Letter 5026: Sins resist the fulfillment of our desires — that is the simple truth of our condition.
Ennodius of Pavia→Agapitus|c. 514 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
grief deathillness
From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To: Agapitus
Date: ~515 AD
Context: A letter lamenting that sins resist the fulfillment of desires — a theological reflection on the obstacles to happiness.
To Agapitus, from Ennodius.
Sins resist the fulfillment of our desires — that is the simple truth of our condition. What we hope for, our own failures obstruct; what we pray for, our own weakness delays.
I write not in despair but in honest assessment. The remedy is the same remedy it has always been: repentance, persistence, and grace. Farewell.
XXVI. AGAPITO ENNODIVS.
Resistunt peccata desideriis et ut meritorum status delinquentibus
innotescat, a labiorum proximitate cupita subtrahuntur.
acrius adfligunt oblata, cum pereunt: potior sitis est,
quam undarum gustus exaggerat: non urunt memoriam prima
fronte negata beneficia: quis ferat ingestam oculis aequo animo
se perdidisse dulcedinem? sed recte ista ad supernam remittuntur
prouidentiam, qua caelestis dispensatio mysterii idcirco
humanis dispositionibus manus opponit, ut uotorum praestet
effectum. sanctus pater uester libenter se pariturum iussioni
magnitudinis uestrae fuerat de mea occursione pollicitus, sed
animum eius in diuersam partem pro utilitate, quantum dicit,
ecclesiae superuenientia rapuere consilia, sicut praefati pagina
ad uos directa declarauit. praestolatur tamen super negotio
designato magnitudinis uestrae secunda conloquia, quo manifestius
in fratris uestri Fausti patricii utilitate me esse necessarium
reseretur, cuius gratiae nihil sibi aestimat liberum
denegare. quod restat, obsequii mei humilitate suscepta precor,
ut caeli opifex, qui culmini uestro paruitatis meae curam est
dignatus infundere, ipse per uos sequenda disponat.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To:Agapitus
Date:~515 AD
Context:A letter lamenting that sins resist the fulfillment of desires — a theological reflection on the obstacles to happiness.
To Agapitus, from Ennodius.
Sins resist the fulfillment of our desires — that is the simple truth of our condition. What we hope for, our own failures obstruct; what we pray for, our own weakness delays.
I write not in despair but in honest assessment. The remedy is the same remedy it has always been: repentance, persistence, and grace. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.