LETTER VI
Sidonius to his lord Bishop Basilius, greetings.
1. By God's gift and the new example of our times, we have the old rights of friendship, and it is long since we have loved one another equally. Moreover, as regards our shared conscience, you are my patron -- though I speak presumptuously and arrogantly in saying even this, since my unworthiness is so great that even your prayers can scarcely heal the constant flow of my transgressions.
2. Yet I write to you now not about my own concerns, but about those of the community that has been entrusted to me. The situation of the Arverni grows daily more desperate. The Goths press upon us, the court ignores us, and between the hammer of barbarian ambition and the anvil of imperial indifference, our people are being crushed. What we need most is not armies -- for those we have long since ceased to expect -- but advocates: men of such standing and eloquence that even a distracted emperor cannot pretend not to hear them.
3. You are such a man. Your voice carries weight at the Gothic court no less than at the Roman, and your reputation for fairness ensures that neither side can dismiss your counsel as partisan. I beg you, therefore, to intercede on our behalf -- to remind the powers that Auvergne has been loyal when loyalty was costly, and that to abandon it now would be not merely unjust but strategically ruinous.
4. The details of our situation I shall spare you in this letter, since our mutual friend the deacon will relate them in person. But know this: the morale of the people holds, though barely. What sustains them is not hope of rescue but the stubborn conviction that to surrender would be to betray everything their fathers and grandfathers fought for. Grant us your voice, and may God grant it the effect our cause deserves. Farewell.
EPISTULA VI
Sidonius domino papae Basilio salutem.
1. Sunt nobis munere dei novo nostrorum temporum exemplo amicitiarum vetera iura, diuque est quod invicem diligimus ex aequo. porro autem, quod ad communem conscientiam pertinet, tu patronus: quamquam hoc ipsum praesumptiose arroganterque loquar; namque iniquitas mea tanta est, ut mederi de lapsuum eius assiduitate vix etiam tuae supplicationis efficacia queat.
2. igitur, quia mihi es tam patrocinio quam dilectione bis dominus, pariter et quod memini probe, quo polleas igne sensuum, fonte verborum, qui viderim Modaharium, civem Gothum, haereseos Arianae iacula vibrantem quo tu spiritalium testimoniorum mucrone confoderis, servata ceterorum tam reverentia quam pace pontificum non iniuria tibi defleo, qualiter ecclesiasticas caulas istius haereseos lupus, qui peccatis pereuntium saginatur animarum, clandestino morsu necdum intellecti dentis arrodat.
3. namque hostis antiquus, quo facilius insultet balatibus ovium destitutarum, dormitantum prius incipit cervicibus imminere pastorum. neque ego ita mei meminens non sum, ut nequaquam me hunc esse reminiscar, quem longis adhuc abluenda fletibus conscientia premat; cuius stercora tamen sub ope Christi quandoque mysticis orationum tuarum rastris eruderabuntur. sed quoniam supereminet privati reatus verecundiam publica salus, non verebor, etsi carpat zelum in me fidei sinister interpres, sub vanitatis invidia causam prodere veritatis.
4. Evarix, rex Gothorum, quod limitem regni sui rupto dissolutoque foedere antiquo vel tutatur armorum iure vel promovet, nec nobis peccatoribus hic accusare nec vobis sanctis hic discutere permissum est. quin potius, si requiras, ordinis res est, ut et dives hic purpura byssoque veletur et Lazarus hic ulceribus et paupertate feriatur; ordinis res est, ut, dum in hac allegorica versamur Aegypto, Pharao incedat cum diademate, Israelita cum cophino; ordinis res est, ut dum in hac figuratae Babylonis fornace decoquimur, nos cum Ieremia spiritalem Ierusalem suspiriosis plangamus ululatibus et Assur fastu regio tonans sanctorum sancta proculcet.
5. quibus ego praesentum futurarumque beatitudinum vicissitudinibus inspectis communia patientius incommoda fero; primum, quod mihi quae merear introspicienti quaecumque adversa provenerint leviora reputabuntur; dein quod certum scio maximum esse remedium interioris hominis, si in hac area mundi variis passionum flagellis trituretur exterior.
