Epistulae (9 books)
You demand, my dear son, that my pen break through the boundary of the earlier letters and push onward into fresh...
Bishop Albiso and the deacon Proculus -- whom I must call our masters in conduct, since they deserve to be counted...
Your eloquence and your devotion alike maintain their accustomed standard, and for this reason we admire your speech...
Our traveler and letter carrier wears the ruts of his accustomed road, traversing again and again the stretch of...
Though we are settled in sees somewhat more widely separated than our shared affection would wish, nevertheless the...
Your Holiness has prevailed with Christ through the power of intercession on behalf of our dearest friend -- why...
A certain man traveling from Clermont to Belgica -- his person is known to me, his business unknown, nor does it...
Although we were not expecting it, yet were certainly longing for it, your old courier delivered your letter -- a...
You have complained, most holy sir, that we have both been silent too long.
the commissioned letter might neither be denied to friendship when written, nor subjected to your censure when read.
The man who should have delivered your letters to me instead delivered mine to you.
On account of the little book that you considered to have been sent not so much to you as through you, I received a...
A page that set out from you has reached my hands, and it bears a strong resemblance to Spanish salt quarried on the...
I confess that your judgment of my verses has long been so flattering and favorable that you think me worthy of...
I am doubly tormented by the fact that we are both confined to our beds.
You prove -- and I do not deny it -- that I have been at fault, since I have not yet attached any letter bearing...
If you recall, my dear son, you had charged me with the task of joining this ninth book, dedicated especially to...
With you it began; with you it shall end.
Your son has carried off my nurse's daughter: a disgraceful deed, and one that would have made enemies of us both,...
The fact that yesterday you were absent from the council meeting of the city is taken by the better part of the...
Your uncle Victorius, a man as distinguished as he was universally learned, composed verses with supreme power among...
The Magnificent Hesperius, jewel of friends and of letters, when he recently returned from the city of Toulouse,...
Your son -- or rather, our shared son -- has come running to me, grieving that in leaving you he has done wrong,...
How fittingly the words of the Mantuan poet apply to your name and your situation:
I cannot delay sharing with you this great joy, for you are surely eager to learn what our father in Christ and...
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR CONSTANTIUS, GREETINGS
You have asked me many times — since Theodoric, King of the Goths [Theodoric II, r.
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR PHILIMATIUS, GREETINGS
Congratulations, most distinguished man, on the office you have won by the gift of your merits!
I received your letter while in Rome.
I have long wanted to write to you, but now I am especially impelled to do so, since I am traveling to the city with...
The fate of Arvandus [the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, tried for treason in Rome around 469 AD] distresses me, and I...
You congratulate me on being in Rome -- but with a touch of wit and some salt mixed in with the teasing.
After the wedding of the patrician Ricimer -- that is, after the resources of both empires had been squandered on...
I received your letter through the prefect of the grain supply, in which you recommend him to me, your new...
You ask me, most eloquent sir, as you set out for your Sequani [the region around Besancon], to send you a certain...
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR ECDICIUS, GREETINGS
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR DOMITIUS, GREETINGS
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR FELIX, GREETINGS
The distinguished Proiectus — noble in his own household, conspicuous for his father and uncle of the rank of...
My associate Johannes has stumbled into the inextricable labyrinth of a complicated lawsuit.
It is a famous proverb that delay often turns out for the better — as we have just now proved by experience.
Because your justice, proven in so many tests of fairness, has rightly earned the respect of all, I gladly and...
I write to you with the deepest sorrow.
You ask why, having set out for Nimes some time ago, I am prolonging your suspense by my delayed return.
I love in you your love of letters, and I strive to honor with the fullest praise the generosity of a dedication...
If the distances between us were shorter and our regions closer together, I would not allow the infrequency of our...
You sent a fine boat — light, solid, big enough for a bed, and already stocked with fish — along with an extremely...
Your friend Marcellinus — a man of skill and a friend's friend — delivered your letter.
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR AVITUS, GREETINGS
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR CONSTANTIUS, GREETINGS
If ever there was a time when my people in the Auvergne [Clermont-Ferrand, the central city of the Arverni in...
Gozolas, a Jew by nationality and a client of your household — a man whose person would be dear to me as well, if...
If the distinguished Donidius — an admirer and champion of your character — had been thinking only of his domestic...
To Eutropius [a Gallo-Roman aristocrat who had been appointed to a prefecture].
You have been abstaining from correspondence for a long time.
I honor the ancients, but not so much that I would rank below them the virtues or merits of my contemporaries.
To Riothamus [a British king or warlord commanding a force of Britons in Gaul, allied with the Roman cause against...
Our young men add greatly to their credit when, faced with uncertain legal questions, they turn to the counsel of...
