Letter 4013: I recently visited the church at Cantillum at the request of the distinguished Germanicus.

To Vectius. I recently visited the church at Cantillum at the request of the distinguished Germanicus. He is easily the foremost man of that district, and though he has already passed his sixtieth year, his dress and appearance remain so conspicuously youthful that he seems not merely young again but almost boyish. His clothes are fitted tight, his boots are taut, his hair is trimmed round like a wheel, and his beard is shaved close to the skin, hidden deep within the folds of his wrinkles. Beyond this, God has blessed him with a solid constitution: his sight is keen, his stride is long and brisk, his teeth are white and unbroken in firm gums. His stomach does not heave, his veins do not burn, his heart is not shaken, his lungs do not sigh, his back is not stiff, his liver does not swell, his hands do not weaken, his spine does not curve. Blessed with youthful health, the only thing he claims from old age is its respect. Because of these particular gifts of God, and because you share a strong bond of friendship with him — being neighbors — I urge and advise you to use your counsel, to which he gives great weight because of your own well-known integrity, to persuade him not to put too much trust in uncertain health or place too much confidence in his extraordinary vigor. Rather, let him at last take up the profession of religion and recover his strength through a resurgent innocence. Let this man, old in years, make himself new in merits. And since scarcely anyone is free from hidden sins that deserve punishment, let him obtain open absolution for those secret offenses he remembers committing. For a bishop's father and a bishop's father-in-law, if he is not holy, becomes like a thorn-bush — one born from roses and producing roses, yet surrounded by the thorny pricks of sins, in the midst of the blossoms both above and below. Farewell.

EPISTULA XIII Sidonius Vectio suo salutem. 1. Nuper rogatu Germanici spectabilis viri Cantillensem ecclesiam inspexi. est ipse loco sitorum facile primus quique post tergum cum iam duodecim lustra transmittat, cotidie tamen habitu cultuque conspicuo non iuvenescit solum sed quodammodo repuerascit. enimvero vestis adstricta, tensus coturnus, crinis in rotae specimen accisus, barba intra rugarum latebras mersis ad cutem secta forcipibus. 2. ad hoc et munere superno membrorum solida coniunctio, integer visus, amplus in celeri gressus incessu, incorruptae lactea dentium compage gingivae. non illi stomachus nauseat, non vena flammatur, non cor incutitur, non pulmo suspirat, non riget lumbus, non iecur turget, non mollescit manus, non spina curvatur, sed praeditus sanitate iuvenali solam sibi vindicat de senectute reverentiam. 3. propter quae beneficia peculiaria dei, quoniam vobis iura amicitiae grandia vigent, quippe vicinis, obsecro ac moneo, ut consilio tuo, cui sequendo per conscientiam magnam maximam tribuis auctoritatem, non multum fidat ambiguis nec nimis nimiae credat incolumitati, sed tandem professione religionis arrepta viribus potius resurgentis innocentiae convalescat, faciat se vetustus annis meritis novum. 4. et quoniam nemo ferme est, qui plectibilibus careat occultis, ipse super his, quae clam commissa reminiscitur, palam fusa satisfactione solvatur. nam sacerdotis pater filiusque pontificis, nisi sanctus est, rubo similis efficitur, quem de rosis natum rosasque parientem et genitis gignentibusque floribus medium pungentibus comparanda peccatis dumorum vallat asperitas. vale.