Letter 2019: Ruricius, your humble client, to his holy patron —
Ruricius of Limoges→A patron (verse epistle)|c. 493 AD|Ruricius of Limoges
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From: Ruricius, bishop of Limoges
To: A patron saint (verse epistle)
Date: ~493 AD
Context: A verse letter — Ruricius writes in poetry to a holy patron, blending praise with anxious humility about the quality of his verse.
Ruricius, your humble client, to his holy patron —
Obedient to your fatherly counsel,
He sings his thanks and sends his greetings.
With gentle prayers and trembling heart he asks
That his light verse may not displease
The judgment of so great a teacher.
[The poem continues as a verse epistle in elegiac style, following the conventions of late antique Christian poetry. Ruricius adopts the pose of an inadequate poet seeking the patron's indulgence, while demonstrating considerable skill in versification — the very self-deprecation is itself a display of literary competence, as any educated reader of the period would have recognized.]
XVIIII. SANCTO RURICIUS CLIENS PATRONO
sedato monitis parens paternis
Grates concinit et refert salutem.
Quem blandis precibus rogat timendo,
1 ut] et 11 promeretur Momtnsenus, promitur S, promatur v 2 silet v
4 offitiorum S 6 persentit ita Luetjohann, persententia S, persentiat
ita v 9 ab alio-eum nos om. v 14 es S dispectui S 15 iuditio S
19 auribus uestris addidi praeeunte Kruschio coll. p . 362, 9, om. S
20 certi sumus v, certissimus S deserta S 21 forcia S tantu S,
tam r 23 sacietatem S 29 ragat S
26*
Ne fors displiceat leuis camena
Tanti iudicio minor magistri.
Hoc tu luminibus libens recurre,
Hoc sanctis manibus frequens reuolue,
Hoc tu dum relegis, mei memento.
Me semper recolat canatque lingua
Et mens me teneat, sopor retentet,
Me semper recinat tuum labellum.
Hos tu uisceribus piis reconde,
Hos tecto residens uiamque carpens,
Hos inter calices toro recumbens
Et parcas epulas cibosque dulces,
Antro pectoris et medulla cordis
Inclusos recita canente mente.
Sic nos et mutuos uidere uultus
Et uiuis tribuat referre uerbis,
Quae nunc intima pectoris fatigant,
Largitor deus omnium bonorum
Christus cum patre sempiterno regnans
Sancto spiritui dignantes hymnos.
◆
From:Ruricius, bishop of Limoges
To:A patron saint (verse epistle)
Date:~493 AD
Context:A verse letter — Ruricius writes in poetry to a holy patron, blending praise with anxious humility about the quality of his verse.
Ruricius, your humble client, to his holy patron — Obedient to your fatherly counsel, He sings his thanks and sends his greetings. With gentle prayers and trembling heart he asks That his light verse may not displease The judgment of so great a teacher.
[The poem continues as a verse epistle in elegiac style, following the conventions of late antique Christian poetry. Ruricius adopts the pose of an inadequate poet seeking the patron's indulgence, while demonstrating considerable skill in versification — the very self-deprecation is itself a display of literary competence, as any educated reader of the period would have recognized.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.