Letter 8015: Before the test, the loyalty of friends is hidden.

From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia To: Edasius Date: ~504 AD Context: A reflection on how the true loyalty of friends is hidden before the test — and revealed only when adversity strikes. Ennodius to Edasius. Before the test, the loyalty of friends is hidden. Only adversity strips away the mask and reveals who stands with you and who does not. The fire that melts wax hardens clay, and the same trial that exposes a false friend confirms a true one. I write to you because you have passed that test. You stood when others left, and the memory of your constancy is one of the few things the hard years have given me that I would not trade. My gratitude is real, and so is my friendship. Farewell.

XV. ENNODIVS EDASIO. Ante experimentum amicorum fides occulta est: postquam in lucem processerit, eorum qui aliquid saporis habuerint sibi mentes obligat. est tamen nimis libera seruitus, quae caris exhibetur. confiteor magnitudini tuae: latebat me ante relationem hominis mei quid in sublimitate tua et saporis et gratiae sub nobili humilitate delitesceret: didici hominem, qui canam in fide beatitudinem, dum amicorum absentiam bene tractat, exsuperat. plura quidem discedens promiseras, sed ad genium conscientiae tuae maiora praestitisti. domine fili, salutationis effusissimae munus inpertiens ago atque habeo insufficientes gratias de his, quae mihi in prima notitiae fronte conlata sunt. quod restat, deprecor, ut residua illa mancipia teneri iam facias. ecce fiduciam de bonis praecedentibus descendentem: qui ante ignoto preces metuebat offerre, iam non dubitat imperare.