LETTER XV
Sidonius to his dear Gelasius, greetings.
1. You prove -- and I do not deny it -- that I have been at fault, since I have not yet attached any letter bearing your name to my work. But you write that my error would be pardonable if I were to send you a sample of the same kind, since I sent bimetric verses to my Tonantius for a similar purpose. Beyond this, you complain that my page, whenever it unbends into playfulness, is filled only with hendecasyllables. Accordingly, suspending my trochaic chatter, you demand instead some senarii. I obey your commands; only receive them graciously, whether you prefer to call this an ode or an eclogue. For a meter long unpracticed is harder to weave.
[Here follows a poem of 55 lines in iambic trimeter, in which Sidonius names the poets and orators of his age -- Leo, Lampridius, Severianus, Domnulus, Petrus, Proculus -- acknowledging each as his superior, and then declares that love knows no fear and compelled his obedience.]
2. Pardon one who returns to unfamiliar ground, and expect nothing further from one who has fulfilled your commands than indulgence for his rarity. But if you impose similar tasks on me hereafter, and wish me to become more obliging, you must in return either dictate what I am to sing or dance what I am to laugh at. Farewell.
EPISTULA XV
Sidonius Gelasio suo salutem.
1. Probas (neque deprecor) me deliquisse; deliqui, quippe qui necdum nomine tuo ullas operi meo litteras iunxerim. sed tamen scribis tum quod erraverim veniabile fore, si quod et ipse decantes mittam ab exemplo, quia scilicet Tonantio meo ad parem causam futuras usui litteras bimetras miserim. praeter hoc quereris paginam meam, si resolvatur in lusum, solis hendecasyllabis frequentari. qua de re trochaica garrulitate suspensa senariolos aliquos plus requiris. servio iniunctis; tu modo placidus accipias, sive oden hanc ipsam mavis vocare sive eglogam. nam metrum diu infrequentatum durius texitur.
Iubes, amice, nostra per volumina
modis resultet incitatioribus
ferox iambus, ut trochaeus hactenus,
pigrasque bigas et quaterna tempora
(5) spondeus addat, ut moram volucripes
habeat parumper insitam trimetria,
resonetque mixtus ille pes celerrimus,
bene nuncupatus quondam ab arte pyrricha,
loco locandus undecumque in ultimo;
(10) spondam daturus et subinde versui,
modo in priore parte, nunc in extima
anapaestus, ipse quamquam et absolutius
pronuntietur, cum secuta tertia
geminae brevique longa adhaeret syllaba.
(15) Quae temperare vix callet gregarius
poeta, ut ipse cernis esse Sollium;
mihi pecten errat nec per ora concava
vaga lingua flexum competenter explicat
epos. sed istud aptius paraverit
(20) Leo Leonis aut secutus orbitas
cantu in Latino, cum prior sit Attico
Consentiorum qui superstes est patri,
fide, voce, metris ad fluenta Pegasi
cecinisse dictus omniforme canticum,
(25) quotiensque verba Graia carminaverit,
tenuisse celsa iunctus astra Pindaro
montemque victor isse per biverticem
nullis secundus inter astra Delphica.
at uterque vatum si lyrae poeticae
(30) Latiare carmen aptet absque Dorico,
Venusina, Flacce, plectra ineptus exeras
Iapygisque verna cygnus Aufidi
Atacem tonare cum suis oloribus
cana et canora colla victus ingemas.
(35) Nec ista sola sunt perita pectora,
licet et peritis haec peritiora sint:
Severianus ista rhetor altius,
Afer vaferque Domnulus politius,
scholasticusque sub rotundioribus
(40) Petrus Camenis dictitasset acrius,
epistularis usquequaque nec stilus
virum vetaret, ut stupenda pangeret.
potuisset ista semper efficacius
humo atque gente cretus in Ligustide
(45) Proculus melodis insonare pulsibus
limans faceta quaeque sic poemata,
Venetam lacessat ut favore Mantuam
Homericaeque par et ipse gloriae,
rotas Maronis arte sectans compari.
(50) Ego corde et ore iure despicabilis
quid inter hosce te rogante garriam,
loquacitatis impudentiam probans
animique vota destituta litteris?
sed quid negabo nec pudore territus?
(55) amor timere nescit: inde parui.
2. Ignosce desueta repetenti atque ob impleta quae iusseras nihil amplius quam raritatis indulgentiam praestolaturo. ceterum mihi si similia post iniunxeris, quo queam fieri magis obsequens, curabis ad vicem carminis aut dictare quae cantem aut saltare quae rideam. vale.
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LETTER XV
Sidonius to his dear Gelasius, greetings.
1. You prove -- and I do not deny it -- that I have been at fault, since I have not yet attached any letter bearing your name to my work. But you write that my error would be pardonable if I were to send you a sample of the same kind, since I sent bimetric verses to my Tonantius for a similar purpose. Beyond this, you complain that my page, whenever it unbends into playfulness, is filled only with hendecasyllables. Accordingly, suspending my trochaic chatter, you demand instead some senarii. I obey your commands; only receive them graciously, whether you prefer to call this an ode or an eclogue. For a meter long unpracticed is harder to weave.
[Here follows a poem of 55 lines in iambic trimeter, in which Sidonius names the poets and orators of his age -- Leo, Lampridius, Severianus, Domnulus, Petrus, Proculus -- acknowledging each as his superior, and then declares that love knows no fear and compelled his obedience.]
2. Pardon one who returns to unfamiliar ground, and expect nothing further from one who has fulfilled your commands than indulgence for his rarity. But if you impose similar tasks on me hereafter, and wish me to become more obliging, you must in return either dictate what I am to sing or dance what I am to laugh at. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.