Letter 5027: ---

From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia To: Eugenetes [an official, likely attached to the Ostrogothic court] Date: ~507–511 AD Context: A pointed complaint about Eugenetes's long silence, dressed in Ennodius's characteristically lavish rhetorical costume — honey and poison, springs and filth, the whole arsenal deployed to shame a friend into writing back. --- The tireless cultivation of silence troubles me beyond all measure. And though my spirit holds its post as steadily as a sentinel at his station, I am distressed by this abstinence from speech — speech, which, through living images, unlocks the innermost chamber of the heart with the key of the mouth. I confess that affection is sometimes counterfeited under the mere dispatch of letters; yet I can never bring myself to believe that those who truly love would withhold even that much. Perhaps Your Greatness will cite the demands of public affairs as the reason no room has been found for a friendly word in writing. But the situation was precisely the same in former times, when Your Eminence used to grant frequent conversation freely, and was no more entangled in the duties of court service than you are now — and yet the memory of love once promised was never so smothered by those obligations that it left no trace. Who, then, is the secret whisperer who has stirred poison into the honeycomb? Who has muddied the springs? Or is it possible that what had once been taken on account of affection you have now referred back to the cold judgment of deliberate calculation? Be that as it may, I do not delay in pressing upon you this promulgation of pages — hoping that, now the goads of the esteem you once promised have gone quiet, you may at least be provoked by the yield of my own chatter and find your way back to our old familiar ways. My lord: discharging the duty of greeting with all the humility at my command, I declare that I am eager — deeply eager — to be brought before your presence in person; provided, that is, that when you have weighed what needs to be done, you write back on the matter which I have no doubt lies close to your heart.

XXVII. EVGENETI ENNODIVS. Supra modum me sollicitant procurati studia indefessa silentii et licet animus in statione sit positus, contristat sermonis 1 satus J5, uestrae om. Tt 2 cogitatur LtLt agmenta Tx augmente Lt; explic add. Bt XXVI. 6 eub*trahuntur (pr . t corr.) B 8 exagerat T 11 qua scripsi, quae BLTY, quoniam Pb celestis LTV 12 praestit B, prestet LV 14 occursione] occaaiione b 17 praestnlatur B 19 oestri om. T patrici B utilitati L 21 degare B, derogare Sirm . praecor B . 22 caeli om. Sirm, uestrae Sirm . XXVII. 25 eugeoiti B 26 procuratori L 27 contristat tamen Pb (tfi P 8. I.) abstinentia, qui uiuis imaginibus secretum pectoris oris claue manifestat. patior quidem interdum caritatem sub paginarum promulgatione simulari, numquam tamen credo his muniis abstinere qui diligunt. referat forte magnitudo uestra publicae occupationis curam locum scriptis familiaribus non dedisse. sed idem status erat, cum praecedente tempore conloquia culmen uestrum crebra praestabat nec ita aulicis deputatus premebatur excubiis, ut promissi amoris memoriam non haberet. quis fauis toxica, quis caenum fontibus clandestinus susurrator admiscuit? aut forte quod fuerat de affectione subreptum ad iudicium rettulistis ? sed ego occupare uos paginarum promulgatione non differo, ut ad usum ueterem cessantibus promissae dignationis stimulis uel garrulitatis meae prouocati fruge redeatis. domine mi, obsequium salutationis plena humilitate persoluens indico me uestris cupidum esse aspectibus praesentari, si tamen faciendum perpensis quae uobis cordi esse non dubito rescribatis. 1 qui scripsi, quae BLTVb 3 nunquam V 6 praecidenti B 7 atxlicis deputatas ita LTYb praemebatur B 9 cenum T suBurratur B 11 retulistis LTV 12 differo Bb, defero LTY 14 mihi BL V salatationis obsequium Sinn. 15 capidium B 10*