To the Lord Bishop Graecus [Bishop of Marseille].
The bearer of this letter sustains his modest life solely through trade. He has no craft for income, no military commission for advantage, no farm for profit. Through his hired labors and contract work, his reputation grows — but it is others' fortunes that increase, not his own. Yet because his honesty is great, even if his means are small, whenever he goes to market with other people's money to trade in the latest cargo, his creditors — trusting souls — accept nothing but the evidence of his good character as security.
These facts were reported to me while I was composing this letter, and I do not hesitate to assert confidently what I have heard, since the people who know him best are well known to me. I therefore commend this man's tender beginnings in his hard new career. Since his name was recently entered on the rolls of the readers [the lowest grade of clergy], you should know that I owe him a letter of introduction as a citizen departing for your service and a letter of formation as a cleric. I believe he will soon prove a splendid merchant of another kind — if, hurrying to your service, he comes to prefer the spiritual fountain to the commercial ones. Be mindful of us, my lord bishop.
EPISTULA VIII
Sidonius domino papae Graeco salutem.
1. Apicum oblator pauperem vitam sola mercandi actione sustentat; non illi est opificium quaestui, militia commodo, cultura compendio; <ob> hoc ipsum, quod mercennariis prosecutionibus et locaticia fatigatione cognoscitur, fama quidem sua sed facultas crescit aliena. sed tamen quoniam illi fides magna est, etsi parva substantia, quotiens cum pecuniis quorumpiam catapli recentis nundinas adit, creditoribus bene credulis sola deponit morum experimenta pro pignore.
2. inter dictandum mihi ista suggesta sunt, nec ob hoc dubito audita fidenter asserere, quia non parum mihi intumos agunt quibus est ipse satis intumus. huius igitur teneram frontem, dura rudimenta commendo; et, quia nomen eiusdem lectorum nuper albus accepit, agnoscitis profecturo civi me epistulam, clerico debuisse formatam; quem propediem non iniuria reor mercatorem splendidum fore, si hinc ad vestra obsequia festinans frigoribus fontium civicorum saepe fontem + mercatoribus anteferat. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
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To the Lord Bishop Graecus [Bishop of Marseille].
The bearer of this letter sustains his modest life solely through trade. He has no craft for income, no military commission for advantage, no farm for profit. Through his hired labors and contract work, his reputation grows — but it is others' fortunes that increase, not his own. Yet because his honesty is great, even if his means are small, whenever he goes to market with other people's money to trade in the latest cargo, his creditors — trusting souls — accept nothing but the evidence of his good character as security.
These facts were reported to me while I was composing this letter, and I do not hesitate to assert confidently what I have heard, since the people who know him best are well known to me. I therefore commend this man's tender beginnings in his hard new career. Since his name was recently entered on the rolls of the readers [the lowest grade of clergy], you should know that I owe him a letter of introduction as a citizen departing for your service and a letter of formation as a cleric. I believe he will soon prove a splendid merchant of another kind — if, hurrying to your service, he comes to prefer the spiritual fountain to the commercial ones. Be mindful of us, my lord bishop.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.