LETTER VI
Sidonius to his dear Namatius, greetings.
1. The dictator Julius Caesar, who they say administered military affairs with greater generalship than any other, was claimed in turn by the rival pursuits of writing and reading. And though in the person of this one man the military and oratorical sciences competed for primacy in nearly equal glory, he never considered himself sufficiently established at the summit of either art -- a lesson in humility that our own age might profitably absorb.
2. But I mention Caesar not as an exercise in antiquarianism but because your own career reminds me of his. You too combine the arts of war and letters with a vigor that puts most of your contemporaries to shame. Your recent account of the naval operations along our coast was a masterpiece of precise, vivid reporting -- the kind of prose that makes a reader feel the salt spray and hear the creak of timber.
3. The Saxon pirates you describe are a fearsome lot -- sea-born raiders for whom shipwreck is not a disaster but a training exercise, and who regard storms as allies rather than enemies. Every sailor among them is a captain, every captain a teacher of ambush. They attack without warning, disappear before pursuit can be organized, and consider mercy a weakness rather than a virtue.
4. Your account of the battle itself I shall not summarize, since you told it better than I ever could. But I will say this: that in a time when the Roman navy is more memory than reality, the sight of a Roman commander putting pirates to flight on his own initiative and with his own resources is a thing worth recording. Future generations -- if there are future generations to read Latin -- will want to know that the old spirit survived even when the old structures had crumbled.
5. As for your wife's new ship, which you describe with such loving detail -- its construction, its launching, and its maiden voyage -- I can only say that you are fortunate in having a spouse who shares your passion for the sea. Most wives of our class consider water an obstacle to be crossed, not a domain to be mastered. That yours takes to it with such enthusiasm speaks well of both your marriage and your influence. Farewell.
EPISTULA VI
Sidonius Namatio suo salutem.
1. Gaium Caesarem dictatorem, quo ferunt nullum rem militarem ducalius administrasse, studia certatim dictandi lectitandique sibi mutuo vindicavere. et licet in persona unius eiusdemque tempore suo principis viri castrensis oratoriaeque scientiae cura certaverit ferme gloria aequipari, idem tamen numquam se satis duxit in utriusque artis arce compositum, priusquam vestri Arpinatis testimonio ceteris mortalibus anteferretur.
2. quod mihi quoque, si parva magnis componere licet, secundum modulum meum quamquam dissimillimo similiter accessit. quae super cunctos te quam primum decuit agnoscere, quia tibi est tam gloria mea quam verecundia plurimum curae. Flavius Nicetius, vir ortu clarissimus, privilegio spectabilis, merito inlustris et hominum patriae nostrae prudentia peritiaque iuxta maxumus, praeconio, quantum comperi, immenso praesentis opusculi volumina extollit, insuper praedicans, quod plurimos iuvenum nec senum paucos vario genere dictandi militandique, quippe adhuc aevo viridis, ipse sim supergressus.
3. equidem, in quantum fieri praeter iactantiam potest, gaudeo de praestantissimi viri auctoritate, si certus est, amore, si fallitur: licet quis provocatus nunc ad facta maiorum non inertissimus, quis quoque ad verba non infantissimus erit? namque virtutes artium istarum saeculis potius priscis saeculorum rector ingenuit, quae per aetatem mundi iam senescentis lassatis veluti seminibus emedullatae parum aliquid hoc tempore in quibuscumque, atque id in paucis, mirandum ac memorabile ostentant.
4. huius tamen ego, etsi studiorum omnium caput est litterarumque, quia personam semper excolui, vereor sententiam supra quam veritas habet affectu ponderatiore prolatam. neque ob hoc infitias ierim me saepe luculentis eius actionibus adstitisse, quarum me, etsi reddere mutuum videor, vel ex parte cursimque fieri memorem fas est.