Though my longing to see you has been attended by such ill fortune that you are still denied to my sight, you are...
To Secundus [Sidonius's kinsman, since they share the same grandfather/great-uncle].
I thoroughly approve, rejoice, and admire that out of love for purity you shun the company of dissolute men —...
Although Grenoble [Gratianopolis] keeps you busy, I have learned from reliable old friends that you still make time...
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR PROBUS, GREETINGS
CLAUDIANUS TO THE LORD POPE SIDONIUS, GREETINGS
To Claudianus [Claudianus Mamertus, a philosopher-priest in Vienne, brother of Bishop Mamertus; author of "On the...
Here at last — fulfilling my promise and your expectation — comes Faustinus: a nobleman of his household, to be...
A second greeting sends the same carrier on a second trip: your man Gozolas — God grant he may be ours — serves for...
Through Bishop Faustinus — a man bound to me by the fellowship of our old comradeship no less than by our shared...
There is a proverb — "you are urging a willing runner" — that fits anyone asked to do what he would have done anyway...
To Euodius [a Gallo-Roman courtier at the Visigothic court].
I recently visited the distinguished Vectius and closely observed his daily life, very much at my leisure.
I break into a greeting — late though it is, my lord — having myself gone many years without one.
I am deeply grieved by the loss to our age of your uncle Claudianus [Claudianus Mamertus, the philosopher-priest of...
To Simplicius and Apollinaris [Sidonius's relatives, probably his son and another kinsman].
I recently visited the church at Cantillum at the request of the distinguished Germanicus.
Gaius Tacitus — one of your own ancestors, a senator under the Ulpian emperors [i.
Prepare a lavish feast and beds for a great many guests: people are coming to you by many roads and in large crowds...
I received your letter through Paterninus — a letter whose mix of honey and salt is hard to measure.
To Arbogastes [count of Trier, a descendant of the Frankish general Arbogastes who served under Theodosius I; one of...
You forget what is asked of you and, conversely, remember perfectly when you are the one doing the asking.
You complain of both my delays and my silence.
You who love the sight of arms and armed men — what pleasure you would have felt if you had seen young Prince...
It is true that a man's identity comes first from his father's line, but we owe a great deal to our mothers too.
The distinguished Hesperius — that jewel among friends and men of letters — recently returned from Toulouse and told...
Your son — our son, I should say — has come running to me.
How fitting for your name and your situation are those lines of the Mantuan poet [Virgil]: "Turnus, what no god...
I cannot wait to share some wonderful news with you — knowing how eager you must be to hear what our father in...
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR PETRONIUS, GREETINGS
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR NYMPHIDIUS, GREETINGS
It would be only fair to curb my loquacity with the same silence you have imposed on me.
As for the fact that I sent a letter but received none in return — I attribute it to friendship, but I credit it...
To Syagrius [a young Gallo-Roman aristocrat, great-grandson of a consul, living among the Burgundians].
To Apollinaris [a kinsman, likely the same as above].
To Thaumastus [brother of Apollinaris, a kinsman of Sidonius].
For a long time now we have been reading your work with admiration and praise — you who are most at home in hexameters.
I count it as a debt you owe me, most excellent of men — if you agree that the reasons for our friendship are as...
To Sapaudus [a rhetorician, probably based in Vienne or Arles].
I love you dearly — and this affection is neither accidental nor random, for I chose to become your devoted friend...
If my letters reach you rarely, the fault lies not in my arrogance but in others' tyranny.
You know that Seronatus [a corrupt Roman official who collaborated with the Visigoths] is returning to Toulouse — or...
Are you enjoying the hot springs at Baiae right now — the sulfur water belching out of rough pumice caverns, the...
After the usual greetings, let me introduce our copyist — not as a favor but as a professional assessment.
To my dear Papianilla [Sidonius's wife].
You are still the same man you always were, my dear Eriphius — hunting, city life, and farming never distract you so...
I was glad — genuinely glad — to learn that you have begun to preside over the city of the Aedui [Autun].
Your son has abducted the daughter of my nurse — an outrage that would have made enemies of us both, had I not...
Your absence from yesterday's civic assembly was noticed.
Your uncle Victorius — as outstanding a man as he was thoroughly learned in every respect — composed many things...
Blessed be the Holy Spirit and the Father of God Almighty — for you, father of fathers, bishop of bishops, a second...
SIDONIUS TO THE LORD POPE PRAGMATIUS, GREETINGS
Though you have given no encouragement to the beginnings of my vocation, nor watered the thirst of my lingering...
Beyond the duty that is owed without end to your incomparably eminent apostolate — though it can never be fully...
