Letter 8013: I would be lying about my affection if I did not confess that your departure left a wound.
Ennodius to Aurelianus the priest.
I would be lying about my affection if I did not confess that your departure left a wound. When those we love leave, they take something with them that no letter can fully restore.
But I do not complain — not really. The God who brings friends together also separates them for reasons we cannot always see, and the faith that binds us survives every parting. What I miss in your presence I find, at least in part, in the knowledge that you pray for me as I pray for you.
Write to me when you are settled. Let the bond that distance has stretched be tightened again by the thread of correspondence. 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AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
XIII. ENNODIVS AVRELIANO PRESBVTERO.
Affectionem mentior, si uobiscum digrediens non remansi
et beatitudinem uestram mecum quamuis locatam in statione
non detuli. quia animus in me, ut in ceteris, imperator est
corporis, ipse circa diligentiam uestram est tota intentione
captiuus. ergo salutationis honorificentiam debita humilitate
persoluens nihil ualitudini meae de itineris confractione indico
decessisse. ecce qua sollicitudinem uestram benigni studii cura
remuneror: facite, quod scriptum est, accepta restituentes de
prosperitatis uestrae me significatione gratulari.
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