Letter 10

From: Ruricius, bishop of Limoges To: Lupus, his close friend Date: ~485 AD Context: A playful letter to his dear friend Lupus, responding to classical comparisons between their friendship and the legendary pairs of Achilles-Patroclus, Hercules-Theseus, and Theseus-Pirithous — and insisting they should actually live up to those models rather than merely cite them. Ruricius to his lord, his own heart's treasure, Lupus. I received the letter from your great spirit, in which you graciously explain that the shortage of letter-carriers is why you sprinkle me less often with the dew of your eloquence. You also note your surprise that, when I have a ready supply of messengers and no shortage of polished words, I still hold back from writing to you more frequently. I have no doubt you said this with the irony that characterizes your witty eloquence — since you know perfectly well that you have couriers aplenty and I struggle with a poverty of both speech and the thin stream of a barren mind that, like a vein drying up in summer, sweats rather than flows. You also added that, like Patroclus to Achilles, or Theseus to Hercules, or Pirithous to Theseus, you ought to be joined to me. In these stories and deeds of the ancients, we should understand not a comparison of persons but a comparison of love — so that, recalling the names of friends, we might follow their examples. Let us transfer their titles to ourselves and match their merits. Let us pluck from their deeds everything noble and honorable and usefully apply it to our own lives. Let us serve one another in sincere love, not painted flattery. Let us strive so that what the falsehood of poets invented about their friendships, the truth of our hearts may accomplish in ours — so that while we seem to imitate the ancients, we leave something worthy of imitation ourselves, and while praising the deeds of our elders, we earn the praise of posterity.

X. DOMINO PECTORI SUO LUPO RURICIUS. Accepi litteras magnanimitatis tuae, quibus excusare dignaris, quod, ut me rarius eloquentiae tuae rore respergas, baiuli faciat inopia, simulque etiam indicas te mirari, cur, cum mihi eorum frequentia suppetat, uerborum quoque copia compta non desit, uobis scribere saepius detrectem. quod uos per ironiam, ut est leporis uestri facundia, iactasse non ambigo, cum et uos abundetis tabellariis et me sciatis laborare egestate sermonis ac sterilitate exilis ingenii uelut aestiuis mensibus arentis uenae cursum sudare, non fluere. addidistis etiam, sicut Achilli Patroclum aut Herculi Theseum uel Theseo Pirithoum, ita uos mihi debere sociari. in his fabulis factisque maiorum non praerogatiuam personarum, sed conparationem debemus dilectionis accipere, ut amicorum recolentes nomina sequamur exempla et eorum in nos uocabula transferentes merita conferamus atque ex ipsorum gestis magnifica quaeque et honesta carpentes uitae nostrae utiliter coaptemus et seruiamus nobis in caritate candida, non adulatione fucata studeamusque, quod in amicitiis illorum poetarum falsitas finxit, in nobis animorum ueritas peragat, ut, dum imitari uidemur antiqua, relinquamus imitanda et seniorum facta laudantes laudemur a posteris. haec ergo, domine mi, flamma pectoris mei, persuasioni tuae quam conscientiae meae amplius credens gerulo festinante breuiter cursimque dictaui, quae peritia tua et probitas tua, si amici uerecundiae consuluerit, aut celare debebit aut emendare curabit. 4 pectoris sui Kr., fort. recte, cf. p . 365, 6. 366, 10 . 367, 5 8 comta S 9 hiruina S 12 sterelitate S aestiuus S 14 hirculi S 16 prerogatiuam S 17 antiquorum Luetjohann, amicorum illorum Gustafsson a 18 et eorum i. n. uocabula add. S in marg . tranferentes S 19 queque S 21 fugata S 22 amicitus S 28 consuluerit scripsi, consuiit S, consulit v .