From: Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia
To: Pope Symmachus
Date: ~516 AD
Context: Ennodius commends a noble youth from a distinguished family, including friends related to the high official Parthenius.
Ennodius to the most holy Pope Symmachus.
I write to recall to your memory certain of my connections, and to commend to your paternal care a young man of distinguished family who is coming to Rome and who will present himself to you.
His family connections are of the kind that you will recognize immediately — he is connected to the household of Parthenius, a man of notable rank, through his mother's line. I mention this not because I believe connections matter more than character, but because it gives you a point of reference in a city where you see many people and cannot be expected to remember every name.
What I can tell you of the young man himself: he is serious, more serious than most of his age and class, and he has genuine questions about the faith that he has not found satisfying answers to in his family's circle. He is not looking for patronage; he is looking for conversation.
I ask only that you receive him with the generosity that marks all your dealings with the young men who seek you out.
Your son in Christ,
Ennodius
Ennodii ad Symmachuin papam.
Fitios Laurentii viri sublimis papae commendai. ^
Ennodius Symmacho papae.
Quamvis sublimi viro Laurentio ^) assistat pro pignorum commen-
datione probitas sua, et patris prudentia causas sobolis exsequatur,
attamen sollicitudine genitali ad ampliora proce^it, et vix credit
pro filiis sufficere quod meretur. Adjutricem in adstipulatione ger-
minis paginam quaerit, et trepidante diligentia patrum ardorem
nititur cum universitate partiri Cogitate, si viro optimo negari
efiectus potuit et pia et justa poscenti. Tribuat Divinitas effectom
precibus ejus, et hunc beatitudinis vestrae nominatis conciliare digne-
tur afifectmn, ut erigat parvulos implorata coronae vestrae miseratio:
quatenus anxii circa ipsos genitoris vota superentur. Domine mi,
spero, ut promissa dudimi benignitas in ea parte testimonium ferat,
si comprehensis superius gcminatam impendi gratiam, qui per me
precatur, intelligat.
') Do eodem hujus viri negotio Ennodius agere videtur epist. rV, 11.
EPI8T0LAE 20 — 23. 733
◆
From:Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia
To:Pope Symmachus
Date:~516 AD
Context:Ennodius commends a noble youth from a distinguished family, including friends related to the high official Parthenius.
Ennodius to the most holy Pope Symmachus.
I write to recall to your memory certain of my connections, and to commend to your paternal care a young man of distinguished family who is coming to Rome and who will present himself to you.
His family connections are of the kind that you will recognize immediately — he is connected to the household of Parthenius, a man of notable rank, through his mother's line. I mention this not because I believe connections matter more than character, but because it gives you a point of reference in a city where you see many people and cannot be expected to remember every name.
What I can tell you of the young man himself: he is serious, more serious than most of his age and class, and he has genuine questions about the faith that he has not found satisfying answers to in his family's circle. He is not looking for patronage; he is looking for conversation.
I ask only that you receive him with the generosity that marks all your dealings with the young men who seek you out.
Your son in Christ, Ennodius
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.