Letter 33
Unknown→Faustus|c. 518 AD|ennodius pavia
From: Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
To: Faustus
Date: ~520 AD
Context: A letter showing Ennodius in pastoral mode, with writing that serves his chosen purpose.
Ennodius to Faustus.
My pages serve their purpose — they carry to you the devotion that prompts them. I do not write to impress but to connect, and in that limited ambition I trust I have succeeded.
May the connection between us endure as long as the faith that sustains it. Farewell.
XXXIII. ENNODIVS FAVSTO.
Proposito obsecuntur paginae, quibus commendatio praestatur
afflictis. in his enim clara est religionis integritas, quae
nullo potentioribus fuco blanditae adserunt lacrimas submissorum.
sed hinc alias. cum perlatorem uideritis, uotum dictantis
agnoscetis. utinam illo apud magnitudinem uestram supplicationis
euentu alleganda conciliet, quo a me litteras impetrauit.
mulierem religiosam pauperem de bono negotio praesumentem
sermo praefatus insinuat aestimate si fragilitati, si iustitiae
oportuit uerba subduci, si conuenit me uel officio deesse uel moribus.
ecce ego reuerentiam salutationis inpendens quid partibus
meis deberem contestatus sum: uobis quid remansit adtendite,
quia sicut personam meam pro supra dictae uoluntate petitio,
ita uestram effectus aspiciet. uale.
◆
From: Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
To: Faustus
Date: ~520 AD
Context: A letter showing Ennodius in pastoral mode, with writing that serves his chosen purpose.
Ennodius to Faustus.
My pages serve their purpose — they carry to you the devotion that prompts them. I do not write to impress but to connect, and in that limited ambition I trust I have succeeded.
May the connection between us endure as long as the faith that sustains it. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.