Letter 7009: The grandeur you avoid in your letters you possess by nature.

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.