To Elaphius.
Prepare a lavish feast and beds for a great many guests: people are coming to you by many roads and in large crowds — as befits a gathering of good people. The date of the upcoming dedication has become known to everyone. The baptistery you have been building for so long is, you write, finally ready for consecration. This celebration draws you out of devotion, me out of duty, many out of obligation, and everyone out of faith. It is a magnificent example: at a time when hardly anyone else would dare to repair old churches, you are building new ones.
For the rest, we pray that for many years to come, as you fulfill your vows to our God, you will continue to make new ones — not only through hidden devotion but through a life openly transformed. And when the times grow calmer, may Christ grant my wish as well as the wish of the people of Rodez [Ruteni] — that you may offer sacrifices on their behalf, you who already offer them altars.
Although late autumn is already shortening the days and the rustling fall of leaves fills travelers' anxious ears with noise throughout the forest, I still intend to be there. Farewell.
EPISTULA XV
Sidonius Elaphio suo salutem.
1. Epulum multiplex et capacissima lectisternia para: plurimis viis, pluribus turbis (ita bonorum contubernio sedit) ad te venitur, quippe postquam omnibus tempus futurae dedicationis inclaruit. nam baptisterium, quod olim fabricabamini, scribitis iam posse consecrari. ad quae festa vos voti nos ministerii, officii multos fidei totos causa sollicitat. siquidem res est grandis exempli eo tempore a vobis nova ecclesiarum culmina strui, quo vix alius auderet vetusta sarcire.
2. quod restat optamus, ut deo nostro per uberes annos, sicut vota redditis, ita reddenda voveatis, idque non solum religione celata, sed et conversione manifesta; mitigatoque temporum statu tam desiderio meo Christus indulgeat quam Rutenorum, ut possitis et pro illis offerre sacrificia, qui iam pro vobis offertis altaria.
3. de cetero quamquam [et] extremus autumnus iam diem breviat et viatorum sollicitas aures foliis toto nemore labentibus crepulo fragore circumstrepit inque castellum, ad quod invitas, utpote Alpinis rupibus cinctum, sub vicinitate brumali difficilius escenditur, nos tamen deo praevio per tuorum montium latera confragosa venientes nec subiectas cautes nec superiectas nives expavescemus, quamvis iugorum profunda declivitas aggere cocleatim fracto saepe redeunda sit, quia, etsi nulla sollemnitas, tu satis dignus es, ut est Tullianum illud, propter quem Thespiae visantur. vale.
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To Elaphius.
Prepare a lavish feast and beds for a great many guests: people are coming to you by many roads and in large crowds — as befits a gathering of good people. The date of the upcoming dedication has become known to everyone. The baptistery you have been building for so long is, you write, finally ready for consecration. This celebration draws you out of devotion, me out of duty, many out of obligation, and everyone out of faith. It is a magnificent example: at a time when hardly anyone else would dare to repair old churches, you are building new ones.
For the rest, we pray that for many years to come, as you fulfill your vows to our God, you will continue to make new ones — not only through hidden devotion but through a life openly transformed. And when the times grow calmer, may Christ grant my wish as well as the wish of the people of Rodez [Ruteni] — that you may offer sacrifices on their behalf, you who already offer them altars.
Although late autumn is already shortening the days and the rustling fall of leaves fills travelers' anxious ears with noise throughout the forest, I still intend to be there. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.