Letter 9: Proxime indeed to the love tuae petentibus his, who to we a fratre and coepiscopo our Timotheo Alexandrinae of the...

Bishop Simplicius to Acacius, Bishop of Constantinople. Very recently, indeed, when those who had been sent to us from our brother and fellow bishop Timothy, prelate of the church of Alexandria, made their request to your Affection, I announced our common joy by letter, and I likewise made mention that we rejoice together over the fruit of that most pious work, namely that a catholic priest has been restored to the aforesaid church. This too I have now hastened to make known, that you might recognize that joys do not love silence. Wherefore, ever exulting in the Lord and desiring that the prayers of our common vows be joined together, I exhort you, most dear brother, that, now that affairs have been settled by the most merciful and most Christian prince with God as their author, the diligence of your concern may not be lacking; but that Peter, cast down from the honor not due to him, be not permitted to dwell in the region of Alexandria, but, as we ourselves have also demanded, that you request by frequent representation that he be banished far beyond the boundaries of his homeland, lest he seduce any of the unlearned by the persuasion of his depravity and turn them aside from the path of catholic truth. But whatever you shall obtain from the most religious emperor, let the care of your Affection cause it to come to my knowledge, and grant that we may be partakers of the proceedings that pertain to the safeguarding of evangelical doctrine. Given on the twelfth day before the Kalends of November, in the consulship of [...] [481, the names being uncertain in the manuscripts]. By the same persons as above. [The remainder of the source is the editor's critical apparatus recording manuscript variants and dating notes, not part of the letter: the letter was dispatched together with Epistle 64 in the year 478, about the twenty-second day of the month of October; with collation of readings from the Berlin Latin manuscript 79 and various printed editions.]

SIMPLICIUS EPISCOPUS ACACIO EPISCOPO CONSTANTINOPOLITANO. Proxime quidem dilectioni tuae petentibus his, qui ad nos a fratre et coepiscopo nostro Timotheo Alexandrinae ecclesiae antistite directi fuerant, commune gaudium litteris indicaui et de fructu piissimi operis, quod eatholieus memoratae ecclesiae sacerdos est restitutus, pariter nos gaudere memoràui. quod nunc quoque signifieare properauimus, ut agnosceres gaudia silentium non amare. unde semper exultans in domino et orationum communium cupiens uota sociari hortor, frater carissime, ut, rebus per clementissimum et Christianissimum principem deo auctore compositis diligentiae sollicitudo non desit sed Petrus ab indebito sibi honore deiectus in Alexan- drina regione non sinatur habitare sed procul extra terminos patriae, sicut etiam nos poposcimus, frequenti eum postules suggestione relegari, ne quos imperitorum prauitatis suae persuasione seducat et a catholicae tramite ueritatis auertat. quidquid autem de religiosissimo impetrabis imperio, cura tuae dilectionis ad meam notitiam faciat peruenire et nos actuum ad custodiam euangelieae doctrinae pertinentium det esse consortes. X Dat. XII. Kal. Nouembr. Illo ἃ. c. cons. Per quos supra. 65. — Dat. simul cum ep. 64 a. 478 mensis Octobr. die fere 22. B — Berol. lat. 79. — Edd. Car. 1* 320; Collect. Concil.; BTA I 320. Thiel 200; commemorat Bar. ad a. 478, 16. 2. svwPLrciU8 AcaTIO CON- STANTINOPOLITANO DB acaTi0 V et sic saepius per litteram t, quod mon tam monebo — coxsrAwTINOLITANO V 8 his om. B ὅ antiste B — com- munem gaudio B inducaui B 6 destructu B memorat B — ecclesiae tndjio uersus abscisso tam deest in B 7 est V: et B 8. agnosceris B 9 in domino om. V [10 ortor B 12 auctorem B 18 inde uito V alaexandrinam regionem B 14 sinatur B a «t uid. ex e corr.: desinatur V extra terminos V: absque terminus δ 15 frenti V postul B 16 im- peditorum V 17 tramità B 18autB imperaueris B 20 ἀοὺ V: data B 21 XII scripsi: XI B, id. (cf. ep. 64 sub finem) XVI Υ nouembr illu uc cows B: ΝῸΒ 1L.Lvo vo cows8 V; Illo corr. Car. 22 per quos supra om. V Epist. LXV 1 — LXVI 2. 147