Letter 9

Ennodius to Olybrius. While you speak of honeycombs and compose the honey of a liquid element with the nectar of eloquence through waxen chambers, you have poured into my lips the exotic flavor of a rich feast, making mention of the contest of Hercules and the fateful falls of Antaeus. So indeed do those trained in the gymnasiums of letters illuminate the wrestling-ground; so do limbs of speech, oiled by the practices of study, submit to the artistry of the mouth. But I confess I would have preferred not to be stung by the mention of that fight. The old tale relates that Antaeus, so long as he was not thrown down, lost his mother's help once he ceased to fall — that by the stratagem of his cunning foe he was overcome by standing, and yielded his life in his adversary's arms. A thing worthy of memory, to be sure, but unworthy of friendship's purpose. We, I recall, have entered upon a contest of our bond — but one in which we vie to conquer through the offices of mutual affection, so that in the midst of such struggles we may both desire to be vanquished and to vanquish. We must live, not die, through the shared secrets of our hearts, united by the aid of Mother Church, who nourishes us both, to speak truly, with the fostering milk of faith. Let the fictions of old wives' poets cease; let fabulous antiquity be rejected; let an innocent standing never be mingled with another's ruin. For us, if it please you, in adapting the examples of the ancients to a new use, it is more fitting to recall the devotion of Pylades and Orestes, of Nisus and Euryalus, of Pollux and Castor — provided no taint of secret misdeeds diminishes their honor — whose mutual harmony of souls so bound them together that death alongside their friends was sought by two of them, while another purchased a friend's life at the price of his own death. These are things worthy of memory, whenever amid the fresh ties of concord a noble graft is joined to sturdy rootstock on the moist — if I may say so — page of our souls. Those minds promise the fruits of concord which understand what toil is needed in their cultivation. I rejoice, then, that we are now joined by an indissoluble fellowship of character, and from the threshold of affection we weigh the growth of our love by the balance of examination.

VIIII. OLVBRIO ENNODIVS. Dum fauos loqueris et per domos cereas eloquentiae nectare liquentis elementi mella conponis, peregrinum labiis meis saporem epuli diuitis infudisti, Herculei certaminis et triumphalium Antaei casuum faciens mentionem. sic se equidem exercita litterarum gymnasiis palaestra dilucidant, sic madefacta studiorum oleo loquendi se artificiis oris membra submittunt. sed noluissem fateor illius, ut aiunt, pugnae commemoratione morderi. Antaeum fabella senior, ne elisus uinceretur, matris solacium, postquam coepit non cadere, loquitur perdidisse: qui per callidi hostis fabricam fertur stando esse superatus et in pectore animam posuisse certantis. res scilicet digna memoratu, sed amicitiarum indigna proposito. nos nempe memini foederis certamina suscepisse, sed per quae mutuae uincamus caritatis officiis, ut dum inter huiusmodi luctamina nitimur, et uinci 1 eam B, ea TYb, et L, eum P epistola PT, epistulam BL V b nolis V corr. m. 1, nolis L 2 bonae B me om. B 3 per culiaribus B benificiis B 4 quo ex quem L in ras. corr. m. rtc . 5 attollat LPTV Vim. 7 olibrio T 8 fauos B corr. PT*, fauus B1LT1 Vb re loqris T re s. l. m. 2 pr L 9 linquentis B componis LT V 10 saporem V praeter I in ras. m. 1 aepuli B triumfalium V 11 anthei BLPTVb quidem L 12 gemnasiis BLV1 (e in i corr. m . 1), gignasiis PT palestra BLT 13 loquendi se scripn, loquendis TV, lequendis L, loquendi W- BPb artificis V corr. m. 1 15 orderi L antbeum BL PTV fauella B, fabula Sirm . uinceretur scripsi, uinceret BLPTVb 16 solatium L V cepit caderenon T 18 digna om . V (add. m. pavMo recentior), dedala B 20 cartamina federis T ambo optemus et uincere. nobis per communia pectorum secreta uiuendum potius quam obeundum est, matris ecclesiae ope sociatis, quae utrosque, ut uera loquamur, fidei ubere lacte pascit altrici. cessent anilium commenta poetarum: fabulosa repudietur antiquitas: status innocens ruinae nequaquam misceatur alterius. nobis, si placet in nouellum usum maiorum exempla reuocare, potius Pyladis et Orestis, Nisi et Euryali, Pollucis et Castoris, si nihil his clandestinorum actuum decerpit obscenitas, conuenit gratiae meminisse uel fidei quos inter se ita concors animorum deuinxit aequalitas, ut horum duos expetitus cum amicis iuuaret interitus, alter amico uitam pretio suae mortis adferret. ista sunt digna memoria, quotiens inter nouos concordiae nexus udo, ut ita dixerim, animorum libro cespitibus ualidis fetura nobilis iuncta maritatur. illae mentes promittunt poma concordiae, quae quid in cultura. sudoris sit opus agnoscunt. gaudeo tamen, quod iam indissolubili societate moribus iungimur et ab ostio affectionis per examinis lancem caritatis incrementa pensamus.