Letter 102: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

The long silence of your affection distresses our spirits as much as the absence of such a great span of time, especially since the magnificent patrician Symmachus and the illustrious Romanus, master of soldiers, our sons, promised us the return of your charity without delay, and we are ignorant whether the nature of the affairs or some fraud feigned under the guise of necessity detains you there, because as we bear our concern without ceasing and question almost every person from those regions, diverse and conflicting reports are brought to us. And therefore, since you are better able to detect, understand, and recognize the causes of such great tardiness, you ought to communicate to us those things by which our spirit is tortured, or if there is a valid reason for the delay, someone from your number ought to have been sent to us, as was arranged. Therefore, lest perhaps through cunning or some contrivance delay and impediments be generated for you, write to us speedily, so that under a reasonable arrangement we may send a letter to the most clement emperor, our son, for your recall. Therefore, concerning both the persons involved and the cause of the faith for which you have been delayed so long, write back to us about everything fully and completely, so that having learned all things and with our God's favor we may consider how mercy may come to the aid of both your persons and the very cause whose business is at stake.

HORjnSDA GERMANO EPISCOPO FELICI ET DIOSCORO DIACONIS ET 5 BLANDO PRESBYTERO. Animos uostros tam diuturnum dilecti- onis uestrae silentium' ut tantorum temporum contristat absentia, praecipue cum uir magnificus patricius Symmachus et uir illustris Komanus magister militum filii nostri reditura apud nos caritatis uestrae sine dilatione promiserint, et lo ignoramus, utrum illic causarum qualitas an certe fraus aliqua simulata sub necessitate detineat, quia nobis sollicitudinem sine cessatione gerentibus et paene uniuorsos partium illarum 2 homines percontantibus diuersa et dissimilia nuntiantur. et ideo, quoniam causas tantae tarditatis uos melius deprehendere is et intellegere potestis atque cognoscere, significare nobis ista, de quibus noster cruciatur animus, debuistis, uel si est causa dilationis idonea, sicut constitutum est, aliquem de uestris 3 ad nos oportuerat destinari. unde ne forsitan per uersutias aut aliquam concinnationem uobis dilatio et impedimenta 20 generentur, sub celeritate nobis scribite, ut sub rationabili ordinatione pro uestra repetitione ad filium nostrum impera- 4 torem clementissimum dirigamus. ergo tam circa . personas quam de causa fidei, pro qua diu moramini, quid geratur, instructe atque plenissime nobis uniuersa rescribite, ut omnibus cognitis deo nostro fauente tractemus, quemadmodum personis uestris et causae ipsius, cuius res agitur, possit misericordia subuenire. Data Id. lul. Rusticio u. c. cons. 3 rustico V instruite 0' 28 ii ik rustico V Epist. CCXXVIll 2 — CCXXX 4. 695