Sidonius to his friend Firminus.
You insist, my dear son, that my pen should break through the boundary of the earlier letters and push on into new territory — unwilling to be contained within the limit of the previous collection. You even supply reasons why this ninth book should be added to the eight that came before: namely, that Gaius Secundus [Pliny the Younger], whose path you declare I am following in this work, organized his own letter collection in the same number of volumes.
What you ask is not unreasonable — though what you so loyally insist on is in fact a difficult undertaking, and not especially well suited to preserving whatever modest reputation I have already earned. First, because it is awkward to attach a late addition to a work already published. Second, because before any critic you care to name, it looks thoroughly ungraceful to find a single beginning but three separate endings for a single body of material.
I also do not quite see how it can be forgiven that my loquacity refuses to restrain itself even after a declared terminus — unless perhaps a limit can be set to pages but not to friendships. For this reason, it is fitting that you stand as a kind of lookout for my reputation, making the case to curious inquirers, and writing back as often as possible to let me know what the best people think.
But if you drive me to talk and then persist in keeping silent yourself, it is only fair that you too should be punished by my silence in return. So you, first and foremost, must forgive the task and the service you impose. For our part, if any draft comes to hand, we will quickly append it to the margins of the eighth book.
Even though your Apollinaris [Sidonius's son] — who is careless enough in other matters — is certainly most negligent in this one, barely held to his reading whether by compulsion or free will, it still seems to me that I should not refuse to be joined with those fathers [earlier epistolary masters] whose devotion, aspiration, and anxious care to produce something praiseworthy in their sons, however hard it may be to persuade, is harder still to match. Farewell.
EPISTULA I
Sidonius Firmino suo salutem.
1. Exigis, domine fili, ut epistularum priorum limite irrupto stilus noster in ulteriora procurrat, numeri supradicti privilegio non contentus includi. addis et causas, quibus hic liber nonus octo superiorum voluminibus accrescat: eo quod Gaius Secundus, cuius nos orbitas sequi hoc opere pronuntias, paribus titulis opus epistulare determinet.
2. quae iubes non sunt improbabilia; quamquam et hoc ipsum, quod pie iniungis, arduum existat ac laudi quantulaecumque iam semel partae non opportunum, primum, quod opusculo prius edito praesentis augmenti sera coniunctio est; deinde, quod arbitros ante quoscumque, nisi fallimur, indecentissimum est materiae unius simplex principium, triplices epilogos inveniri.
3. pariter et nescio, qualiter fieri veniabile queat, quod coerceri nostra garrulitas nec post denuntiatum terminum sustinet: nisi quia forsitan qui modus potest paginis, non potest poni ipse amicitiis. quapropter esse te in quadam tuendae opinionis meae quasi specula decet curiosisque facti huiusce rationem manifestare quidque ad hoc sentiant optimi quique, rescripto quam frequentissimo mihi pandere.
4. porro autem si me garrire compulso ipse reticere perseveraveris, te quoque silentii nostri talione ad vicem plecti non periniurium est. itaque tu primus, tu maxime ignosce negotio quod imponis ac ministerio. nos vero, si quod exemplar manibus occurrerit, libri marginibus octavi celeriter addemus.
5. etsi Apollinaris tuus + cui in ceteris rebus est in hac certe neglegentissimus, quippe qui perexiguum lectione teneatur vel coactus vel voluntarius; quantum tamen mihi videtur, qui patribus his iungi non recusaverim, quorum studio voto timori laudabile aliquid in filiis, licet difficile persuadeatur, difficilius sufficit. vale.
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Sidonius to his friend Firminus.
You insist, my dear son, that my pen should break through the boundary of the earlier letters and push on into new territory — unwilling to be contained within the limit of the previous collection. You even supply reasons why this ninth book should be added to the eight that came before: namely, that Gaius Secundus [Pliny the Younger], whose path you declare I am following in this work, organized his own letter collection in the same number of volumes.
What you ask is not unreasonable — though what you so loyally insist on is in fact a difficult undertaking, and not especially well suited to preserving whatever modest reputation I have already earned. First, because it is awkward to attach a late addition to a work already published. Second, because before any critic you care to name, it looks thoroughly ungraceful to find a single beginning but three separate endings for a single body of material.
I also do not quite see how it can be forgiven that my loquacity refuses to restrain itself even after a declared terminus — unless perhaps a limit can be set to pages but not to friendships. For this reason, it is fitting that you stand as a kind of lookout for my reputation, making the case to curious inquirers, and writing back as often as possible to let me know what the best people think.
But if you drive me to talk and then persist in keeping silent yourself, it is only fair that you too should be punished by my silence in return. So you, first and foremost, must forgive the task and the service you impose. For our part, if any draft comes to hand, we will quickly append it to the margins of the eighth book.
Even though your Apollinaris [Sidonius's son] — who is careless enough in other matters — is certainly most negligent in this one, barely held to his reading whether by compulsion or free will, it still seems to me that I should not refuse to be joined with those fathers [earlier epistolary masters] whose devotion, aspiration, and anxious care to produce something praiseworthy in their sons, however hard it may be to persuade, is harder still to match. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.