnitas et uobis dicendi abstulit genium et mihi laetitiae inuidit effectum. referatis forsitan: posses me, amice, de ignoratione culpare, si quid tibi de apice meo promiscuis dedicata nuntiis fama suppressit. sed ego agnoscere carorum culmina rumore non patior et manifesta gaudii colligere de opinionis inconstantia. noueram quam mihi deuinctionis spem simplex eruditi dudum fecisset allegatio: credebam frustra me in illa parte serenis animum auris committere, unde tu me esse hilarem non iubebas: illam ipsam mille alarum fabricatam remigiis scriptionis tuae aestimabam pedibus potuisse superari, ne amanti expectata bona tibi fructum praeripiens alter ingereret. ecce, mi domine, honorem salutati accipiens agnitis dolorum causis remedia properata non deneges, quia, quantum praesumo, nec fides in diligentia nec ad unguem ductus sermo uos deserit in loquela. non contentus tamen uno dicendi genere displicere carmen adieci, ut post epulas Antenorei gurgitis, quas lauacra Aponi. coacta in artum carnis lege castigant, dum illud, quod aquarum fetibus distenditur, aqua desecat, ego quoque, qui Heliconis fluenta non tetigi, poeta 12 cf. Verg. Aen. I 301 I 1 cupiosior B facondia T, faoonda L bonorum Pb 2 suos Strm., suus BLPTVb aigniacat T 4 laeticiae B 5 poMis B 6 suppressisset fort . 7 arorum L\' 8 de] dõ B 9 deuinctionis Pb, diuinctionis BLV, disiunctionis T 10 frustram B auribus T et Sirm. sine causa, cum serena auris idem ualeat ac serena quae audieram, cf. Wiener Studien II p. 236 comittere L Y 11 tu ex cu L m. ant . hilan m esse Sirm . iubeas Ll, uidebaa P 12 arum L 13 expectate Tl tibi B 8.1 14 ingerent B 15 dolorem L properata BL, praeparata Sirrn . denegis B 17 sermo B 8.1 loquella B contemptns TI 18 discendi T1 taman∗|dieci L (corr. m. ant.) ępulas B 19 git gurgitis B quas B, quos LPTVb apponi Tb 21 desiccat fort . eliconis BLPTV 9* nouus admiscear. accipe ergo risum motura poemata et Glouidenum tuum te solum agnouisse contentus, a publico rigore me subtrahe, quia, si est quod forte placeat, sententia mihi uestra sufficit, si quod morsu dignum sit, secretum puto quod de amici culpis agnoueris. dabis etiam ueniam, quia oculorum pressus angore poemata fortasse clauda conposui: non enim possunt esse uersuum solidata uestigia luminis officio destituta. lege ergo aquas calidas, quas inuises. Tollitur adclini tellus subnixa tumore, Leniter elato fulta supercilio. Verticibus nullis caput admouet illa superbum Nec similis pressis uallibus ima petit. Fumifer hic patulis Aponus fluit undique uenis, Pacificus mixtis ignis anhelat aquis. Vnda focos seruat, non sorbit flamma liquorem: Infuso crepitat fons sacer inde rogo. Ebrius hic cunctis medicinam suggerit ardor, Corpora desiccans rore uaporifero. Hic pyra gurgitibus, scintillis fluctuat umor: Viuitur alternae mortis amicitia. Ne pereat, nymphis Vulcanus mergitur illis, Foedera naturae rupit concordia pugnax.