SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR PETRONIUS, GREETINGS
1. I hear that you bestow a pleasurable patience upon reading my letters — a great thing, and most fitting in a man of letters who himself excels in the highest of studies, to embrace even the slightest things in others. But from this very act the most complete glory rebounds to you; for the man who has been a patron of another's talent shows sufficiently the eminence of his own merits.
2. I commend to you my close friend Vindicius, a man of religious character and most suited to the Levitical dignity he has recently obtained. Not having the leisure to transfer from my notebooks what you had directed — which was quite an undertaking for a provincial — he has brought you here something in the way of trifles as a modest gift; though, as your holiness always considers, you will think our letters a reward of great value.
3. In the meantime I must mention the need of the bearer aforesaid, who was drawn here by the dual nature of the business that has arisen for him. For he has come with this purpose settled: either to undertake a lawsuit or to enter upon an inheritance. For a paternal cousin, who died a bachelor intestate, has left him to succeed through the prerogative of agnate kinship, unless a factious force opposes the attempt. Against all such difficulties, after Christ's help, you alone suffice for your suppliant; and I trust that if the person deserves your favor, the cause will obtain its victory. Farewell.
EPISTULA I
Sidonius Petronio suo salutem.
1. Audio, quod lectitandis epistulis meis voluptuosam patientiam inpendas. magnum hoc est et litterarum viro convenientissimum, cum studiis ipse maxumis polleas, ea in aliis etiam minima complecti. sed ex hoc ipso consummatissima tibi gloria reponderatur; nam satis eminet meritis ingenii proprii qui fuerit fautor alieni.
2. commendo Vindicium necessarium meum, virum religiosum et leviticae dignitati, quam nuper indeptus est, accommodatissimum. cui meis e pugillaribus transferre quae iusseras non vacans + perquam provinciam fuit, hic vobis aliquid neniarum munusculi vice detulit; quamquam, quae tua sanctitas, semper grandia litteras nostras praemia putes.
3. interea necessitatem praefati portitoris insinuo, quem traxit isto negotii oborti bipertita condicio. siquidem hac definitione perrexit, ut aut ineat litem aut adeat hereditatem. nam patrueli paterno caelibi intestatoque defuncto per agnationis praerogativam succedere parat, nisi tamen coeptis factiosa vis obviet. contra quas tamen cunctas difficultates solus post opem Christi supplici tuo sufficis, cuius confido quod, si meruerit persona gratiam, consequetur causa victoriam. vale.
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SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR PETRONIUS, GREETINGS
1. I hear that you bestow a pleasurable patience upon reading my letters — a great thing, and most fitting in a man of letters who himself excels in the highest of studies, to embrace even the slightest things in others. But from this very act the most complete glory rebounds to you; for the man who has been a patron of another's talent shows sufficiently the eminence of his own merits.
2. I commend to you my close friend Vindicius, a man of religious character and most suited to the Levitical dignity he has recently obtained. Not having the leisure to transfer from my notebooks what you had directed — which was quite an undertaking for a provincial — he has brought you here something in the way of trifles as a modest gift; though, as your holiness always considers, you will think our letters a reward of great value.
3. In the meantime I must mention the need of the bearer aforesaid, who was drawn here by the dual nature of the business that has arisen for him. For he has come with this purpose settled: either to undertake a lawsuit or to enter upon an inheritance. For a paternal cousin, who died a bachelor intestate, has left him to succeed through the prerogative of agnate kinship, unless a factious force opposes the attempt. Against all such difficulties, after Christ's help, you alone suffice for your suppliant; and I trust that if the person deserves your favor, the cause will obtain its victory. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.