Letter 9032: How much your friendship has meant to me, only God fully knows — and perhaps you have some inkling.
Ennodius of Pavia→Adeodatus|c. 518 AD|Ennodius of Pavia
friendship
From: Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
To: Adeodatus, priest
Date: ~519 AD
Context: A letter reflecting on how much Ennodius has valued the priest's friendship.
Ennodius to Adeodatus the priest.
How much your friendship has meant to me, only God fully knows — and perhaps you have some inkling. I write to express what I have felt for years but rarely put into words: that your companionship has been one of the great blessings of my life.
May it continue. Farewell.
XXXII. ENNODIVS ADEODATO PRESBVTERO.
Quantum a me merito, quantum actione sis clarior, orationum
tuarum reserauit effectus. ecce domni Fausti filii tui abstractam
de solacio meo partem maximam tu tenebis. ego quidem sanctis
et legalibus desideriis precum inpedimenta non adtuli: sed
tantum me domni Auieni perculit pro eius I caritate discessio,
ut lacrimis prosequerer et ad optata tendentem. patuit humanarum
rerum in hac causa de diuersitate formatio. illum
euocant Christo duce uotiua, me feriunt: illi blanditur de coniunctione
uicinitas, me de sequestratione conpungit ecce de
precum mearum fruge sollicitor, et adeptos nos, si quid in hac
parte postulatum est, quod cum Christi pace dici liceat, ingemesco.
sed inter haec tali diligentiae curatione sustentor,
quia domnum Auienum superantem uota. reddidimus. habet de
origine eius Roma iactantiam, Liguria de profectu: ibi domno
Fausto filius naturae lege concessus est, hic eruditione patefactus.
minus fuit cum generalitate hominem nasci quam, quod
inimitabile uidebatur, Fausti sobolem conprobari. referamus
ad deum beneficia sua et ipsi pro illo exhibeamus gratias, a
quo poposcimus quae tenemus. uos salutationis meae obsequia
pro sancti pectoris uestri puritate suscipite et codicem recipientes
meum cum illo, qui a uobis promissus est, destinate.
XXXII. 2 presbitero T 4 reserabat 7x, reserabit LT2V fili
B 5 solatio, BLTV mazima BV 6 impedimento L
7 tantum scripsi, tanta libri . perculet B 8 lacrimes L
humarum T* 9 causa ̃ L illud L 10 cristo B uotiuam
et B 11 diuinitas fort . conpunget B 12 aollicitus Lx
adeptus L hac B 13 cristi B ingemisco BLTV
15 reddimus B 16 lignri B 17 natura! elege Bl eruditionS
L 18 cum ex con B corr . genaralitate B 19 iniexbibsam\'
mittabile T* nedebatnr B 10 exhibeamus B, referam V, ezhibeam
refera L, referamus PTb, redhibeamns Sirm. 22 puritatem
L pcipientes L
◆
From:Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
To:Adeodatus, priest
Date:~519 AD
Context:A letter reflecting on how much Ennodius has valued the priest's friendship.
Ennodius to Adeodatus the priest.
How much your friendship has meant to me, only God fully knows — and perhaps you have some inkling. I write to express what I have felt for years but rarely put into words: that your companionship has been one of the great blessings of my life.
May it continue. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.