Letter 21: The young man I am commending this time is the sublimest of adolescents, and I say this not as empty praise — you...

Ennodius to the most holy Pope Symmachus. The young man I am commending this time is the sublimest of adolescents, and I say this not as empty praise — you know I do not deal in empty praise — but because he genuinely is. The combination of noble character, genuine piety, and intellectual seriousness that I have observed in him is rare in any generation and deserves the attention of the man who, as parent of all Christians, ought to know when such character exists. He is going to Rome to complete his education. His family has the resources to support him; he does not need material help. What he needs is what all serious young men need: models of what the combination of faith and excellence looks like in practice. In Rome, such models are not as plentiful as one would hope. The bishop of Rome, when he makes himself available to serious young men, is performing a pastoral act that no one else can perform in quite the same way. I recommend him to your fatherly attention. Ennodius

Ennodii ad Symmachum papam. Juvenem nobilem studia Romana requirentem pontifici commendat. Ennodius Symmacho. lem necessariam providet, qui parenti^) omniimi orbatos et rinos insinuat. Unica via est apostolatus vestri solatium^ quae Officia iUa sua dicit, quae in causa Sjmmachi praestiterat sive factia num variarum expensis (conf. Ennod. epist. III, 10. V, 13. VI, 16 et 33) >nBcripta synodi Y apologia. Schotti ed. addit c^jus. Hoc nomine pontificem universalem honorat, jam tunc inter temporum (8 fere unicum fluctuantium populorum et studiorum liberalium refugium. ex hisce Htteris discimus, Romam tum praecipuam ejuamodi studiorum reputatam esse, quam undique juvenes nobiles earum rerum soUertes it. medetur extemis. Absit afflictos dicere^ quos ad vos contigerit pei- venisse: creatoris patriam^ opes alibi non requinint; qnos ooronM vestrae cura susceperit. Praesentum bajuluS; ortus nobiliter^ pto- futura ad testimonium ingenuitatis studia Bomana requirit. li\mc beatitudini vestrae mea supplicis vestri commendat assertio^ ut salu- tatioiiis servitiis dignauter acceptiS; quod usu faciti*s, pro mei con- sideratione geminetur.