Letter 7009: Item ad Lupum ducem
More to Duke Lupus
Attentive to holy duties, rememberer of one who loves you, prompt in your warm concern — you who have had such abundant pity for an absent friend, seeking signs of love even when I am hidden away:
Whence is it given to my merits that the kind care of Lupus should be Fortunatus's immediate hope? I, an exile from Italy, have been rolling through what I think is now my ninth year near the shore of the Ocean. So many seasons fly by, and still through the writings of my parents no letter from across the sea has come to refresh one so shut out.
What a father and mother might give, a brother, a sister, the order of nephews — what a whole homeland could provide — you supply with loving devotion. A gentle page sent in your name has refreshed me with the waters of a nectarous spring. And not only has a sweet letter from you warmed me — look, a bearer sent on my behalf has also come in person.
Who could relate so many gifts with a grateful mouth, I ask? The tongue cannot lay open so sweet an affection. But may the highest King from on high repay you for all of it — he who teaches that what is done for the least is done for himself.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
IX
Item ad Lupum ducem
Officiis intente piis, memorator amantis,
prompte per affectum consuliture tuum,
carius absentis nimium miseratus amici,
quando latente loco signa requirit amor:
unde meis meritis datur hoc, ut protinus esset
spes Fortunati cura benigna Lupi?
exul ab Italia nono, puto, volvor in anno
litoris Oceani contiguante salo:
tempora tot fugiunt et adhuc per scripta parentum
nullus ab exclusis me recreavit apex.
quod pater ac genetrix, frater, soror, ordo nepotum,
quod poterat regio, solvis amore pio.
pagina blanda tuo sub nomine missa benigne
nectarei fontis me recreavit aquis.
nec solum a vobis me dulcis epistula fovit,
missus adhuc in rem portitor ecce venit.
munera quis poterit, rogo, tot memor ore referre?
affectum dulcem pandere lingua nequit.
sed tibi restituat rex cuncta supernus ab alto,
quae minimis fiunt qui docet esse suum.
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