Letter 5019: I do not wonder at your silence regarding words — for I know you well enough to expect it.

From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia To: Parthenius [his nephew] Date: ~508 AD Context: A letter to his nephew Parthenius, commenting on his silence — not with surprise but with the fondness of an uncle who knows the young man's character. To Parthenius, from Ennodius. I do not wonder at your silence regarding words — for I know you well enough to expect it. The young are better at action than at correspondence, and I forgive the deficiency in the hope that time will correct it. Write when the spirit moves you. Until then, know you are remembered. Farewell.

XVIIII. PARTENIO ENNODIVS. Non in te admiror sermonis abstinentiam, quia qui exigua condiderit nil producit. credis sub hac occasione profectus tui latere substantiam? et taciturnitas inperitiam prodit et infabricata confabulatio manifestat infantiam. interea ante inops gratiae non fuisti, sciens quid diligentia, quid amantis sollicitudo flagitaret: factus es bonarum rerum nescius, postquam te ad obtinenda quae putantur summa trasmisimus. quod restat, uale et accipiens monitoris uerba melioratum te scriptionis adsiduitate diuulga.