Letter 9029: If the spirit of the poets were mine to command, I would summon it now — for the subject of this letter deserves an...

29. Ennodius to Liberius. If the discipline of the written page admitted the inspiration of the poets, a hundred mouths and a voice of iron would scarcely unlock, with abundance of words, what is owed to Your Highness by me. But since, being indebted for great things, I am scarcely equal to small ones, I have, after the mercy of God, provided one to repay Your Grace. For your brother lord Faustus, while he declares that he owes the kindness which you bestowed on me, removes from my weak neck the burdens of a heavy load. Between two most exalted men these things are held in common: you know both how to give what is worthy to yourselves and how to repay it; for me, placed beneath the weight of your gift, there remains only the confession of indebtedness, since the burden of your grace, by anticipating me, has made me unequal to that of which it made me the possessor of my wish. Yet I am present on my own behalf, and while I pray to God, sinner though I am, that he too may repay you on my behalf, I implore. Behold, these two things suffice: for from heaven you await for me that which you remember to have shown, and there is one as your equal who would confess himself a debtor on earth. Yet I await a swift supplement to your kindness, that I may receive letters such as I begged for through the sublime man Tranquillinus. Yet, well aware of your character, I will set before you another way of showing mercy besides these. My kinswoman Camilla within the Gauls is reported to have succumbed both to the misery of widowhood and now to the hardships of a twofold captivity. There is no one who, apart from Your Highness, can avert such manifold necessities: let the patron of my family not deny in Gaul what he granted to those placed in Italy, so that even from her little farms, by your ordinance, while the burdens of the treasury are diverted from them, there may be enough for the sustenance of the aforesaid woman. My lord, paying the services of salutation, I ask that Your Eminence, with God and yourselves inspiring it, order the bearer of the present letter, my man, whom I have appointed to carry out these matters, to pass through to my purpose. Surely it does not befit him to doubt about his requests, who knows that he has obtained even those things which he had not asked for?

XXVIIII. ENNODIVS LIBERIO. Si poetarum spiritus disciplina paginalis admitteret, centena ora et uox ferrea uix quod celsitudini uestrae a me debetur uerborum ubertate reseraret. sed quia magnis obnoxius uix parua sufficio, prouidi post dei misericordiam uestrae gratiae repensorem. nam frater uester domnus Faustus, dum debere se beneficium quod mihi tribuistis eloquitur, ab inbecillis ceruicibus grauis oneris sarcinas amolitur. sunt inter duos praecelsos ista communia: uos uobis et dare digna nostis et reddere: me sub fasce uestri muneris constitutum sola manet de obnoxietate confessio, dum praeuentum gratiae uestrae mole, quod uoti conpotem, fecit hoc inparem. adsum tamen partibus meis et inter orandum quamuis peccator deum, ut pro me 13 cf. Verg. Georg II 43.44, Aen. VI 625. (Lucr. VI 840 L. p. 899), Pere. I 29, Hoetins ap. Macrob. Sat. VI 8, 6. 1 si] sed T meroribus BLTV obbtu B 2 spiritualis Sirm. 4 ipsae B 6 praessuram B honorifice BTV cultu B, cultus LPTVb 7 commertii B conferates B 8 atq; B . XXVInI. 12 paginalee B et centena Bb 13 celsitudiois nestre B 15 parua B, pauca LPTVb 17 sese B tri- I buestes B inbioilis B 18 oneris Pb, honeria T, honoris BLV 20 sublsub B sola manet B, solamen et PVb, solam et LT 22 conputem B, c ο̃ pete ̃ T 23 orandum PТ2b, horandum B, hortandum LT1V quoque uobis reddat, inploro. ecce duo ista sufficiunt: nam et de caelo pro me expectatis quod uos exhibuisse meministis, et est aequalis qui se debere fateatur in terris expecto tamen beneficii uestri celeriter subplementum. ut litteras, quales per sublimem uirum Tranquillinum eam precatus, accipiam. his tamen aliam uobis miserendi uiam bene morum uestrorum conscius exhibebo. Camilla parens mea intra Gallias et uiduitatis miseria et geminae iam captiuitatis subcubuisse fertur incommodis. nemo est, qui tam multiplices necessitates praeter celsitudinem uestram possit auertere: generis mei patronus quod in Italia positis praestitit non neget in Gallia, ut uel de casellulis ipsius ordinatione uestra, dam ab eis fisci onera deriuantur, ad praefatae alimenta sufficiant. domine mi, salutationis seruitia dependens rogo, ut portitorem praesentium hominem meum, quem ad haec exsequenda destinaui, deo uobis inspirante ad meum effectum eminentia uestra iubeat commeare. numquid dubitare de postulationibus suis eum conuenit, qui se nouit etiam illa, quae non poposcerat, inpetrasse?