Letter 7012: There would be no excuse left for the unskilled if they said too much.

From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia To: Hormisdas, deacon [the future Pope Hormisdas] Date: ~502 AD Context: A playful literary letter to the future pope, sparring about the relative merits of brevity versus eloquence — Ennodius at his most charming, fencing with a man who would one day occupy the chair of Peter. Ennodius to Hormisdas the deacon. There would be no excuse left for the unskilled if they said too much. Only brevity commends the unlearned. A long letter from a man who cannot write is worse than the error itself — and whoever demands a lengthy performance from an ignorant man has only himself to blame for the result. And yet, brother, that is exactly what you have demanded of me — you, a Roman, with your excessively cunning subtlety. But simplicity is our armor against the weapons of the artful, and it needs no cosmetics to do its work. Still, though you have drawn me out with the seductive eloquence of your letter, you have not made me forget who I am. I know how to keep my pages short — a skill whose value I understand perfectly well. But know that I will not abandon my own position, even though both a man of the city and a man of the cloth call me into the arena. But why do I extend a letter whose brevity I promised at the start? This is the nature of a contest between friends: the fruit it bears is the letter itself. Farewell.

XII. ENNODIVS HORMISDAE DIACONO. Nullus remaneret imperitis locus ueniae, si plura loquerentur: sola breuitas commendat indoctos. supra errorem est prolixa narratio rusticantis: quando ab ignaro extortum fuerit quod diu legatur, sibi rancorem suum debet exactor. quisquamne hominum in longum uult fastidienda procedere et nullo sapore condita breues terminos non habere? Romana hoc, frater, et nimium artifici subtilitate flagitasti: sed nos contra fabricatos munit simplicitas nullis colorata praestigiis. etenim quamuis me delenifica epistolae tuae oratione produxeris, mei immemorem non fecisti. scio artare paginam, cuius pretium promulgator intellego. noueris me tamen meis partibus non deesse, quamuis uocet in medium et urbanus et clericus. sed quid produco paginam, cuius superius angustiam pollicebar? haec mihi cum amante concertatio: talis fructus est litterarum. 2 denegensYL 3 nunquam TV 6 nos nln fort . 7 inci- ! tatus] agitataB T 9 defuerint (i ea; e corr.) L 11 m T, mihi LV ^ 12 ezspectationi LV XII. 15 bormisde T 18 ignarvoJL eiortum T 24 pro- 1 dixeris L 29 mi//// L, m ex mihi T m. 2, mi V amantẽ*L domine mi, salutem uberrimam dicens precor, ut Christi nostri tribuente misericordia crebro salutem uestram uotiuis mihi, dum meam quaeritis, nuntietis affatibus.