To Gregory, on Sapphic Meter
A letter came in powerful eloquence on its course — but it wanted to come slowly to my prayers [Gregory's letter arrived late, teasing Fortunatus]. It does not offend even though it is delayed and seeks the one it holds bound with a binding mind.
Since I desire it — such a Gregory as that one of Nazianzus [Gregory of Nazianzus, the great 4th-century theologian and poet] was, that you might renew the doctrine, taking his seat as parent: all the poems you assigned me, father, I have now sent. They will serve me well if they please you, dear one.
This you command, this I obey — such is the law between us: you, ever demanding; I, ever writing. You ask for Sapphics [Sapphic meter — the meter invented by the Greek lyric poet Sappho, used also by Horace in his Odes]; Fortunatus attempts Sapphics. Whether he succeeds is for Gregory to judge.
VI
Ad Gregorium episcopum pro metris Sapphicis
Pollente eloquio pervenit epistula cursu,
sed voluit voto tarda venire meo.
nec tamen offendit, quamvis remorata requirit,
quem tenet adstrictum mente ligante virum.
.cum cupiam, talem qualis fuit ille Nazanzo
Gregorium ut repares dogmate, sede parens.
quaeque iniunxisti, pater, ecce poemata misi,
et mihi proficient si tibi, care, placent.
hoc mandas etiam quo Sapphica metra remittam:
da veniam, modici dum seges urguet agri.
dum meto, da spatium: tibi mox parere parabo;
si saturer fructu, fors meliora cano.
condere si valeo, cum metro mitto libellum;
quae cape tu voto quo tibi dictat amor.
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To Gregory, on Sapphic Meter
A letter came in powerful eloquence on its course — but it wanted to come slowly to my prayers [Gregory's letter arrived late, teasing Fortunatus]. It does not offend even though it is delayed and seeks the one it holds bound with a binding mind.
Since I desire it — such a Gregory as that one of Nazianzus [Gregory of Nazianzus, the great 4th-century theologian and poet] was, that you might renew the doctrine, taking his seat as parent: all the poems you assigned me, father, I have now sent. They will serve me well if they please you, dear one.
This you command, this I obey — such is the law between us: you, ever demanding; I, ever writing. You ask for Sapphics [Sapphic meter — the meter invented by the Greek lyric poet Sappho, used also by Horace in his Odes]; Fortunatus attempts Sapphics. Whether he succeeds is for Gregory to judge.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.