LETTER IV
Sidonius to his dear Consentius, greetings.
1. Will God's will ever bring us together, my distinguished lord, on that Octavian estate of yours -- yours, and yet not only yours but your friends' as well? Near the city, the river, and the sea, it feeds you with guests and guests with feasts. Beyond this, it is beautiful to the eye in its setting: first, because the main house is raised with walls laid in perfect architectural harmony; then, gleaming far and wide with its chapel, porticoes, and handsome baths. Add to this its fields, waters, vineyards, and olive groves, its entrance court, open ground, and hill -- all of supreme loveliness. Above all, its well-stocked pantry and furnishings include a richly supplied library of books, where you bend over your pen no less than your plowshare, so that it is hard to tell whether the master has cultivated his land or his talent more.
2. There you compose -- if I recall correctly -- swift iambs, sharp elegies, and rounded hendecasyllables, along with other verses that smell of musical flowers and thyme, now to be sung at Narbonne, now at Beziers, produced with a speed and beauty that make it hard to say which quality prevails. Among your contemporaries you rank with the finest, and posterity, I trust, will confirm our judgment. Farewell.
EPISTULA IV
Sidonius Consentio suo salutem.
1. Umquamne nos dei nutu, domine maior, una videbit ille ager tuus Octavianus, nec tuus tantum quantum amicorum? qui civitati fluvio mari proximus hospites epulis, te pascit hospitibus, praeter haec oculis intuentum situ decorus, primore loco, quod domicilium parietibus attollitur ad concinentiam scilicet architectonicam fabre locatis; tum sacrario porticibus ac thermis conspicabilibus late coruscans; ad hoc agris aquisque, vinetis atque olivetis, vestibulo campo colle amoenissimus; iam super penum vel supellectilem copiosam thesauris bibliothecalibus large refertus, ubi ipse dum non minus stilo quam vomeri incumbis, difficile discernitur domini plusne sit cultum rus an ingenium.
2. igitur hic tu, quantum recordor, citos iambos, elegos acutos ac rotundatos hendecasyllabos et cetera carmina musicos flores thymumque redolentia, nunc Narbonensibus cantitanda, nunc Biterrensibus, ambigendum celerius an pulchrius elucubrasti, apud aequaevos gratiam tuam, famam apud posteros ampliaturus. certe mihi, quotiens tui versus a meditationis incude tamquam adhuc calidi deferebantur, sic videbatur, qui, etsi non bene scribo, bene iudico.
3. sed, quod fatendum est, talibus studiis anterior aetas iuste vacabat seu, quod est verius, occupabatur; modo tempus est seria legi, seria scribi deque perpetua vita potius quam memoria cogitari nimiumque meminisse nostra post mortem non opuscula sed opera pensanda.
4. quae quidem ad praesens non ita loquor, quasi tu non utraque laudanda conficias aut, si adhuc durat in sermone laetitia, non custodiatur in actione censura, sed ut qui Christo favente clam sanctus es, iam palam religiosa venerandus iugo salubri colla pariter et corda subdare invigiletque caelestibus lingua praeconiis, anima sententiis, dextra donariis: praecipue tamen dextra donariis, quia quicquid ecclesiis spargis, tibi colligis; ad cuius exercitia virtutis illud vel principale te poterit accendere, quod inter opes quaslibet positi quae bona stultis falso vocantur, si quid agimus, nostrum, si quid habemus, alienum est. vale.
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LETTER IV
Sidonius to his dear Consentius, greetings.
1. Will God's will ever bring us together, my distinguished lord, on that Octavian estate of yours -- yours, and yet not only yours but your friends' as well? Near the city, the river, and the sea, it feeds you with guests and guests with feasts. Beyond this, it is beautiful to the eye in its setting: first, because the main house is raised with walls laid in perfect architectural harmony; then, gleaming far and wide with its chapel, porticoes, and handsome baths. Add to this its fields, waters, vineyards, and olive groves, its entrance court, open ground, and hill -- all of supreme loveliness. Above all, its well-stocked pantry and furnishings include a richly supplied library of books, where you bend over your pen no less than your plowshare, so that it is hard to tell whether the master has cultivated his land or his talent more.
2. There you compose -- if I recall correctly -- swift iambs, sharp elegies, and rounded hendecasyllables, along with other verses that smell of musical flowers and thyme, now to be sung at Narbonne, now at Beziers, produced with a speed and beauty that make it hard to say which quality prevails. Among your contemporaries you rank with the finest, and posterity, I trust, will confirm our judgment. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.