Letter 8011: I am astonished that you disfigure with ugly silence the Roman polish of your education.
Ennodius of Pavia→Arator, Man|c. 502 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
education books
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Arator [the future poet and subdeacon of Rome]
Date: ~502 AD
Context: A letter to the young Arator, scolding him for letting his literary talents grow rusty through silence — Ennodius, who had helped shape Arator's education, felt entitled to demand regular literary output.
To Arator, from Ennodius.
I am astonished that you disfigure with ugly silence the Roman polish of your education. You were trained for eloquence; you were built for the art of words. And yet you sit mute, as though the gifts you possess were someone else's property.
This will not do. A talent unused is a talent betrayed. I did not invest my efforts in your education so that you could retire into speechlessness. The world needs your voice — and if the world does not demand it loudly enough, then I will.
Write something. Write anything. But write. Farewell.
XI. ARATORI ENNODIVS.
Miror cur deuenustes turpi silentio ad Romanum decorem
politi in te bona conloquii et coactas multo sudore diuitias
fugiens dispensationem taciturnitate consumas. quicquid dignis
11 cf. Gen. 27, 28 12 cf. Tob. 6
X. 2 u. s. om. T, ur ̃ s L 3 superaa noto L nostra b
5 gaudere B Bopernae benedictionie Pb manus L 6 cristuB
B nri (ti m ras. uid.) B custodite B, custoditaei L
integritates L, integritatSs V, integritatem Pb imperire L
7 sobolem LTV 8 nihil Sinn . archano LTV 9 seculo B
peras L, parcas Pb 10 isac BLV piae B seductos
T* 11 ad tobiae LTVb 12 paenitralia B perfectae casaa B,
cauta perfectae TV, causa perfecte (te ex ti corr.) L dilectionis
(dilecti s. I. corr.) L 13 in te] uite PT, uita b depntatam
tibi LTV 14 fece BTV 15 m T, mihi BLV 16 acoepto
B directa sunt V s. I .
XL 20 denenustns Tl
conlatum fuerit dum in usu eat, ornat auctorem: ingeniorum
elegantiam qui concludit extenuat: unus error est prodire rusticantem
et dignum laudis honore delitescere. numquid non
habuisti digna memoratu aut ego tibi uisus sum non colendus
eloquio? fuit ąliquando materia, quae sic omnium linguis et
litteris celebranda. sit, quando ad nuptialem copulam perductus
homo est, cui cum magna sit lux natalium, abundantia facultatum,
disciplina et pudor utrumque transgreditur, qui uitia
carnis abiurans pro blandimento turpi respuebat quicquid leges
dedere pro remedio et nolens uxoriis corpus deputare seruitiis
putauit se addicere, si quicquam mundo inpenderet liberam
castitatem? haec etsi non diligis, debes tamen pro ingenii tui
ostentatione laudare. possumus te credere bonum fieri, si
audiamus quae honesta sunt praedicantem. nunc salutem largissimam
dicens ut rescribas admoneo-, et non me de epistola
mea aestimes, quam, deus testis est, dum de basilica remearem,
transcursione dictaui.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Arator [the future poet and subdeacon of Rome]
Date:~502 AD
Context:A letter to the young Arator, scolding him for letting his literary talents grow rusty through silence — Ennodius, who had helped shape Arator's education, felt entitled to demand regular literary output.
To Arator, from Ennodius.
I am astonished that you disfigure with ugly silence the Roman polish of your education. You were trained for eloquence; you were built for the art of words. And yet you sit mute, as though the gifts you possess were someone else's property.
This will not do. A talent unused is a talent betrayed. I did not invest my efforts in your education so that you could retire into speechlessness. The world needs your voice — and if the world does not demand it loudly enough, then I will.
Write something. Write anything. But write. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.