Letter 7004: The letters that normally serve my affection as willing messengers are now, for once, drafted by pain.
Ennodius of Pavia→Agnellus|c. 496 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendshiptravel mobility
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Agnellus
Date: ~496 AD
Context: A reproachful letter to a friend who departed without saying goodbye — a classic late antique theme of wounded friendship, delivered with Ennodius's characteristic rhetorical flourish.
Ennodius to Agnellus.
The letters that normally serve my affection as willing messengers are now, for once, drafted by pain. What should carry joy has been conscripted to carry a grievance. Sorrow has stripped away the polite disguise of courteous silence, and the secrets of my heart refuse to be dressed up or redirected with flattery any longer.
I know the art of manufactured words, but I avoid them. I am a man of plain dealing, and when I meet friends, I do so with an open face.
Where, in God's name, was the bond we swore between us — that you would leave without a word to me, as though I were a stranger? You did not even give me the chance to say what needed saying. I suppose I should have expected it. You have clearly decided that I deserve neither a farewell nor an explanation.
Well, here is my complaint. Take it as proof that I still care. Farewell.
IIII. ENNODIVS AGNELLO.
Semper famulantes diligentiae paginas nunc in proditione
sui dolor exigit et gaudiorum ministras in uocem reserandae
traxit iniuriae nec contenta fuco dissimulationis urbanae secreta
pectoris aut taciturnitate uestiuit aut in partem aliam transtulit
blandimento. noui quidem fabricata, sed fugio et simplicitate
contentus cum amantibus serena animi fronte congredior.
ubi gentium fuit sub obtestatione dei inter nos
promissa deuinctio, ut proficiscentes insalutatum me uelut
incognitum linqueretis nec potestatem remanens sortirer necessaria
suggerendi? credo prouidistis, ut inbecillus oculis
1 supponit fort . 2 praesentia V 6 aertuanti B 7 arriperes
B (8. I. m. rec.) Tb, adriperis B, arriperis LTav multoB b,
multis LTV 9 substantia fort . 11 honorem honorem B
13 saluti* T 14 statas] stat et Bb gratiae Bb, gratia LTV
IIII. 17 nunc (nc m ras.) L 18 sui — l. 25 incog T alia manu
exar . eziget B reseruande T 19 secretum Bb 20 pectoris]
corporis T 21 fabricati L et in es corr. L m. ant .
22 camantibus T 23 ostfitatione T, testatione B dei (i postea
add.) B, de b 24 diuinctio B 25 liqueritia B sortis
L rerls. 2. m. ant . 26 inbicellus B
totum uobiscum lumen amitteret nec diem meum sub amici
praesentia clausis orbibus intuerer. haec si per neglegentiam
contigerunt, aestimationi relinquetis quem apud uos locum
obtineam: ferenda sunt acerbius, si intelleguntur accessisse
per studium. nunc uale, mi domine, et animum meum quem
in statione consistere suadet innocentia origo propositum,
ad potiorem gratiae partem, quia uobis sinceritate patuit,
inuitate.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Agnellus
Date:~496 AD
Context:A reproachful letter to a friend who departed without saying goodbye — a classic late antique theme of wounded friendship, delivered with Ennodius's characteristic rhetorical flourish.
Ennodius to Agnellus.
The letters that normally serve my affection as willing messengers are now, for once, drafted by pain. What should carry joy has been conscripted to carry a grievance. Sorrow has stripped away the polite disguise of courteous silence, and the secrets of my heart refuse to be dressed up or redirected with flattery any longer.
I know the art of manufactured words, but I avoid them. I am a man of plain dealing, and when I meet friends, I do so with an open face.
Where, in God's name, was the bond we swore between us — that you would leave without a word to me, as though I were a stranger? You did not even give me the chance to say what needed saying. I suppose I should have expected it. You have clearly decided that I deserve neither a farewell nor an explanation.
Well, here is my complaint. Take it as proof that I still care. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.