Letter 43

From: Ruricius, bishop of Limoges To: Constantius Date: ~501 AD Context: A witty exchange of gifts — Ruricius thanks Constantius for poultry and sends back a boar's hide, joking about the difference between two-legged and four-legged fare. Ruricius to the lord Constantius. Thank you for the delicacies you sent. I confirm that I received exactly the number of birds you indicated. In return, I am sending you through the same servants who brought your gift a boar's hide, so that while we enjoy the poultry you sent, you may feast on a four-legged creature transformed into a two-legged dish. I would rather you were captured by its meat than by its way of life — for the man who thinks constantly about worldly things and meditates endlessly on earthly matters resembles this animal, as Scripture warns.

XXXXIII. RURICII AD DOMNUM CONSTANTIUM. De deliciis transmissis gratias ago et, quantum indicastis, tantum me utrarumque auium suscepisse significo simulque etiam per pueros ipsos, qui nobis haec detulerunt, tergus aprunum me pietati tuae indico transmisisse, ut, dum nos uolatilia, quae transmisisti, deliciamur, tu bipede de quadrupede facto satieris. cuius tamen malo carne quam uita capiaris, quia, qui semper de saecularibus cogitat et iugiter terrena meditatur, huic animanti e scriptura diuina merito conparatur, quia de omnibus animalibus solus homo sublimis creatus est et effectus, ut auctorem suum semper caelo intentus aspiciat, non mundialia opera solo incessabiliter defixus exerceat.