Letter 7020: While the servants of the wine-press were completing the bounty of autumn — and the whole countryside was occupied...
Ennodius of Pavia→Maximus of Madaura|c. 509 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
property economics
From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To: Maximus
Date: ~509 AD
Context: A letter touching on the grape harvest — a rare glimpse of the agricultural rhythms that shaped even an urban churchman's calendar in Ostrogothic Italy.
To Maximus, from Ennodius.
While the servants of the wine-press were completing the bounty of autumn — and the whole countryside was occupied with the gift of the vintage — I thought of you, as I always do when good things are at hand.
The harvest is in, and with it the proof that God provides even in uncertain times. I send you a share of my satisfaction, if not of my wine. Farewell.
XX. MAXIMO ENNODIVS.
Dum prelorum famuli autumni dotem conplerent et teneras
uuarum tunicas properata calce disrumperent, ego ad summatem
uirum parentem fratremque meum et oculos et uerba
reuocaui, iustum esse coniciens, dum uineta uberem tribuunt
liquorem, me sobriam alloqui cum iucunda hilaritate personam.
solue ergo Pythagoricam taciturnitatem et mecum peritiae et
facundiae tuae bona partire: sit inter nos felicium uindemiarum
uice colloquium: currant dulcia musta sermonum. habes quae
cum diacono, sanctissime, de institutis morum nota dicendi
ubertate communices. nam qui ecclesiastica, ut uos, probitate
subsistunt, silentii apud illos iusta uitatio est. scribite qua
aurea castitas districtione teneatur, per quem callem obscena
fugiatur auaritia, quibus modis turpis fallendi declinetur obscuritas:
in summa, sine dissimulatione docete quae geritis:
illud praecipue scire cupidum dignanter instruite qua sponsae
uel blandimenta saeculi religionis districtione respuantur. domine,
ut supra, salutationis munera praesentans precor, ut
gratanter accipias quod inter curarum moles exigit fieri iocorum
non respuenda subreptio.
2 apparescit B (s. l. m. rec.) b, adpariscet B, apparescet (es ex is)
t
L, apparescet T, apparescat V 5 inspiret] finit add. B
XX. 8 praelorum BV, plorum T, praelatorum Schottus autumnni
a1 •
T dote Bb; dote lacus fort . 11 co«niens L uberem (pr . u
in ras.) B 12 licorem B iocunda BTb 13 solnet Bb
b
pithagoricam LTV, pytagoricam B 14 facondie T mecum partire
T 15 curant L1 sermofi T aues B que BT, qui
L 16 Banctiasimo LTV 17 comunicis B qui (i m ras.) B
ppbitate T 20 falendi Bl 21 geretis Bb 22 praecipuie B
23 blandimenta uel fort . 25 gratenter B molles L\' exiget B
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To:Maximus
Date:~509 AD
Context:A letter touching on the grape harvest — a rare glimpse of the agricultural rhythms that shaped even an urban churchman's calendar in Ostrogothic Italy.
To Maximus, from Ennodius.
While the servants of the wine-press were completing the bounty of autumn — and the whole countryside was occupied with the gift of the vintage — I thought of you, as I always do when good things are at hand.
The harvest is in, and with it the proof that God provides even in uncertain times. I send you a share of my satisfaction, if not of my wine. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.