Letter 7024: Our common son Marcellus demands of me the admonition that his progress requires.

The encouragement of our common son Marcellus, whom nature gave to you and affection gave to me, demands of me that I be the first to aspire to the duties of correspondence and, conquered by love, expend the solace of letters through which antiquity wished absence to have no power. You already owe me a double debt of gratitude, even if you return a reply, on account of the fact that I was first to begin. He opens the door of affection who in conversation provides the example: those who return writings preserve the formula that was set before them. Therefore, with God as author, I send this letter as a messenger of our prosperity. This I add to your joy, at which your paternal heart may exult: your son already holds the testimony of freeborn character in his liberal studies and so conducts himself in this pursuit that he surpasses the greedy hopes of his own family. An honorable beginning in a young man is a hope of perfection, nor does the one who seizes the glory of a good training at its very outset differ from the learned. Therefore, greeting you with the affection I owe, I hope that with the opportunity restored, the report of your prosperity may cause me to be lifted up in good things.

XXIIII. ENNODIVS STEPHANO. .Exigit a me filii communis Marcelli adhortatio, quem natura uobis, mihi dedit affectus, ut ad scriptionis munia praeuius adspirarem et solacium litterarum, per quod uetustas uoluit absentiae nil licere, amore uictus inpenderem. iam debes mihi duplicem gratiam, etsi responsa restitueris, ob hoc quod primus 2 laetitia B 8 indirex T 6 responde] finit add. B exp . tn. rec . XXIII. Epistulas 23-29 om. LTV 8 maximo] uersus add. B ap. m. rec . 12 inoombat B discendit B 14 dedicisgis B 15 et] et adhuc B ted adhuc deletum et addidi, om. Bb 16 quae B, qui b 18 gattnlis B 20 diliciis B XXIIII. 25 literarum b nolnit B (m. rlC.) b, nolnet B incepi. ille dilectionis ianuam pandit, qui in conloquiis praestat exemplum:. propositam custodiunt formulam qui scripta restituunt. ergo auctore deo nuntiam prosperitatis nostrae epistolam destinamus. illud ad gaudium uestrum, quo uestrum paterna mens exultet, adiungimus, filium uestrum in studiis liberalibus ingenuitatis testimonium iam tenere et talem se in hac cura praestare, ut auara suorum uota transcendat. spes perfectionis est honesta in adulescente inchoatio, nec ab erudito distat qui inter exordia boni gloriam occupat instituti. salutans ergo adfectione qua debeo spero, ut reparata opportunitate de bono me faciat uestrae prosperitatis adtolli.