Sidonius to his friend Petronius.
You do a fine thing — it's your way, and I hope you keep it up — you who are the most praiseworthy of all good men anywhere: you never miss a chance to promote the glory of your friends. That is why you now ask that my files in Clermont be ransacked for more material, when I had thought it enough to have published what I did in the previous collection. And so I will oblige your request, though I will extend the reach of my pen only far enough to add a small number of letters — begun at the very start of the collection — as a kind of finishing border to a work already complete.
But I must be careful. By adding to a volume already in circulation, I risk falling into the hands of certain critics whose tongues are sharpened by nature on the whetstone of malice — tongues that not even the masterful sentences of Demosthenes or the polished eloquence of Cicero could escape. The first endured Demades as his detractor, the second Antonius as his. Though those critics were men of conspicuous malice and obscure talent, they rode to posterity on the coattails of the virtues they attacked.
But since you urge me on, let us unfurl our sails again to the returning winds. Having crossed what felt like open seas, let us now navigate what amounts to a pond. I have firmly resolved that just as I must apply diligence in the writing, I must show resolve in the publishing. In the end, there is no middle ground: either there is very little to fear from these critics, or one ought to fall silent altogether. Farewell.
EPISTULA I
Sidonius Petronio suo salutem.
1. Tu quidem pulchre (mos hic tuus, et persevera), vir omnium bonorum, qui uspiam degunt, laude dignissime, quod amicorum gloriae, sicubi locus, lenocinaris. hinc est quod etiam scrinia Arverna petis eventilari, cui sufficere suspicabamur, si quid superiore vulgatu protulissemus. itaque morem geremus iniunctis, actionem tamen stili eatenus prorogaturi, ut epistularum seriem nimirum a primordio voluminis inchoatarum in extimo fine parvi adhuc numeri summa protendat, opus videlicet explicitum quodam quasi marginis sui limbo coronatura.
2. sed plus cavendum est, ne sera propter iam propalati augmenta voluminis in aliquos forsitan incidamus vituperones, quorum fugere linguas cote livoris naturalitus acuminatas ne Demosthenis quidem Ciceronisque sententiae artifices et eloquia fabra potuere, quorum anterior orator Demaden, citerior Antonium toleravere derogatores; qui lividi cum fuerint malitiae clarae, dictionis obscurae, tamen ad notitiam posterorum per odia virtutum decucurrerunt.
3. sed quia hortaris, repetitis laxemus vela turbinibus et qui veluti maria transmisimus, hoc quasi stagnum pernavigemus. nam satis habeo deliberatum, sicut adhibendam in conscriptione diligentiam, ita tenendam in editione constantiam. demum vero medium nihil est: namque aut minimum ex hisce metuendum est aut per omnia omnino conticescendum. vale.
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Sidonius to his friend Petronius.
You do a fine thing — it's your way, and I hope you keep it up — you who are the most praiseworthy of all good men anywhere: you never miss a chance to promote the glory of your friends. That is why you now ask that my files in Clermont be ransacked for more material, when I had thought it enough to have published what I did in the previous collection. And so I will oblige your request, though I will extend the reach of my pen only far enough to add a small number of letters — begun at the very start of the collection — as a kind of finishing border to a work already complete.
But I must be careful. By adding to a volume already in circulation, I risk falling into the hands of certain critics whose tongues are sharpened by nature on the whetstone of malice — tongues that not even the masterful sentences of Demosthenes or the polished eloquence of Cicero could escape. The first endured Demades as his detractor, the second Antonius as his. Though those critics were men of conspicuous malice and obscure talent, they rode to posterity on the coattails of the virtues they attacked.
But since you urge me on, let us unfurl our sails again to the returning winds. Having crossed what felt like open seas, let us now navigate what amounts to a pond. I have firmly resolved that just as I must apply diligence in the writing, I must show resolve in the publishing. In the end, there is no middle ground: either there is very little to fear from these critics, or one ought to fall silent altogether. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.