5. audivi eum adulescens atque adhuc nuper ex puero, cum pater meus praefectus praetorio Gallicanis tribunalibus praesideret, sub cuius videlicet magistratu consul Asterius anni sui fores votivum trabeatus aperuerat. adhaerebam sellae curuli, etsi non latens per ordinem, certe non sedens per aetatem, mixtusque turmae censualium paenulatorum consulis, proximae proximus eram. itaque, ut primum brevi peracta, nec brevis, sportula datique fasti, acclamatum est ab omni Galliae coetu primoribus advocatorum, ut festivitate praeventas horas antelucanas, quae diem serum cum silentio praestolarentur, congrua emeritorum fascium laude honestarent.
6. Nicetium protinus circumspexere conspicati, qui non sensim singulatimque, sed tumultuatim petitus et cunctim cum quodam prologo pudoris vultum modeste demissus inrubuit. atque ob hoc illi maximum sophos non eloquentia prius quam verecundia dedit. dixit disposite graviter ardenter, magna acrimonia maiore facundia maxima disciplina, et illam Sarranis ebriam sucis inter crepitantia segmenta palmatam plus picta oratione, plus aurea convenustavit.
7. per ipsum fere tempus, ut decemviraliter loquar, lex de praescriptione tricennii fuerat proquiritata, cuius peremptoriis abolita rubricis lis omnis in sextum tracta quinquennium terminabatur. hanc intra Gallias ante nescitam primus, quem loquimur, orator indidit prosecutionibus edidit tribunalibus prodidit partibus addidit titulis, frequente conventu raro sedente, paucis sententiis multis laudibus.
8. praeter ista per alias vices doctrinam illius, quo more citius homo discitur, inobservatus inspexi tunc, cum quae regit provincias fascibus Nicetiano regeretur praefectura consilio. quid multa? nil quod non meum vellem, nil quod non admirarer audivi.
9. propter quae omnia bona in viro sita laetor ad puncta censoris omnium voce concelebrati. granditer enim sua in utramvis de me opinionem sententia valet; quae, si vera comperimus, tantum mihi est favens securitati, quantum fieret adversata formidini. de cetero fixum apud me stat constitutumque, prout rem ex asse cognovero, vel silentio lora laxare vel stringere frena garritui. namque si supradicti confirmor assensu, Athenis loquacior, si minus, Amyclis ipsis taciturnior ero.
10. sed de sodali deque me satis dictum. tu nunc inter ista quid rerum? quas mihi ad vicem nosse non minus cordi. venaris, aedificas, rusticarisne? an horum aliquid unum? an singula vicissim? an pariter et cunctim? sed de Vitruvio sive Columella, seu alterutrum ambosve sectere, decentissime facis. potes enim utrumque more quo qui optimo, id est ut cultor aliquis e primis architectusque.
11. ceterum, ut tibi de venatoris officio quam minimum blandiaris, maxume iniungo. namque apros frustra in venabula vocas, quos canibus misericordissimis, quibus abundas, et + si quidem solis, movere potius quam commovere consuesti. esto, sit indulgentia dignum, quod reformidant catuli tui bestiis appropinquare terribilibus corpulentisque: illud ignoro quomodo excuses, quod capreas, pecus simum, pariter et dammas in fugam pronos iacentibus animis pectoribus erectis, passibus raris crebris latratibus prosequuntur.
12. quapropter de reliquo fructuosius retibus cassibusque scrupeas rupes atque opacandis habilia lustris plosor statarius nemora circumvenis ac, pudor si quis, temperas cursibus apertis quatere campos et insidiari lepusculis Olarionensibus; quos nec est tanti, raro te insectante superandos, copulis palam ductis inquietari, nisi forsitan, dum tibi ac patri noster Apollinaris intervenit, rectius fiet ut exerceantur.
13. exceptis iocis fac sciam tandem, quid te, quid domum circa. sed ecce dum iam epistulam, quae diu garrit, claudere optarem, subitus a Santonis nuntius; cum quo dum tui obtentu aliquid horarum sermocinanter extrahimus, constanter asseveravit nuper vos classicum in classe cecinisse atque inter officia nunc nautae, modo militis litoribus Oceani curvis inerrare contra Saxonum pandos myoparones, quorum quot remiges videris, totidem te cernere putes archipiratas: ita simul omnes imperant parent, docent discunt latrocinari. unde nunc etiam ut quam plurimum caveas, causa successit maxuma monendi.
