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...

If the spirit of the poets were admitted by the discipline of the page, a hundred mouths and an iron voice would scarcely disclose with richness of words what is owed by me to Your Highness. But since, being heavily obligated, I scarcely suffice for small things, I have provided, after God's mercy, a repayer of your grace. For your brother, the lord Faustus, while he declares that he owes the favor which you have bestowed upon me, removes the heavy burdens from my feeble shoulders. These things are shared between two eminent men: you know how both to give worthy things to one another and to repay them. For me, established beneath the weight of your gift, there remains only the confession of my obligation, since, overwhelmed by the mass of your grace, what has made me the possessor of my wish has made me unequal to it. Yet I stand ready at my post, and while praying — though a sinner — I implore God to repay you also on my behalf. Behold, these two things suffice: for you await from heaven what you remember having bestowed, and there is an equal who confesses his debt on earth. I await, however, the speedy fulfillment of your favor — that I may receive letters such as I requested through the distinguished man Tranquillinus. Yet I will set before you another path for your compassion, being well acquainted with your character. My relative Camilla is reported, within the Gauls, to have succumbed to both the misery of widowhood and the hardships of a double captivity. There is no one who can avert such manifold necessities except Your Highness: let the patron of my family not deny to those placed in Gaul what he has granted to those situated in Italy — so that at least from her small farms, by your arrangement, while the burdens of the treasury are diverted from them, enough may suffice for the sustenance of the aforesaid woman. My lord, paying the services of greeting, I ask that you order my man, the bearer of this letter, whom I have sent to carry out these matters, by God's inspiration, to travel with effective results from Your Eminence to me. Surely it is not fitting that one should doubt his petitions who knows he has obtained even those things which he had not requested?

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?