Letter 9015: You prove — and I do not deny — that I have been remiss, since I have not yet included any letter addressed to you...

To Gelasius. You prove — and I do not deny — that I have been remiss, since I have not yet included any letter addressed to you in my collected works. But you write that my fault would be forgivable if I sent you an example like the one I sent to my dear Tonantius for a similar purpose — a poem in hendecasyllables. Beyond this, you complain that my correspondence, whenever it breaks into verse, relies exclusively on hendecasyllables. So, setting aside that trochaic chatter, you want iambic senarii instead. I obey your orders — just receive them kindly, whether you prefer to call this an ode or an eclogue. For a meter long unpracticed makes for rough weaving. [The poem follows — a technical piece in which Sidonius describes the metrical challenges of iambic verse while modestly disclaiming his ability, praising other Gallic poets (Leo, Consentius, Severianus, Domnulus, Petrus, Proculus) as more worthy practitioners:] You ask, my friend, that through my books the fierce iamb should ring in livelier measure than the trochee has... [After listing the contemporary poets who could do better, he concludes:] But why should I refuse, though terrified by shame? Love does not know how to fear — and so I have obeyed. Forgive a man who returns to disused forms. And for having fulfilled your orders, expect nothing more from me than indulgence for my infrequency. For if you impose similar commands in the future, to make me more obedient, you will need either to dictate what I should sing or to dance to what I might laugh at. Farewell.

EPISTULA XV Sidonius Gelasio suo salutem. 1. Probas (neque deprecor) me deliquisse; deliqui, quippe qui necdum nomine tuo ullas operi meo litteras iunxerim. sed tamen scribis tum quod erraverim veniabile fore, si quod et ipse decantes mittam ab exemplo, quia scilicet Tonantio meo ad parem causam futuras usui litteras bimetras miserim. praeter hoc quereris paginam meam, si resolvatur in lusum, solis hendecasyllabis frequentari. qua de re trochaica garrulitate suspensa senariolos aliquos plus requiris. servio iniunctis; tu modo placidus accipias, sive oden hanc ipsam mavis vocare sive eglogam. nam metrum diu infrequentatum durius texitur. Iubes, amice, nostra per volumina modis resultet incitatioribus ferox iambus, ut trochaeus hactenus, pigrasque bigas et quaterna tempora (5) spondeus addat, ut moram volucripes habeat parumper insitam trimetria, resonetque mixtus ille pes celerrimus, bene nuncupatus quondam ab arte pyrricha, loco locandus undecumque in ultimo; (10) spondam daturus et subinde versui, modo in priore parte, nunc in extima anapaestus, ipse quamquam et absolutius pronuntietur, cum secuta tertia geminae brevique longa adhaeret syllaba. (15) Quae temperare vix callet gregarius poeta, ut ipse cernis esse Sollium; mihi pecten errat nec per ora concava vaga lingua flexum competenter explicat epos. sed istud aptius paraverit (20) Leo Leonis aut secutus orbitas cantu in Latino, cum prior sit Attico Consentiorum qui superstes est patri, fide, voce, metris ad fluenta Pegasi cecinisse dictus omniforme canticum, (25) quotiensque verba Graia carminaverit, tenuisse celsa iunctus astra Pindaro montemque victor isse per biverticem nullis secundus inter astra Delphica. at uterque vatum si lyrae poeticae (30) Latiare carmen aptet absque Dorico, Venusina, Flacce, plectra ineptus exeras Iapygisque verna cygnus Aufidi Atacem tonare cum suis oloribus cana et canora colla victus ingemas. (35) Nec ista sola sunt perita pectora, licet et peritis haec peritiora sint: Severianus ista rhetor altius, Afer vaferque Domnulus politius, scholasticusque sub rotundioribus (40) Petrus Camenis dictitasset acrius, epistularis usquequaque nec stilus virum vetaret, ut stupenda pangeret. potuisset ista semper efficacius humo atque gente cretus in Ligustide (45) Proculus melodis insonare pulsibus limans faceta quaeque sic poemata, Venetam lacessat ut favore Mantuam Homericaeque par et ipse gloriae, rotas Maronis arte sectans compari. (50) Ego corde et ore iure despicabilis quid inter hosce te rogante garriam, loquacitatis impudentiam probans animique vota destituta litteris? sed quid negabo nec pudore territus? (55) amor timere nescit: inde parui. 2. Ignosce desueta repetenti atque ob impleta quae iusseras nihil amplius quam raritatis indulgentiam praestolaturo. ceterum mihi si similia post iniunxeris, quo queam fieri magis obsequens, curabis ad vicem carminis aut dictare quae cantem aut saltare quae rideam. vale.