Letter 7009: The grandeur you avoid in your letters you possess by nature.
Ennodius of Pavia→Avienus|c. 500 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendship
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Avienus [Roman senator]
Date: ~500 AD
Context: A witty letter to Avienus, turning his friend's literary reputation against him by arguing that even Avienus's silence is more eloquent than other men's speech.
To Avienus, from Ennodius.
The grandeur you avoid in your letters you possess by nature. For you, speaking simply is not the same as speaking plainly — there is no difference between your conversation and your style. Others labor to achieve what comes to you without effort.
And yet you remain silent. A man of your gifts who refuses to write is committing a kind of theft — robbing his friends of what they are owed. I will not accept it. Write to me, and let the correspondence between us resume at the level your talents and our friendship both demand.
Even a few lines from your hand would outshine the longest letters of lesser men. Farewell.
VIIII. AVIENO ENNODIVS.
Pompam quam in litteris fugitis optinetis, nec aliud est
loqui uestrum nisi declamationum insignia custodire: hoc in
uobis natura, hoc peritiae mater indeficiens lectionis cura congessit.
sed miseriis meis euenire nulla consolatio potest, quando
ante oculos sunt locata quae merui, et quantum praelatus
indignior extiterit, tantum in aperto fiunt peccata superati.
quid animum meum, inlustrissime hominum, conaris adtollere ?
quid in uita, quae plena maeroris est, reseruare liceat tribulationibus
meis? pro bono dispensationis caelestis finem uel
cum uita constitui. uobis tamen insufficientes refero gratias,
2 inter Bb, intur T\', intra LT2V 8 aeoolasse B copul∗∗sam
L habuit - T (me s. I. m . 2), me habuit fort . 6 habtmdantia
LT 7 aut] ant ad Sirm. que B 8 eriperit
B\', eripere b paruus L, pauug Bb 11 subleuandis L
merorem Bb, meroris LTV 12 scriptionS L tuae B dedala
BLTV germinaati T 13 rseruarie B, reseruariB b
VIIII. 15 ennodius auieno T 16 pom∗pam (alt . p corr.) L
fngetis optenetis B 18 paeritiae L eoncessit L 19 conlatio
L 20 ante L 8. I . 28 meroris BLTV
qui illam circa me seruatis diligentiam, qua potiorem nec dignissimis
praestaretis. domine mi, salutationis reuerentiam soluens
spero, ut orare pro me minime desistatis et ad calamitatum
solacia ferentia opem scripta mittantur.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Avienus [Roman senator]
Date:~500 AD
Context:A witty letter to Avienus, turning his friend's literary reputation against him by arguing that even Avienus's silence is more eloquent than other men's speech.
To Avienus, from Ennodius.
The grandeur you avoid in your letters you possess by nature. For you, speaking simply is not the same as speaking plainly — there is no difference between your conversation and your style. Others labor to achieve what comes to you without effort.
And yet you remain silent. A man of your gifts who refuses to write is committing a kind of theft — robbing his friends of what they are owed. I will not accept it. Write to me, and let the correspondence between us resume at the level your talents and our friendship both demand.
Even a few lines from your hand would outshine the longest letters of lesser men. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.