Letter 8029: Your error does not bring me joy — but neither does it shake my affection.
Ennodius of Pavia→Beatus, Chancellor|c. 516 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendship
From: Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To: Beatus
Date: ~517 AD
Context: A letter addressing a fault or error on Beatus's part, but with characteristic gentleness.
Ennodius to Beatus.
Your error does not bring me joy — but neither does it shake my affection. Mistakes are the property of all human beings, and the man who never errs is the man who never acts.
I write not to accuse but to correct, and I trust you will receive the correction in the spirit in which it is given. Farewell.
XXVIIII. ENNODIVS BEATO.
Non mihi tuus error inlusit nec retrouersa decepit adfectio:
tu aetatis naturae propositi ordinem custodisti: ego deliqui
aliter de te quam poscebat ueritas iudicando. ad hoc redeunt
quos diligentia insulsa captiuat. proinde iam sine circuitione
loquendum est. quo te inmemorem tui duxit insana praesumptio,
ut sancto presbytero diceres in uersibus illis quamuis in temporis
momento conpositis aliquibus uideri affectum coniugalis
gratiae non expressum? aut ego diffamareuolui quod scripseram ?
aut epitaphia hoc poscebant aut ratio? quis hoc inperitus,
22 cf. Terentii Andr. ns. 202
3 origenis B anteferani T - add. m. 2 ut uidetur 4 in
in & corr. T m. 2 7 honore om. B adcepto B notteris
(e in ras.) B 8 ammonitionis T suffestinatione B 9 symmacum
iccirco T 10 diregoJ B Pcuraui L, prorogaui B
13 manifestis B, manifestas L1 conpraehenso B 14 emmenentissimo
B 15 eorum perferre LPTVb
XXVIIII. 20 ego] ergo B diliqui BL 22 infusa Pb
23 praesumtio B 24 presbitero diceris B 25 mumento B
27 epjtafio B
quis tecum sanitate uacuus dixit, ut carmen, quod in summam
gratiam domnus Faustus excepit, te et participibus tuis rodentibus
laederetur? forte de tertio Phaleucio qui Terentianum
nesciunt habuerint, quod de una syllaba quaerentes occasionem
loquerentur. uere dignus fui ista quae pertuli, quia et scriptum
est margaritas ante inmunda animalia non esse mittendas.
quamuis dictionum et inperitiae meae bene sim conscius, te
tamen nec scire aliquid nec sciturum ante didiceram. uale et
ad alios te, de quibus debeas loqui, conuerte.
◆
From:Ennodius, deacon in Pavia
To:Beatus
Date:~517 AD
Context:A letter addressing a fault or error on Beatus's part, but with characteristic gentleness.
Ennodius to Beatus.
Your error does not bring me joy — but neither does it shake my affection. Mistakes are the property of all human beings, and the man who never errs is the man who never acts.
I write not to accuse but to correct, and I trust you will receive the correction in the spirit in which it is given. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.