14. hostis est omni hoste truculentior. inprovisus aggreditur praevisus elabitur; spernit obiectos sternit incautos; si sequatur, intercipit, si fugiat, evadit. ad hoc exercent illos naufragia, non terrent. est eis quaedam cum discriminibus pelagi non notitia solum, sed familiaritas. nam quoniam ipsa si qua tempestas est huc securos efficit occupandos, huc prospici vetat occupaturos, in medio fluctuum scopulorumque confragosorum spe superventus laeti periclitantur.
15. praeterea, priusquam de continenti in patriam vela laxantes hostico mordaces anchoras vado vellant, mos est remeaturis decimum quemque captorum per aequales et cruciarias poenas plus ob hoc tristi quod superstitioso, ritu necare superque collectam turbam periturorum mortis iniquitatem sortis aequitate dispergere. talibus se ligant votis, victimis solvunt; et per huiusmodi non tam sacrificia purgati quam sacrilegia polluti religiosum putant caedis infaustae perpetratores de capite captivo magis exigere tormenta quam pretia.
16. qua de re metuo multa, suspicor varia, quamquam me e contrario ingentia hortentur: primum, quod victoris populi signa comitaris; dein quod in sapientes viros, quos inter iure censeris, minus annuo licere fortuitis; tertio, quod pro sodalibus fide iunctis, sede discretis frequenter incutiunt et tuta maerorem, quia promptius de actionibus longinquis ambigendisque sinistra quaeque metus augurat.
17. sed dicas non esse tantum forte curanda quae perhorresco. id quidem verum est; sed nec hoc falsum, quod his, quos amplius diligimus, plus timemus. unde nihilominus, precor, obortum tui causa sensibus nostris quam primum prospero relatu exime angorem. neque enim ex integro flecti umquam ad hoc possum, ut de peregrinantibus amicis, quippe quos bellicum militarisque tessera terit, donec secunda cognosco, non adversa formidem.
18. Varronem logistoricum, sicut poposceras, et Eusebium chronographum misi, quorum si ad te lima pervenerit, si quid inter excubiales curas, utpote in castris, saltim sortito vacabis, poteris, postquam arma deterseris, ori quoque tuo loquendi robiginem summovere. vale.
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LETTER VI
Sidonius to his dear Namatius, greetings.
1. The dictator Julius Caesar, who they say administered military affairs with greater generalship than any other, was claimed in turn by the rival pursuits of writing and reading. And though in the person of this one man the military and oratorical sciences competed for primacy in nearly equal glory, he never considered himself sufficiently established at the summit of either art -- a lesson in humility that our own age might profitably absorb.
2. But I mention Caesar not as an exercise in antiquarianism but because your own career reminds me of his. You too combine the arts of war and letters with a vigor that puts most of your contemporaries to shame. Your recent account of the naval operations along our coast was a masterpiece of precise, vivid reporting -- the kind of prose that makes a reader feel the salt spray and hear the creak of timber.
3. The Saxon pirates you describe are a fearsome lot -- sea-born raiders for whom shipwreck is not a disaster but a training exercise, and who regard storms as allies rather than enemies. Every sailor among them is a captain, every captain a teacher of ambush. They attack without warning, disappear before pursuit can be organized, and consider mercy a weakness rather than a virtue.
4. Your account of the battle itself I shall not summarize, since you told it better than I ever could. But I will say this: that in a time when the Roman navy is more memory than reality, the sight of a Roman commander putting pirates to flight on his own initiative and with his own resources is a thing worth recording. Future generations -- if there are future generations to read Latin -- will want to know that the old spirit survived even when the old structures had crumbled.
5. As for your wife's new ship, which you describe with such loving detail -- its construction, its launching, and its maiden voyage -- I can only say that you are fortunate in having a spouse who shares your passion for the sea. Most wives of our class consider water an obstacle to be crossed, not a domain to be mastered. That yours takes to it with such enthusiasm speaks well of both your marriage and your influence. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.