The man who carries my letter to you serves my cause without knowing it, for while he becomes the convenient bearer...
When I learned that the treaty-breaking nation had returned to their own territory and was preparing no ambush for...
To the Lord Bishop Fonteius.
To the Lord Bishop Graecus [Bishop of Marseille].
To the Lord Bishop Lupus [Lupus of Troyes, one of the most revered bishops of fifth-century Gaul].
To the Lord Bishop Censorius.
This letter commends a Jew — not because I approve of the error in which his people perish entangled, but because it...
To the Lord Bishop Patiens [Bishop of Lyon, celebrated for his extraordinary generosity during the famines that...
The word is that the Goths have moved their forces onto Roman soil.
SIDONIUS TO THE LORD POPE GRAECUS, GREETINGS
I deliberated long and hard, even though my spirit was stirred by affection and the eagerness to comply, over...
I now dread recommending anyone to you at all, because when I commend someone, I give them words while you give them...
I have come to Bourges [Bituriges] at the request of the citizens.
By God's gift and the new example of our times, we have the old rights of friendship, and it is long since we have...
To the Lord Bishop Graecus [Bishop of Marseille].
To the Lord Bishop Euphronius [Bishop of Autun].
To the Lord Bishop Perpetuus [Bishop of Tours, the powerful metropolitan who had commissioned the new basilica of...
To the Lord Bishop Auspicius [Bishop of Toul, in northeastern Gaul].
To the Lord Bishop Graecus [Bishop of Marseille].
To Ferreolus [a former praetorian prefect of Gaul, now retired].
Good God, what a blend of rigor and grace the man displays, whether deliberating or persuading!
Recently, among some distinguished men — the gathering was a large one — your name came up.
Whenever I come to Vienne, I would give a great deal for the city to have you and our mutual brother as residents...
You do a thing, my singular patron in Christ, that is in keeping with both your love and your way of life: you...
To my brother Volusianus.
To Constantius [the final letter of Sidonius's collected correspondence].
You do a fine thing — it's your way, and I hope you keep it up — you who are the most praiseworthy of all good men...
SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR JOHANNES, GREETINGS
I have sent you the Life of Apollonius of Tyana [the famous 1st-century Pythagorean philosopher and wonder-worker] —...
Will God's will ever bring us together, my distinguished lord, on that Octavian estate of yours -- yours, and yet...
You too shall enter my pages, Fortunalis — pillar of friendship, illustrious ornament of the lands of Spain.
The dictator Julius Caesar, who they say administered military affairs with greater generalship than any other, was...
Where, I would like to know, are they hiding now — those men who used to congratulate themselves on their heaped-up...
To Syagrius [the same young aristocrat praised earlier for his Burgundian fluency].
To Lampridius [a poet and rhetor of Bordeaux, friend of Sidonius].
To Ruricius [Ruricius of Limoges, a cultivated aristocrat who later became bishop].
How are your Nitiobroges and Vesunnici [the peoples of Agen and Perigueux] — between whom there is always a holy...
To Trygetius [a wealthy Gallo-Roman landowner near Bazas].
To the Lord Bishop Nunechius.
Venerable Father, although I have not yet seen your face, I have long known your deeds.
You have been urging me, with the highest praise for the holy Anianus [Bishop of Orleans, who rallied the city...
To Constantius [Sidonius's literary executor and the dedicatee of the first eight books of letters].
You insist, my dear son, that my pen should break through the boundary of the earlier letters and push on into new...
SIDONIUS TO THE LORD POPE EUPHRONIUS, GREETINGS
Both your eloquence and your devotion hold to their accustomed standard, and for this reason I admire your speech...
Our traveler and letter-carrier keeps wearing the same familiar ruts of the road — the distance that separates our...
Though we find ourselves separated by a somewhat greater distance than our shared affection would wish, the obstacle...
Your holiness prevailed with Christ on behalf of our dearest friend (why should I mention his name or person?
To the Lord Bishop Remigius [Remigius of Reims, the famous bishop who would later baptize Clovis, king of the...
To the Lord Bishop Principius [Bishop of Soissons].
To the Lord Bishop Faustus [Bishop of Riez].
To the Lord Bishop Aprunculus [Bishop of Langres, later of Clermont].
To the Lord Bishop Lupus [Lupus of Troyes].
Your letter arrived — sparkling and salty as the rock-salt quarried in the hills of Tarragona.
Your opinion of my verse has always been so flattering that you rank me alongside the finest poets — and ahead of most.
I am doubly tormented: we are both bedridden.
You prove — and I do not deny — that I have been remiss, since I have not yet included any letter addressed to you...
If you recall, my dear son, you had asked that this ninth book — specially composed for you — be added to the eight...