Letter 6005: My confidence has not been stripped bare by the outcomes I have already come to know.
Ennodius of Pavia→Aurelianus, an man|c. 496 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
education books
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Aurelianus
Date: ~496 AD
Context: A letter of thanksgiving after some personal difficulty, reflecting on divine providence's power to bring good out of adversity — a theme close to Ennodius's heart in the turbulent years of Ostrogothic rule.
To Aurelianus, from Ennodius.
My confidence has not been stripped bare by the outcomes I have already come to know. The man I judged faithful in affection has proven strong, just as I rightly estimated he would. Thanks be to you, divine Providence, who bring the fruit of prosperity out of the very occasions of adversity, and who do not allow sorrows to remain as they are.
What the world calls misfortune, heaven calls opportunity. I have learned this not from books but from experience. The troubles we endured together have bound us more tightly than comfort ever could. Farewell.
V. AVRELIANO ENNODIVS.
Non est fiducia mea praecognitis nudata successibus. ualidus
in affectione est quem animo meo diligentiae memorem iusta
sum aestimatione pollicitus. gratias tibi, superna dispensatio,
quae humanis rebus prosperorum fructum de aduersitatis occasione
largiris nec pateris in ordine suo tristia permanere.
1 malua B 5 epistolaris (o in ras.) B 6 penitralium B
7 gtmt (nt in ras.) B respondeas LTYJ
IIII. 11 incommeQdatio L 12 quateaas Bb, qaatinas LTV
insistat Bb, instat LTV 15 sat est-JLF, sat fi ut T, satis B,
satis sit b et B nu rec . in mg . 18 mihi BL 19 delectit B
V. 26 largiree B tristitia B
nescio quid magnitudini uestrae hostilis malitia de patrimonii
ubertate decerpserit : tamen sub hoc titulo inuictissimi domini
multum locupletem gratiam conparauit. bona est iactura substantiae,
si incliti notitia principis dispendiis inuenitur : non
est facultatum formidanda decessio, si per eam, qui omnes
uincat diuitias, summi domini amor adquiritur. huc accedit
quod nec illa inminutio, dum facta est lucri «ater et honorum
uia, inpactae humilitatis potuit tenere substantiam. sic reparata
sunt quae inimicus eripuit, ut adhuc gaudiorum cumulum
praestoleris. supersunt quae in spe habeantur, cum culmini
tuo contigerit maxima iam tenere. his beneficiis caelo auctore
conlatis notitiae et communionis nostrae bona iungamus. quando
mihi tantum uirum nisi per illa quae praefatus sum contigisset
agnoscere? sed augeant superna quae tribuunt et ad
quae desideria porriguntur diuina nos cura perducat. quod
restat, uale, mi domine, et amantem tui crebris foue conloquiis,
quia nisi epistularis concinnatio teneret terminum lege praescriptum,
gaudia me in multa uerba diffunderent.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Aurelianus
Date:~496 AD
Context:A letter of thanksgiving after some personal difficulty, reflecting on divine providence's power to bring good out of adversity — a theme close to Ennodius's heart in the turbulent years of Ostrogothic rule.
To Aurelianus, from Ennodius.
My confidence has not been stripped bare by the outcomes I have already come to know. The man I judged faithful in affection has proven strong, just as I rightly estimated he would. Thanks be to you, divine Providence, who bring the fruit of prosperity out of the very occasions of adversity, and who do not allow sorrows to remain as they are.
What the world calls misfortune, heaven calls opportunity. I have learned this not from books but from experience. The troubles we endured together have bound us more tightly than comfort ever could. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.