Letter 7031: Silence would have been the proper response to your own silence — an eye for an eye, as it were.

Ennodius to Parthenius. It would have been fitting to repay your degenerate silence with a silence of my own and to send retaliation down the same path by which the offense had come. Is it fair that your transgressions should be shown by voice rather than by mute grief, displaying what you have done wrong? Believe me, indignation once revealed is close to a cure. The anger pent up within should have struck you for a long time — if, that is, you have not entirely abandoned your humanity. What had I done wrong, after you begged forgiveness with fabricated humility in your first letter? Is this the trustworthy promise of correction — that after you extorted the anger I had conceived with your soothing speech, you are ashamed only that you did not sin on a grander scale? As far as I can see, after your vow of decorum, you avoid only the narrowest confines of wrongdoing, thinking it a sin if you do not raise your eyebrow as high against your parent and nurturer as you ought to have lowered yourself in the fellowship owed for so many benefits. Or perhaps you think that childish anger can trouble me or that any necessity can storm a mature affection? Are not the blows of children pleasing to a parent? Are not the creators of crawling infants even soothed by their insults? Nothing seems bitter to those for whom, amid their desires, what partly opposes their wishes has boiled over. We find among the wheat-bearing crops thorns and tares, and while we gather the fruitful herb, barren weeds intrude. Must the diligence of cultivation therefore be rejected, or must the plough be abandoned if the soil has not entirely satisfied the farmer? I pray God to banish from you what I detest: yet I, if you believe me, shall never abandon the office of monitor. I have heard from your father's report that you have grown slack in your studies and, as if you had already attained the citadel of knowledge, are in no way concerned about the discipline of reading. You know, my son, that mastery in this endeavor is held only by unceasing application. In this work it profits a man nothing to have once labored if he has ceased from the effort of labor: on swift wings knowledge flees the negligent, and what was gained by delay and sweat is transferred with speed. I wish you greeting and vigilance, so that you may bind the harvest of your progress with the chains of daily reading. Write back to me now at least, if you have any thought of what is fitting for you — because, believe me, you will never find in any part of the world such a champion of your writings.

XXXI. PARTENIO ENNODIVS. Par quidem fuerat silentio degeneri uicem taciturnitatis opponi et per ipsum callem uindictam, per quem uenerat error, exire. numquid aequum est, ut in excessibus tuis uo-x, quid deliqueris, et non mutus dolor ostendat? crede mihi, manifestatae indignationi uicina curatio est. te per longum ferire debuit inclusa commotio, si tamen non ex toto ab humanitate discessisti. quid deliqueram, postquam primoribus litteris ueniam fabricata humilitate poposceras ? haec est correctionis fida promissio, ut, postquam delenifica oratione conceptam iram extorseris, erubescas te minora peccasse? quantum uideo, post contestatam uerecundiam solas errorum uitas angustias, nefas aestimans, (si) circa parentem et nutritorem tuum non it tantum extollis supercilium, quanta debuisti pro tot beneficiis communione summitti. aut forte putas quod me puerilis ira 6 agentur b 7 qui praefatio T salutati scripsi, salutationi .1 Bb, Balatatis LV, salutis T, salatationis Sirrn. 8 memoro B (i 8. I . m. rec.7), memor Sirm . 9 prestare B XXXI. 11 paternio L 12 denegeri L 13 et BLTV, ut B (I. 2. m. rec. P) Тib uindictam Bb, uindicta LTV 14 exire scripsi, eziret BLTVb 15 manifestate Bl . 16 indignationi (indigna s. l. m. 1) V 20 deiinifica B 21 erobiscas te B, erobis cane b 22 contestatd L 23 aeetimans ai scripsi, aestimas B LTVb 24 extolli LTV 25 communione — putas mn. L add. corr. m mg. sup . communione] te add. BLTVb, te exp. T1 et Sirm . Sollicitet aut ulla necessitas maturum expugnare possit affectum? numquid genitori natorum non grata sunt uerbera? aut creatores reptantium paruulorum non et mulcentur iniuriis ? nihil amarum putant quibus inter desideria quod uotis pro parte aduersetur efferbuit. inuenimus inter triticeas segetes spinas et lolium, et dum frugiferam herbam carpimus, infecunda suggeruntur. numquid ideo culturae respuenda diligentia est aut cessandum est a uomeribus, si non in toto satisfecerit terra cultori ? deum precor, ut a te quod detestor excludat: ego tamen numquam, si credis, deseram monitoris officium. audiui te patris tui relatione circa studia iam remissum et, quasi arcem scientiae adeptus sis, ita nullatenus esse de lectionis instructione sollicitum. nosti, fili, istius rei summam nisi adsiduitate nimia non teneri. non profuit in hoc opere laborasse aliquando hominem, qui a laboris intentione destiterit: pernicibus alis neglegentes fugit scientia, et quicquid mora et sudore partum est sub celeritate transfertur. te salutatum et uigilem uolo, ut profectus tui messem cotidianae catenis lectionis adstringas. ad me uel nunc, si quid te deceat cogitas, rescribe, quia, si credis, numquam similem dictionum tuarum inuenies in qualibet orbis parte fautorem. 1 ullane L eipurgare T 3 et] etiam T, ex b 4 proa L 6 frugifieram B capimus B infeconda T1, infaecunda B 11 patres B1 16 distiterit B, destitit Sirm . 19 cathenis T 20 rescribere T 21 factorem T