Letter 7020: Ad Sigimundum
To Sigismund
To my dearest Sigismund, worthy to be proclaimed for every grace — Fortunatus sends greetings.
Fixed in love for you, standing with my prayers gaping for news — I often ask passing men how you are, dear one. Every traveler who comes hurrying from the northern axis — however much he is in a hurry, I delay him by questioning. Whether private or public business speeds the man, none will leave from here without my interrogation.
How strong are you in body? What places hold you, dear one? In due order love inquires after everything. Does a heavy guest bearing arms tread the sands of Italy, or tell me what a Frank possesses — let a page reveal it. What you are doing, I beg, report; yet as far as I can I wish that you, the severed half of my soul, may live long.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
XX
Ad Sigimundum
CARISSIMO ET OMNI GRATIA PRAEDICANDO SIGIMVNDO FORTVNATVS SALVTEM
Fixus amore tuo votis inhiantibus adstans
quae tibi, care, salus, saepe requiro viros:
quisque viator adest properans Aquilonis ab axe,
quamvis festinum sollicitando moror;
seu privata virum seu publica cura citabit,
hinc, nisi perconter, nullus abibit iter.
quam vegetus membris? quae te loca, care, coercent?
ordine disposito cuncta requirit amor.
si gravis arma tenens Italas terit hospes harenas
aut quae Francus habet pagina pandat age.
quid geris, oro, refer; tamen ut queo longius opto
vivas pars animae dimidiata meae.
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