Letter 7008: I have written to you before about my health, and I write again now — not because the news has changed, but because...

VIII. Ennodius to Euprepia. How well had habit fitted my mind to endure the sequestration of your absence, while long silences, by the very necessity of the thing, were breeding a contempt for the sweetness of what is one's own! The scar has been torn open, the scar that had formed toward the healing of devoted love. I confess, venerable sister, that your letter, seasoned with a savor all too familiar, has called me back to my old longing. See, then, with what art you contend against me, you who allow neither satiety from your presence nor forgetfulness from your silence to come to my aid. [...] The most exalted examiner of minds knows that, at the reading of your written characters, my soul could not stay quiet within its inner chambers, and flew off, driven by the honey of affection, toward your presence. The dwelling at Arles held you, while I was shut within the walls of Milan; and while the freedom of my mind ran out toward that sweet abode, the captivity of the body kept me confined within Italy. O if only there were a sufficient abundance of speech for setting forth those things which the mind desires, or if shame did not snatch away those things for which the tongue is adequate! Small is the love that is sufficiently disclosed by the testimony of the mouth: it is the confession of a lukewarm charity, as often as eloquence does not fall short in it. For what remains, I pray God that you may fare well, and that you may be reserved, for the good of our mutual prosperity, to relieve my grief, which by your writing, of too cunning an art, you have doubled.

VIII. ENNODIVS EVPREPIAE. Quam bene animum meum ad patientiam sequestrationis absentiae uestrae usus aptauerat, dum prolixa silentia contemptum dulcedinis rerum suarum necessitate pariebant! rescissa . est cicatrix, quae ad medicinam pii amoris accesserat. confiteor, soror uenerabilis, ad antiquum me desiderium litterae tuae nimis noto conditae sapore reuocarunt. ecce uide qua mecum arte contendis, cui nec satietatem de praesentia tua nec obliuionem de silentio pateris subuenire. scit mentium VII. 2 helpidio LV, hilpidio Bb, helidio T, Elpidio Sirm . diad B 3 esaentiae LTlV dampna LTV 4 itenerum B e. malcatnr scripsi, sequestrationẽ| minuit altatnr B r exp, et minuit s. I . m. rec.), aequeutratione minuitur b , 5 caritate b 6 in- iectione Llitterarum.LY7secarueYtanquam Y 8 constitum B1 domine Tb hilpidi Bb 9 ustuti| et asset B (et 8. 1. m. rec.), astutias asset b 10 dampnandos LTV, damnas dus B b VIII. 16 eupraepiae BLVb, eufpie 1 17 se sequestrationis Bb 19 rescisa L 21 me] qui me Bb; quia me fort . 22 reuocarent B quam b 23 mecum om. Sirm., equfl b VI. 12 discussor altissimus lectione apicum tuorum animam meam inter penetralia sua non potuisse consistere et ad praesentiam tuam diligentiae euolasse melle conpulsam. habuit Arelatensis habitatio, cum Mediolanensibus muris includerer, et dum ad dulcem sedem libertas mentis excurreret, intra Italiam me corporis captiuitas includebat. o si suppeteret sermonis abundantia ad ea quae cupit animus exponenda aut illa, ad quae lingua sufficit, non pudor eriperet ! paruus amor est qui oris testimonio sufficienter aperitur: confessio est tepidae caritatis, quotiens in ea non cedit eloquium. quod restat, deum precor, ut ualeas et ad subleuandum maerorem meum, quem scriptione tua nimis daedala arte geminasti, bono prosperitatis mutuae reserueris.