Letter 8012: You can judge from the quality of your own heart how tightly I hold you and with what devotion I embrace you.
Ennodius of Pavia→Florus|c. 503 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
barbarian invasionfriendshipproperty economics
From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Florus
Date: ~503 AD
Context: A letter combining warm personal affection with a practical request — Ennodius asks Florus to intercede with a patron for the purchase of a suburban property, revealing the intersection of friendship and real estate in Ostrogothic Italy.
Ennodius to Florus.
You can judge from the quality of your own heart how tightly I hold you and with what devotion I embrace you. True affection is rarely given to those who are not first known to give it sincerely in return. The spirits of kindred souls meet and reveal their mutual devotion in silent exchanges.
And so, if you wish to repay the affection I bear you, press our lord to order the purchase of that suburban property — at a price I will gladly pay, if he considers it worthy of sale — so that I may enjoy it while I am in Liguria, and after my death it may pass to him and his heirs.
My friend, I ask nothing extravagant. Only this: a quiet place to work and pray, and the assurance that it will outlast me in worthy hands. Farewell.
XII. ENNODIVS FLORO.
Qua te deuinctione teneam, qua diligentia conplectar, ex
animi tui potes qualitate colligere. uix enim amari continget
nisi quos sinceriter amare constiterit. congreditur inter se
constiterit uigor animarum et studia sua. mutis sibi pandit
affatibus, et ideo si uicissitudinem mihi reddere disponis,
insiste domno, ut suburbanum illud, dato si dignatur a me
pretio, comparari iubeat, quod. dum in Liguria fuero, feliciter
1 consolatum L ornata B actorem T* ingeneortl L\'
2 eligantiam BL eror B 3 delitifccere BV 4 habaistis
T iussus L tibi uisus su V in ras . 5 alloquio fort .
9 blandimenta L legis dedero B 10 uiorui L, uxoris Pb
deputate T* 12 debis B 16* credere te b 14 audiam T
15 non∗∗∗ L, hunc T me L s. I . 16 de] dede B
XII. 20 diuinctione B 21 enima V in ras . contiget B
22 constitrit B 24 eflfctibus B ideo si B; ideo LPTV, iam b
uicessitudinem B 25 domino Pb si dignatur dato P\'b
//// a B
habeam et post obitum meum ipse suique possideant. mihi
tamen post deum libertatem substantiam uidetur ipse conferre,
si hoc beneficii per ipsum fuero consecutus. sed sic filia tua
uiuat, sic de illa quales optas filios teneas, sic deus animam
tuam sanctos suos faciat coaequari et frater tuus uiuat, ut
insistas suppliciter inportune, quatenus ad effectum petitionem
meam perducas. cogitet deum, cogitet necessitates meas, quia
nihil est quod potentia ipsius, quod affectus circa me maius
possit praestare.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Florus
Date:~503 AD
Context:A letter combining warm personal affection with a practical request — Ennodius asks Florus to intercede with a patron for the purchase of a suburban property, revealing the intersection of friendship and real estate in Ostrogothic Italy.
Ennodius to Florus.
You can judge from the quality of your own heart how tightly I hold you and with what devotion I embrace you. True affection is rarely given to those who are not first known to give it sincerely in return. The spirits of kindred souls meet and reveal their mutual devotion in silent exchanges.
And so, if you wish to repay the affection I bear you, press our lord to order the purchase of that suburban property — at a price I will gladly pay, if he considers it worthy of sale — so that I may enjoy it while I am in Liguria, and after my death it may pass to him and his heirs.
My friend, I ask nothing extravagant. Only this: a quiet place to work and pray, and the assurance that it will outlast me in worthy hands. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.