Letter 1004: Congratulations, most distinguished man, on the office you have won by the gift of your merits!

Sidonius to his friend Gaudentius. Congratulations, most distinguished man, on the office you have won by the gift of your merits! To attain those titles and distinctions, you did not count out your mother's rents, your grandfather's endowments, your wife's jewels, or your father's cash. On the contrary, what won you praise at the prince's court was your proven integrity, your demonstrated diligence, and the warmth of your companionship. Three and four times blessed are you — from whose elevation your friends take joy, your rivals take punishment, and your descendants take glory; and beyond that, the energetic and the spirited take an example, and the lazy take a spur. And yet, if there are any who hereafter rival you in whatever spirit, they may owe their success to themselves if they catch up — but they will owe it beyond doubt to you that they tried. I seem to see — with all due respect to the good — that proud indolence among the envious and that familiar disdain for public service among the idle, who, philosophizing over their wine cups, praise the holidays of the unhonored, growing from the despair of ever rising — blaming the vice of laziness on the pursuit of perfection. But enough of this. What remains, I beg you, is that you remember my wish to repay this exchange of correspondence in kind — provided only that God, blessing my righteous endeavors, grants me both safety and a safe return. Farewell.

EPISTULA IV Sidonius Gaudentio suo salutem. 1. Macte esto, vir amplissime, fascibus partis dote meritorum; quorum ut titulis apicibusque potiare, non maternos reditus, non avitas largitiones, non uxorias gemmas, non paternas pecunias numeravisti, quia tibi e contrario apud principis domum inspecta sinceritas, spectata sedulitas, admissa sodalitas laudi fuere. o terque quaterque beatum te, de cuius culmine datur amicis laetitia, lividis poena, posteris gloria, tum praeterea vegetis et alacribus exemplum, desidibus et pigris incitamentum; et tamen si qui sunt, qui te quocumque animo deinceps aemulabuntur, sibi forsitan, si te consequantur, debeant, tibi debebunt procul dubio, quod sequuntur. 2. spectare mihi videor bonorum pace praefata illam in invidis ignaviam superbientem et illud militandi inertibus familiare fastidium, cum a desperatione crescendi inter bibendum philosophantes ferias inhonoratorum laudant, vitio desidiae, non studio perfectionis. ** 3. ** appetitus, ne adhuc pueris usui foret, maiorum iudicio reiciebatur; sic adulescentum declamatiunculas pannis textilibus comparantes intelligebant eloquia iuvenum laboriosius brevia produci quam porrecta succidi. sed hinc quia istaec satis, quod subest, quaeso reminiscaris velle me tibi studii huiusce vicissitudinem reponderare, modo me actionibus iustis deus annuens et sospitem praestet et reducem. vale.