Letter 6032: **From:** Ennodius, deacon of Milan (later bishop of Pavia)

--- Though the exchange of letters between those who love each other is always a delight — and from such gifts, even when Spartan brevity governs the pen, long rivers of joy flow forth — and though correspondence of this kind serves as a remedy for those who are separated and a fulfillment of longing for those who are anxious, still: a soul that is sick with worry is tossed on the waves of uncertainty about the welfare of those upon whom it depends. It breathes only through that one cure — and when the man who wavers at nothing uncertain denies that cure to those who are anxious, he as much as declares that he is held by no bond of care. For a long time the conversations sent from Your Greatness have fed my spirit and furnished it with nourishment proper to gladness. But now their absence does not merely visit me with sadness — it drives me toward ruin. What once served the cause of affection could equally have served the cause of my health; yet the sacred obligation of friendship has been abjured, since words that would profit my well-being are withheld from me. You have learned, I think, what your silences have done. Hasten now to remedy them. For if forgetfulness of me has not in truth established its dominion over you, then let writing change things — let it change them now. My lord, praying to God for your most abundant health, I beg that the dispensation of heaven's favor may come to meet the fever of my longing, and may move you to share with me, as some consolation amid my sorrows, the very news whose knowing would give delight.

XXXII. ENNODIVS AVIENO. Cum semper sint litterarum inter amantes iucunda commercia et ex his muniis, etiam si Spartana adhibeatur breuitas, gaudia prolixa nascantur sintque huiusmodi officia remedio absentibus, uotiua sollicitis, attamen aeger animus super eorum de quibus pendet prosperitate iactatur et hac tantum curatione respirat, quam cum negat anxiis is, qui nullo labascit incerto, resignat se diligentia non teneri. pauerunt diu animum meum a magnitudine uestra destinata colloquia et hilaritati congrua pabula praestiterunt. quorum nunc abstinentia non adfert tristitiam, sed cogit ad exitium. potuit enim saluti opem tribuere quod ante militauit affectui: abiurata est caritatis religio, quando profutura meae ualitudini uerba denegantur. agnouistis quid fecerunt silentia uestra, quibus emendatione succurrite: nam apud uos si mei non dominatur obliuio, scriptione mutantur. domine mi, salutem largissimam referens deum deprecor, ut aestibus meis superni dispensatio fauoris occurrat et in solacio maerorum meorum illa a uobis indicari faciat, quae delectet agnosci. 1 expertes T 2 ex b, de LTV fructu b 8 reddunt L 5 capere T\'b, cuperem LTXV et Sinn . m T, mihi L Vb famulatis Tl 7 dominus 11 XXXII. 11 iocunda Tb 14 eger LTV 15 pendet T*, pendit LT1Vb 17 se] sed b 20 eiitum b 22 ualetudini b 23 fecerint b 24 dominantur L mutentur fort . 25 mihi L Vb dominam b precor T 26 diepensatio scripsi, dispositio LTV et Sinn., dispoeitione b occurat L solatio LT Vb 27 moerorum b, merorum L TV