Ennodius of Pavia→Simplicianus|c. 508 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
education books
From: Ennodius, deacon of Pavia
To: Simplicianus, a young student of rhetoric
Date: ~508 AD
Context: A letter of extravagant literary praise for a gifted young man's eloquent letter, weaving agricultural metaphors of harvest and ripening with the image of Roman eloquence as a great channeled river.
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May the first stirrings of your youth be given firm footing through the assistance of divine favor. May he who adorned your beginnings now grant abundance to your harvest — so that what you put forth in the silver-white blossom of early promise, you do not then withhold at the moment your fruits come to ripeness. It is the foremost concern of my purpose that I, anxious for the praise of one just setting out, should send my vows to God: that what has already been anticipated in the education of so fine a natural talent may ripen to its fullness through heavenly aid. May he who coaxed from the bare soil the grass that sustains all humankind lead the harvest of your mind to the granary. May he whose rain, wedded to the face of the earth, makes it fruitful — may he shape the form pressed from earthly milk into golden grain.
But to you, my learned boy, I owe thanks. For even though you already shine in the splendor of your speech and are praised in that great city [Milan, one gathers, or perhaps Rome itself] with the full endorsement of literary knowledge, still you seek out the assistance of my own commendation. The fruit of my diligence has come to you, even if I can furnish none of the polished ornaments that a more refined witness might supply. Gladly do I proclaim your words in the company of the most eloquent, joining my judgment with theirs — for I wish to be enriched by fellowship with the good. And it follows naturally enough that those who agree in their assessment should not be ranked apart in merit: he who concurs with what the great ones pronounce, and with no lesser admiration than they, is numbered among them — he does not wander far from the citadel of the sublime.
But let me return to the honey of your letter, and of your diction. Its preface carries such warmth and charm for one of your present and tender years, yet no whit of the virtue and genius promised for the future is thereby diminished. The eloquence of Latium has gathered itself, standing poised in the hollowed channels it has carved out — and through that riverbed the wave of Roman speech glides forward. How far it may yet extend itself, one can scarcely take in who beholds only the greatness already visible at the threshold. You have glowed with the brilliance of high noon when the light was still only morning.
May heavenly grace preserve its gift in you. And may Christ, our salvation, inspire you to tend a lover of letters with the frequent tribute of your correspondence.
XVIIII. SIMPLICIANO ENNODIVS.
Diuini fauoris adiumento adulescentiae tuae rudimenta solidentur:
ipse det successum frugibus qui contulit ornamenta
principiis, ut quod in cano flore praemisisti in pomorum maturitate
non subtrahas. est propositi nostri prima curatio, ut de
incipientis laude solliciti ad deum uota mittamus, quatenus
quod in bonae indolis eruditione praesumptum est de superna
ope maturescat. ille ingenii segetem perducat ad horrea, qui
altricem hominum herbam exegit e cespite: ipse de terreno
lacte expressam in triticum formet effigiem, cuius imbre soli
facies maritata fecundatur. tibi autem, erudite puer, habeo
gratias, quod quamuis dicendi splendore nituisses et in illa
urbe litterarum scientia adstipulante lauderis, mei quoque desideras
adiumenta praeconii. accessit tibi fructus diligentiae
meae, etsi nulla tribuuntur rusticantis ornamenta testimonii.
libens dicta tua cum facundissimis praedico, cum quibus sententiam
meam, ut bonorum ditescam societate, coniungo. proximum
est, ut non diuidantur meritis qui in qualibet iudicatione
consentiunt: unus est, nec enim procul euagatur ab arce sublimium,
qui ad hoc, quod illi pronuntiant, non dispari admiratione
concordat. ad epistolae tuae tamen dictionisque
mella me refero: cui sic est blanda de praesenti et tenera
aetate praefatio, ut non subtrahatur uirtus et genius de futura.
constitit concauatis Latiaris elocutio, dum per alueum suum
2 adripuet B conualiscat Ll ut uidetur
IYHIL 4 simplicio Bb, cf. Epigt. VI15 5 adolescentiae BTb
6 ipso L ∗∗∗frugibus B 9 quatinus LT 11 maturilCat B
segitem B perducat ad horrea B ita ros . 12 exigit fort .
ciapite B 18 expraessam B 14 fecondator 7* 16 urbae B
17 adoesait B frnctns tibi T 18 in illa T 20 bonorum]
beatorum T ditiscam B 22 nnns] secnndns fort., cf. Wiener
Studien II 256 enagatus Sirm, 25 blandita fort . 27 concauatil]
concnmatibus B, contumacibus b Latiaris] lauaris T
Romanae eloquentiae unda praelabitur: ad quae se porrigat,
uix conprehendit aestimatio, qui maximus adparescit in foribus.
in matutina luce meridiano fulgore rutilasti. tueatur circa te
caelestis gratia munus suum et ut frequentibus amantem
epistolarum colas muniis, salus nostra Christus inspiret.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon of Pavia
To:Simplicianus, a young student of rhetoric
Date:~508 AD
Context:A letter of extravagant literary praise for a gifted young man's eloquent letter, weaving agricultural metaphors of harvest and ripening with the image of Roman eloquence as a great channeled river.
---
May the first stirrings of your youth be given firm footing through the assistance of divine favor. May he who adorned your beginnings now grant abundance to your harvest — so that what you put forth in the silver-white blossom of early promise, you do not then withhold at the moment your fruits come to ripeness. It is the foremost concern of my purpose that I, anxious for the praise of one just setting out, should send my vows to God: that what has already been anticipated in the education of so fine a natural talent may ripen to its fullness through heavenly aid. May he who coaxed from the bare soil the grass that sustains all humankind lead the harvest of your mind to the granary. May he whose rain, wedded to the face of the earth, makes it fruitful — may he shape the form pressed from earthly milk into golden grain.
But to you, my learned boy, I owe thanks. For even though you already shine in the splendor of your speech and are praised in that great city [Milan, one gathers, or perhaps Rome itself] with the full endorsement of literary knowledge, still you seek out the assistance of my own commendation. The fruit of my diligence has come to you, even if I can furnish none of the polished ornaments that a more refined witness might supply. Gladly do I proclaim your words in the company of the most eloquent, joining my judgment with theirs — for I wish to be enriched by fellowship with the good. And it follows naturally enough that those who agree in their assessment should not be ranked apart in merit: he who concurs with what the great ones pronounce, and with no lesser admiration than they, is numbered among them — he does not wander far from the citadel of the sublime.
But let me return to the honey of your letter, and of your diction. Its preface carries such warmth and charm for one of your present and tender years, yet no whit of the virtue and genius promised for the future is thereby diminished. The eloquence of Latium has gathered itself, standing poised in the hollowed channels it has carved out — and through that riverbed the wave of Roman speech glides forward. How far it may yet extend itself, one can scarcely take in who beholds only the greatness already visible at the threshold. You have glowed with the brilliance of high noon when the light was still only morning.
May heavenly grace preserve its gift in you. And may Christ, our salvation, inspire you to tend a lover of letters with the frequent tribute of your correspondence.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.