Letter 5009: May the divine power second our honorable desires.

May the Divinity prosper honorable desires; may a favorable omen not be denied to good pursuits; may noble intentions grow strong through the fruits of prosperity. He has handed over a pledge of his vows to honorableness who aspires, with the favor of the powers above, to the liberal disciplines: a love of the good arts disdains a savage character; men do not strive toward the ornaments of eloquence unless they have been formed in good morals. Spurred by these incitements, our Parthenius, the son of my own sister, hastens to visit Rome, in which there is a natural erudition; and on his behalf I have promised, after a father's fashion, the support of Your Greatness. By this suppliant of mine a kindness is granted to your eminence, while we implore with prayers what need demands, just as if someone should believe that he earns by his speech the rising of the sun or the course of a river. It is no favor where due order is preserved: that which binds all men yields to custom. Yet I come forward as one about to receive something beyond the customary course, from which you in no way depart. I have dispatched a person in whom the standing of my own merits may be assessed. Others perhaps an undeserved commendation may help: for kinsmen, whatever we cannot surpass counts for less. My lord, presenting the services of my greeting, and having set forth the bearer and his business in few words, it remains for me to acknowledge what the person, the cause, and the nearness of kinship may deserve.

VIIII. ENNODIVS FAVSTO. Secundet desideria honesta diuinitas: felix auspicium bonis non negetur studiis: ingenuae intentiones prosperorum fructibus 1 Cluuienum coni. Gronouius in ObBerv. p. 404; cf. Iuuenalis Sat. I 80 2 contemptus T 3 sententia. placeat T 4 mors ut B1 5 agnoueris (is in ras.) L 6 cauda B 7 uers∗u ̃ L 9 tollitur-l. 22 pugnax om. T ad cliui Pb 11 admouit B 12 similes B 13 fumigar V et Sirm . 15 focos Sirm., focus B LV, focum Pb sorbit BLPY, sorbet b 17 cunctus L T 18 rori uapore fero Ll 19 pyra Sirm., poera BL, poena F, pera b, per. P 20 alterne BL 21 nimphis L V v VIIII. 24 FASTO B 25 diuinitas] diuturnitas Bb felix ex flex//// L m. ant . 26 negeretur L intentiones PТ\'b, intentionis BLTlV conualescant. uotorum obsidem tradidit honestati qui ad liberales adspirat superis fauentibus disciplinas: bonarum affectus artium dirum dedignatur ingenium: ad eloquentiae ornamenta non tendunt nisi moribus instituti. his Partenius noster germanae filius incitatus stimulis Romam, in qua est naturalis eruditio, festinat inuisere, cui magnitudinis uestrae suffragia sum paterna pollicitus. datur culmini uestro per supplicantem genius, dum, quod usus exigit, precibus inploramus, ceu si quis credat se ortum solis, cursum fluminis oratione promereri. non est beneficium, ubi ordo seruatur: mori obsequitur quod obligat uniuersos. ego tamen supra cursum, a quo nequaquam disceditis, aliquid accepturus occurro. direxi personam, in qua meritorum meorum status aestimetur. alios forsitan commendatio iuuet indebita: parentibus minus est quicquid superare non possumus. domine mi, seruitia salutationis repraesentans, portitorem paucis eiusque negotium elocutus, restat ut agnoscam quid mereatur persona causa proximitas.