Ennodius of Pavia→Avitus of Vienne|c. 513 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
barbarian invasionillness
From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To: Avitus (senior official or senator of the Ostrogothic court)
Date: ~514 AD
Context: Ennodius defends himself after being implicated in the failures of Sabinus's son, who missed his obligations not through negligence but through illness — and now, recovered, has rushed to Milan to make amends.
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How often the sins of others press down upon us, and what has its origin nowhere in ourselves is charged, with every appearance of justice, against our own transgressions! From my own experience I have learned that the testimony of the ancients does not perish — for through new events, the ancient proclamation of the poets is renewed. I believe that line was spoken with me in mind: *the unhappy man falls by another's wound* [Virgil, *Aeneid* X.781 — a warrior struck down not by his own enemy, but by a blow meant for someone else].
This is precisely the predicament now set before me in the case of the son of Sabinus — that man of venerable memory — who, held fast until now by the hindrances of illness, has broken obligations that were established through no fault of his own. I confess that the weighty declaration of Your Greatness had very nearly rendered my own mind guilty before itself: I had begun to believe the failing truly mine, though my conscience sheltered no awareness of it whatsoever. But behold — the very moment he was restored to good health, he set out for Milan with the utmost speed.
The remaining particulars I did not think it necessary to press before you, for one who commends justice to great men seems, by that very act, to set forgetfulness in opposition to equity [that is, to remind a great man of fairness is to imply he might otherwise forget it — an insult to his character].
My lord, I offer you the gift of my most complete greeting; and for what remains, I entreat that the state of your grace toward me — abundant as it already is — may yet be moved to receive still further increase.
XXV. AVITO ENNODIVS.
Quam saepe aliena peccata nos ingrauant et quod a nobis
non oritur iure nostro inputatur excessui! ex me didici fidem
ueterum non: perire, dum per negotia nouella cana poetarum
reparatur adnuntiatio. de me dictum aestimo: decidit infelix
alieno uulnere. super expectandae memoriae uiri
Sabini filio exhibetur praefata concinnatio, qui hactenus aegritudinis
tentus obstaculis sine uitio suo constituta uiolauit.
fateor paene animum meum reum fecerat magnitudinis uestrae
diues adsertio et credebam culpam esse propriam, quam conscientia
non habebat. ecce, ut primum in bonam ualitudinem
reductus est, Mediolanum cum summa properatione commeauit.
cetera apud uos alleganda esse non credidi, quia qui commendat
magnis uiris iustitiam obliuionem uidetur aequitatis opponere.
domine mi, salutationis plenissimae munus exhibeo et, quod
12 Verg. Aen. X 781 sternitar infelix alieno uolnere
t
1 exacturos B 2 nostrum T fimet B 3 accipientis
B 6 diBtinabo B
XXV. alterum huius epistulae apographim in libris BLTVb post
Epist. VI12 legitur (B2L2T2V2b2) ennodius anito L, 10 inputatur
BIB" imputatur L.T, V2b1b2, impatetor L1PT1V1 12 adnnnciatio
B, dictum (u in ras.) Bt deaidit Pb1, decedit B"
decidet B1L1L2T1T2V1V2b2 18 exspectandae L2V2 mamorię
L2 14 sanini B1B2L1L2PT1T2V1V2b1 haotSnns Bt, aetenus
Bt egritadinis BtLt 16 paene L1L2V2, pene rell. ure
Tx ee Tt 17 diuis BIB, quem Tt 18 ualetudinem
B,bs 90 alliganda B1B2T2V2 21 supponere fort . B mihi
B1B2L1L2V1V2 ex*ibes L,
VI.
10
superest, quaeso ut status circa me gratiae uestrae, quamuis
sit plenissimus, adhuc tamen recipere cogatur augmenta
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To:Avitus (senior official or senator of the Ostrogothic court)
Date:~514 AD
Context:Ennodius defends himself after being implicated in the failures of Sabinus's son, who missed his obligations not through negligence but through illness — and now, recovered, has rushed to Milan to make amends.
---
How often the sins of others press down upon us, and what has its origin nowhere in ourselves is charged, with every appearance of justice, against our own transgressions! From my own experience I have learned that the testimony of the ancients does not perish — for through new events, the ancient proclamation of the poets is renewed. I believe that line was spoken with me in mind: *the unhappy man falls by another's wound* [Virgil, *Aeneid* X.781 — a warrior struck down not by his own enemy, but by a blow meant for someone else].
This is precisely the predicament now set before me in the case of the son of Sabinus — that man of venerable memory — who, held fast until now by the hindrances of illness, has broken obligations that were established through no fault of his own. I confess that the weighty declaration of Your Greatness had very nearly rendered my own mind guilty before itself: I had begun to believe the failing truly mine, though my conscience sheltered no awareness of it whatsoever. But behold — the very moment he was restored to good health, he set out for Milan with the utmost speed.
The remaining particulars I did not think it necessary to press before you, for one who commends justice to great men seems, by that very act, to set forgetfulness in opposition to equity [that is, to remind a great man of fairness is to imply he might otherwise forget it — an insult to his character].
My lord, I offer you the gift of my most complete greeting; and for what remains, I entreat that the state of your grace toward me — abundant as it already is — may yet be moved to receive still further increase.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.