CLAUDIANUS TO THE LORD POPE SIDONIUS, GREETINGS
1. If it were possible to meet you, my lord, even occasionally and for a little while, I would not be searching from every quarter for the willingness or the needs of particular individuals who might be of use to me in the matter of my obligation to you. For the opportunity of a meeting is blocked in many ways by both the wretched and the important alike. And truly the faculty of writing is rarely conveniently at hand, or not at hand at all. Whether these same failures of mine deserve forgiveness or not, you yourself will judge.
2. But as for the fact that others are frequently favored with your letters — men who neither seek this perhaps as earnestly as I do, nor deserve it more — I do not think this is committed with impunity against the laws of friendship. I will also, though sorrowfully, leave this unsaid: that those little books which you do not refuse to have distinguished by your name, you have never favored with a single letter in response. But perhaps you have not the spare time to devote even a small amount of it to so great a friendship.
3. Into whatever occupation you may ever be plunged and wherever engaged — does it not revert to the benefit of others? When you appease God by your prayers, you reconcile him not only to friends but to strangers as well. When you search out the mysteries of Holy Scripture, the more diligently you steep yourself in them, the more copiously you pour out learning on others. When you lavish your resources upon the needs of the poor, you act with the greatest benefit for yourself, but for others also. Thus there is clearly nothing, absolutely nothing, among all your activities so unfruitful that it bears rich fruit for you alone and not also for many others along with you.
4. Therefore no excuse of any obstacle can be put forward, even falsely, why I, who am your special and intimate friend, should derive no benefit from my special friend — from whom even many strangers derive great benefit. But, as I think, following the pattern of the Gospel giver: what you do not give to a hungry friend you will give to a persistent knocker at the door. And moreover, if you harden yourself still further in your accustomed way, I shall do something that will cause you to repent — for if you sin further by silence, I shall straightway take vengeance by writing. For there is no ambiguity: you are to be punished as much by my writing as I am punished by your silence. Farewell.
EPISTULA II
Claudianus Sidonio papae salutem.
1. Si possibile factu esset, ut te, dominum meum, vel aliquotiens aliquantulum convenirem, non undeunde quarumpiam personarum aut voluntates aut necessitates anquirerem, quae in rem debiti mei usui mihi esse possent. quippe revisionis potestas multimodis et miseris perinde causis intercluditur. enimvero scribendi facultas aut raro idonea suppetit aut nec suppetit. istaec eadem remissibilia sint necne, tute iudicaveris.
2. porro autem vero, quod saepenumero scriptis vestris alii inpertiuntur, qui id ipsum nec ambiunt quam egomet forsan nec merentur amplius, non arbitror amicitiae legibus inpune committi. illud etiamnum dolenter faxo tacitum, quod libellos illos, quos tuo nomine nobilitari non abnuis, nullo umquam inpertivisti rescripto. sed vacuum forte non suppetit, quod tute modicum magnae admodum impendas amicitiae.
3. ecquo tumet occupatu umquam uspiamve implicabere, quin illud in aliorum commoda revergat? cum precatu deum placas, eundem non modo amicis sed ignotis quoque concilias. cum scripturarum caelestium mysteria rimaris, quo te studiosius imbuis, eo doctrinam ceteris copiosius infundis. cum tuas opes in usus inopum prodigis, tibi quidem maxume, sed aliis quoque consultum facis. proinde nihil videlicet, profecto nihil est tam infecundum actionum tuarum omnium, quod tibi uni soli tantum et non aliis quoque multis tecum uberem fructum ferat.
4. nulla igitur cuiusquam praepedimenti occasio praetendi vel falso potest, cur egomet specialis atque intumus <tuus> nihil ab speciali meo fructi feram, a quo ignoti quoque multum capiant plurimi. sed, uti ego autumo, iuxta formam euangelici largitoris quod non das amico esurienti dabis improbo pulsatori. porro si etiamnum solito obdurueris, faxim egomet quod tete paenitebit, quoniam, si peccabis ultra reticendo, ego protinus ulciscar scribendo. porro enim ambiguo caret tam te puniendum scripto meo, quam punior egomet silentio tuo. vale.
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CLAUDIANUS TO THE LORD POPE SIDONIUS, GREETINGS
1. If it were possible to meet you, my lord, even occasionally and for a little while, I would not be searching from every quarter for the willingness or the needs of particular individuals who might be of use to me in the matter of my obligation to you. For the opportunity of a meeting is blocked in many ways by both the wretched and the important alike. And truly the faculty of writing is rarely conveniently at hand, or not at hand at all. Whether these same failures of mine deserve forgiveness or not, you yourself will judge.
2. But as for the fact that others are frequently favored with your letters — men who neither seek this perhaps as earnestly as I do, nor deserve it more — I do not think this is committed with impunity against the laws of friendship. I will also, though sorrowfully, leave this unsaid: that those little books which you do not refuse to have distinguished by your name, you have never favored with a single letter in response. But perhaps you have not the spare time to devote even a small amount of it to so great a friendship.
3. Into whatever occupation you may ever be plunged and wherever engaged — does it not revert to the benefit of others? When you appease God by your prayers, you reconcile him not only to friends but to strangers as well. When you search out the mysteries of Holy Scripture, the more diligently you steep yourself in them, the more copiously you pour out learning on others. When you lavish your resources upon the needs of the poor, you act with the greatest benefit for yourself, but for others also. Thus there is clearly nothing, absolutely nothing, among all your activities so unfruitful that it bears rich fruit for you alone and not also for many others along with you.
4. Therefore no excuse of any obstacle can be put forward, even falsely, why I, who am your special and intimate friend, should derive no benefit from my special friend — from whom even many strangers derive great benefit. But, as I think, following the pattern of the Gospel giver: what you do not give to a hungry friend you will give to a persistent knocker at the door. And moreover, if you harden yourself still further in your accustomed way, I shall do something that will cause you to repent — for if you sin further by silence, I shall straightway take vengeance by writing. For there is no ambiguity: you are to be punished as much by my writing as I am punished by your silence. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.