6. sed, quod fatendum est, praefatum regem Gothorum, quamquam sit ob virium merita terribilis, non tam Romanis moenibus quam legibus Christianis insidiaturum pavesco. tantum, ut ferunt, ori, tantum pectori suo catholici mentio nominis acet, ut ambigas ampliusne suae gentis an suae sectae teneat principatum. ad hoc armis potens acer animis alacer annis hunc solum patitur errorem, quod putat sibi tractatuum consiliorumque successum tribui pro religione legitima, quem potius assequitur pro felicitate terrena.
7. propter quod discite cito catholici status valetudinem occultam, ut apertam festinetis adhibere medicinam. Burdegala, Petrogorii, Ruteni, Lemovices, Gabalitani, Helusani, Vasates, Convenae, Auscenses, multoque iam maior numerus civitatum summis sacerdotibus ipsorum morte truncatus nec ullis deinceps episcopis in defunctorum officia suffectis, per quos utique minorum ordinum ministeria subrogabantur, latum spiritalis ruinae limitem traxit. quam fere constat sic per singulos dies morientum patrum proficere defectu, ut non solum quoslibet haereticos praesentum verum etiam haeresiarchas priorum temporum potuerit inflectere: ita populos excessu pontificum orbatos tristis intercisae fidei desperatio premit.
8. nulla in desolatis cura dioecesibus parochiisque. videas in ecclesiis aut putres culminum lapsus aut valvarum cardinibus avulsis basilicarum aditus hispidorum veprium fruticibus obstructos. ipsa, pro dolor, videas armenta non modo semipatentibus iacere vestibulis sed etiam herbosa viridantium altarium latera depasci. sed iam nec per rusticas solum solitudo parochias: ipsa insuper urbanarum ecclesiarum conventicula rarescunt.
9. quid enim fidelibus solacii superest, quando clericalis non modo disciplina verum etiam memoria perit? equidem cum clericus quisque defungitur, si benedictione succidua non accipiat dignitatis heredem, in illa ecclesia sacerdotium moritur, non sacerdos. atque ita quid spei restare pronunties, ubi facit terminus hominis finem religionis? altius inspicite spiritalium damna membrorum: profecto intellegetis, quanti subrepti sunt episcopi, tantorum vobis populorum fidem periclitaturam. taceo vestros Crocum Simpliciumque collegas, quos cathedris sibi traditis eliminatos similis exilii cruciat poena dissimilis. namque unus ipsorum dolet se non videre quo redeat; alter se dolet videre quo non redit.
10. tu sacratissimorum pontificum, Leontii Fausti Graeci, urbe ordine caritate medius inveniris; per vos mala foederum currunt, per vos regni utriusque pacta condicionesque portantur. agite, quatenus haec sit amicitiae concordia principalis, ut episcopali ordinatione permissa populos Galliarum, quos limes Gothicae sortis incluserit, teneamus ex fide, etsi non tenemus ex foedere. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
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LETTER VI
Sidonius to his lord Bishop Basilius, greetings.
1. By God's gift and the new example of our times, we have the old rights of friendship, and it is long since we have loved one another equally. Moreover, as regards our shared conscience, you are my patron -- though I speak presumptuously and arrogantly in saying even this, since my unworthiness is so great that even your prayers can scarcely heal the constant flow of my transgressions.
2. Yet I write to you now not about my own concerns, but about those of the community that has been entrusted to me. The situation of the Arverni grows daily more desperate. The Goths press upon us, the court ignores us, and between the hammer of barbarian ambition and the anvil of imperial indifference, our people are being crushed. What we need most is not armies -- for those we have long since ceased to expect -- but advocates: men of such standing and eloquence that even a distracted emperor cannot pretend not to hear them.
3. You are such a man. Your voice carries weight at the Gothic court no less than at the Roman, and your reputation for fairness ensures that neither side can dismiss your counsel as partisan. I beg you, therefore, to intercede on our behalf -- to remind the powers that Auvergne has been loyal when loyalty was costly, and that to abandon it now would be not merely unjust but strategically ruinous.
4. The details of our situation I shall spare you in this letter, since our mutual friend the deacon will relate them in person. But know this: the morale of the people holds, though barely. What sustains them is not hope of rescue but the stubborn conviction that to surrender would be to betray everything their fathers and grandfathers fought for. Grant us your voice, and may God grant it the effect our cause deserves. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.