Letter 9013: Believe me when I say that I am a stranger in my own land with you absent.
Ennodius of Pavia→Panfronius|c. 503 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
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From: Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To: Panfronius
Date: ~503 AD
Context: A letter to Panfronius, lamenting his absence from the homeland — the emotional language of exile and displacement that runs through much of Ennodius's correspondence.
To Panfronius, from Ennodius.
Believe me when I say that I am a stranger in my own land with you absent. The home that should feel familiar feels foreign when the people who give it meaning are elsewhere.
This is not flattery — it is simple truth. The places we inhabit are defined by the people in them, and a city without its best citizens is just a collection of buildings. You are missed, and missed keenly.
Return when you can. Until then, let your letters serve as a substitute for your presence — a poor substitute, I grant you, but better than nothing. Farewell.
XIII. PANFRONIO ENNODIVS.
Peregrinari me in solo patrio nobis absentibus crederes,
etiamsi ualerem. at cum aegritudo mihi et quorundam insistat
infirmitas, inter utrasque quid faciam? quis uno tempore et
morbos ferat et perfidos ? scias nulla cautione, nulla innocentia
in ciuitate nostra quae deo medio promissa sunt custodiri:
totum felicitati tribuitur, nil amori: circa humiles rara dignatio:
optimus ille qui celsior. sed haec ego non pro mei, cui
nihil superest quod sperem, consideratione suspiro: dolet mihi
illos perire quos diligo. plenius uobis rem omnem et quam
propter studium uestrum inuidiam contraxerim homo uester
insinuabit. ego honorem salutationis inpertiens rogo, ut scripta
mea et domno Auieno et domno Liberio protinus contradatis,
et per ipsum, qui uobis Panfroniam nostram sanam tribuat,
coniuro, ut mox me quid responsi dederint instruatis : quia si
regius occupatione aliqua negatur aduentus, ego ad uos deo
meo suffragante sub quauis membrorum meorum fragilitate
uenire festino.
1 esse tui Pb 2 debis B nosse] nos B ee (alt . e
1
ex t corr.) L, om. B 3 m T, mihi BLV salotationem
(em in ras.) B 4 me d.] medium. B de om. T 6 exspecto
L
XIII. 9 crederis B 10 ad B 11 utrasque B, utraque L
PTVb 15 optin\' L 17 plenius-studium om, B 19 insinuat
B ergo B 21 Pamfroniam Sirm . contribuat P V
(con exp. V m. 1) b, ∗∗∗tribuat L 22 ciuro V, cu ̃ iuro T moi]
uos Sirm . instruates B
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From:Ennodius, deacon and literary figure in Pavia
To:Panfronius
Date:~503 AD
Context:A letter to Panfronius, lamenting his absence from the homeland — the emotional language of exile and displacement that runs through much of Ennodius's correspondence.
To Panfronius, from Ennodius.
Believe me when I say that I am a stranger in my own land with you absent. The home that should feel familiar feels foreign when the people who give it meaning are elsewhere.
This is not flattery — it is simple truth. The places we inhabit are defined by the people in them, and a city without its best citizens is just a collection of buildings. You are missed, and missed keenly.
Return when you can. Until then, let your letters serve as a substitute for your presence — a poor substitute, I grant you, but better than nothing. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.