Letter 6001: If I did not love you to distraction, and if the solidity of my pious affection did not rest on an unshakeable...

Ennodius to Parthenius. If I did not love you to distraction, and if the solidity of my pious affection did not rest on an unshakeable foundation, I could — provoked as I am by the pain of your offenses — be driven to retaliate, whether you rage like a child or grovel with arrogance. For I find nothing more insufferable than humility that is manufactured. I prefer open insults to the deference of a false face; feigned sweetness surpasses bitterness in its harm. There is no need for apologies if you understand what chain binds you. Let those beg pardon for their transgressions who are free to disobey. The radiance of God's judgment has assigned you to our household in such a way that wherever our mind turns, your duty must follow. Only the man who could — if he wished — refuse a strict command waits meekly for clemency. The power God has granted me will not suffer much departure from this order. You had better hope that a just accounting of your merits does not spoil the gentleness you praise in me, or that the sheer number of your faults does not cheapen the path of kindness. True, if I am not mistaken, punishment follows the wanderer mercifully, and there is no patience superior to the kind that does not reopen the door to vice. But let my indignation withdraw from you — because your offenses will be corrected not by resentment nursed in silence and preserved under a mask of goodwill, but by the rod of discipline. You will succeed in healing wounds inflicted by your intemperate words in one way only: if a proper education in the liberal arts reveals you to be a man of genuine refinement. Without skill to plead your case, you will win no pardon. I warn you: I have changed the rule by which I was once known for leniency — toward the lazy, I will maintain severity permanently. For the rest, I pray God that you may be well, and that you may increase the promise you have shown in your verses, with heaven's favor attending you.

I. ENNODIVS PARTENIO. Nisi te efflictim diligerem et pii amoris soliditas indemutabili radice constaret, possem iuiuriarum dolore prouocatus, uel cum pueriliter irasceris uel cum adroganter supplicas, con- a moneri : nihil enim inuenio, quod sit fabricata humilitate superbius. praefero contumelias fucatae frontis obsequiis: transit amaritudinem dulcedo simulata. non opus est deprecationibus, si quae te catena nectat intellegis. poscant pro excessibus ueniam quibus est liberum non parere. ita famulos nobis iudicii cae lestis claritudo deputauit, ut in quacumque mens parte deflexerit illorum necessitas inclinetur. ille expectat clemens, qui destrictum, si uelit, refutare possit imperium. haud procul ab hoc ordine euagari potestas mihi a deo adtributa patietur. optare te conuenit, ne mansuetudinem, quam in me praedicas, is meritorum tuorum consideratio iusta deuenustet et pietatis tramitem culparum multitudo depretiet. licet, ni fallor, misericorditer uindicta comitatur errantem nec ulla est potior patientia nisi quae uitiis aditum non recludit, a te tamen facessat indignatio nostra, quia quod deliqueris non inclusus dolor et gratia fallente seruatus sed uerbera castigabunt. nunc uno modo in cicatricem cogere uulnera intemperatis sermonibus I. 2 paternio L 8 efflictem BLTV, efflicte P, afflicte b amorie] cordis Sirm . 4 possim B 6 hnmilitate - fnoatae om. B1 add . in mg. corr. 7 perfero T 8 depraecationibus B 9 pro uncinauit Schottus 10 pro quibus Pb caelestis iudicii Sirm. 12 ezpectatat B, exspectat Lx 18 uellit BL haut TL, haut B . 17 depretietur L\' ut uidetur 18 uendicta B\' 19 non r.] intercludit T et ita mg. P tamen] non T 90 uestra T 21 Mente L ingesta praeualebis, si te per culmina liberalis studii ingenuum doctrina monstrauerit. ueniam nisi peritia suffragante non exiges: mutata qua notus sam lege parcendi circa desidem saeuitiam sub perennitate seruabo. quod restat, deum precor, ut ualeas et de uersibus tuis caelesti fauore comitatus spem angeas, quam dedisti.