Letter 7006: When friends owe a debt of correspondence and pay it jointly, the creditor can hardly complain about the terms.
Ennodius of Pavia→Florus|c. 497 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendship
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Florus and Decoratus
Date: ~497 AD
Context: A joint letter to two friends, complaining about their shared silence while praising the bond that unites all three — a common format in Ennodius's correspondence.
To Florus and Decoratus, from Ennodius.
When friends owe a debt of correspondence and pay it jointly, the creditor can hardly complain about the terms. I address you both in a single letter because your silence has been so perfectly coordinated that it deserves a unified response.
Where have you been? The roads between us are not so long that a letter could not have crossed them. I have been waiting, and the waiting has been made worse by the knowledge that you are both well — I hear reports of your prosperity from others, which only sharpens the sting of hearing nothing from you.
But I am not a man to hold grudges when the bond is genuine. Write to me — together or separately, I do not mind — and let us restore what silence has nearly broken. Farewell.
VI. FLORO ET DECORATO ENNODIVS.
Permisi hactenus magnitudinem uestram mobilitatem Ligurum
urbanae fuco disputationis incessere, quia et me origo
reddebat alienum et uos ab eorum culpis constantia promissa
seiunxerat. sed cum una sorte ab oculis uestris et mente
discessi, praeconis uoce contestor neminem damnare posse quod
sequitur nec saluo pudore sententiam excessibus dictare peccantem.
fas est liberos a reatu uitia detestari: quis aequo
animo ferat monitorem quod uerbis destruit actibus non uitare?
euangelii sententia est qui fecerit et docuerit sic
dignum dei gratia posse iudicari. uobis copiosus sermo est,
quotiens error arguitur, et sub conuersationis neglegentia puritas
amplectenda uerborum. perdidistis lacrimarum mearum
memoriam, quam discedentibus gemini doloris ictus effudit.
ecce quanti dies sunt, in quibus sub tanta frequentia commeantum
nulla neque domni mei amici uestri neque uestra,
quae de illo rem uoti indicent, scripta suscipio. absoluistis
imitatione culpabiles, non quod Liguribus euenerit propositum,
quantum uos dicitis, infidelitatis amittere, sed quod eos contigerit
inuenisse in his quae sunt uitanda consortes. rogo tamen
seruitio salutationis exhibito, ut tandem aliquando tamquam
boni domini precum mearum memores prosperitatem uestram
uel domni mei amatoris uestri reseretis muniis litterarum.
11 Matth. 5, 19
VI. 8 permihisi B actenua B mobilitate LV ligoram
Bb 4 ineemer* B 6 seiuncxerat LV 7 dampnare LTY
9 a Bb, om. LTV 10 distrnet B 13 negligentia BT
16 sobatanta B, sobstantia L commeantium T 17 domini
LTb 19 enlpabilis JBb ligoribus Bb etaeniret B, eMniret
B (4. I. m. ree.) b 20 dieetis Bb 21 eonMrtis B
22 ezibito BL* 28 domni B, domini LTVb 24 Amataris L
nestris B (m. reo.) b .
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Florus and Decoratus
Date:~497 AD
Context:A joint letter to two friends, complaining about their shared silence while praising the bond that unites all three — a common format in Ennodius's correspondence.
To Florus and Decoratus, from Ennodius.
When friends owe a debt of correspondence and pay it jointly, the creditor can hardly complain about the terms. I address you both in a single letter because your silence has been so perfectly coordinated that it deserves a unified response.
Where have you been? The roads between us are not so long that a letter could not have crossed them. I have been waiting, and the waiting has been made worse by the knowledge that you are both well — I hear reports of your prosperity from others, which only sharpens the sting of hearing nothing from you.
But I am not a man to hold grudges when the bond is genuine. Write to me — together or separately, I do not mind — and let us restore what silence has nearly broken. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.