From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Liberius, Eugenetes, Agapitus, Senarius, and Albinus [five powerful officials and aristocrats, several of whom served at the Ostrogothic court in Ravenna]
Date: ~502 AD
Context: A brief circular letter to five prominent men, entrusting the message to a trusted deacon rather than committing sensitive matters to paper — a reminder that late antique letters often accompanied oral communications of greater importance.
To Liberius, Eugenetes, Agapitus, Senarius, and Albinus.
Longer pages are needed when the reliability of the bearer is in doubt. But since I am sending this through Stephen the deacon, a man who loves me and reveres you, a brief exchange will suffice. He surpasses letters spread over many words, preferring what is essential to what is merely abundant, and as a faithful keeper of trusted secrets, he does not suppress what must be conveyed.
For the rest: I report that I am well, God willing, I inquire after news of your prosperity, and I send my full respects — asking only that the unimpaired integrity of your regard for me not be diminished by my trusting it so completely. Farewell.
XII. LIBERIO, EVGENETI, AGAPITO, SENARIO, ALBINO.
Vberioribus opus est paginis, ubi fides claudicat perlatoris:
per amantem mei cultorem uestrum Stephanum diaconum sufficit
parca conlocutio, qui transgrediens epistulas in multa uerba diffusas praefert affluentibus necessaria, dum conpendio
fidelis arcani alleganda non subprimit. quod restat, ualere me
deo auspice nuntians prosperitatis uestrae bona disquiro et
plenum reddo salutationis obsequium deprecatus, ut fiduciam
meam incorrupta dignationis uestrae non denudet integritas.
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From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Liberius, Eugenetes, Agapitus, Senarius, and Albinus [five powerful officials and aristocrats, several of whom served at the Ostrogothic court in Ravenna]
Date:~502 AD
Context:A brief circular letter to five prominent men, entrusting the message to a trusted deacon rather than committing sensitive matters to paper — a reminder that late antique letters often accompanied oral communications of greater importance.
To Liberius, Eugenetes, Agapitus, Senarius, and Albinus.
Longer pages are needed when the reliability of the bearer is in doubt. But since I am sending this through Stephen the deacon, a man who loves me and reveres you, a brief exchange will suffice. He surpasses letters spread over many words, preferring what is essential to what is merely abundant, and as a faithful keeper of trusted secrets, he does not suppress what must be conveyed.
For the rest: I report that I am well, God willing, I inquire after news of your prosperity, and I send my full respects — asking only that the unimpaired integrity of your regard for me not be diminished by my trusting it so completely. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.