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 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.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
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.
Related Letters
Having performed the duty of a persistent creditor, I now call in the debt of a promise.
Who more justly learns the signs of my prosperity than you?
The distinguished Eleutherius, in a matter of his own that the Vicar had accepted for hearing from the lord Prefect,...
When friends owe a debt of correspondence and pay it jointly, the creditor can hardly complain about the terms.
I know I have undertaken a hard campaign and am lifting a heavy burden on weak shoulders — I who have roused your...