Letter 41
Unknown→Agapitus|c. 520 AD|ennodius pavia
From: Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
To: Agapitus
Date: ~521 AD
Context: A letter on the inconsolable grief of those who love — possibly mourning a shared loss.
Ennodius to Agapitus.
The grief of those who truly love is inconsolable by ordinary means. Only God can reach the depth of what we feel, and only time — His instrument — can begin to heal what loss has broken.
I write to mourn with you, not to console. Consolation will come later, in its own time. For now, let us share the weight. Farewell.
XXXXI. ENNODIVS AGAPITO.
Insolabiliter amantum ferretur absentia, nisi opem darent
remedia litterarum, quae ieiunas desiderantum animas pascunt
esca conloquii. bene enim per stilum dilectio amicam sibi
pingit effigiem, cum qua sine laboris patientia misceat mella
sermonum. ad hoc magnitudo tua artifex, ne inpastam gratiam
linqueres, scripsisti. debeo uicissitudinem, quia memorem mei
te esse cognoui. honore ergo salutationis exhibito rogo, ut
quod scis apud caros et adfectione praeditos esse pretiosum
sub continuatione facere non omittas.
◆
From: Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
To: Agapitus
Date: ~521 AD
Context: A letter on the inconsolable grief of those who love — possibly mourning a shared loss.
Ennodius to Agapitus.
The grief of those who truly love is inconsolable by ordinary means. Only God can reach the depth of what we feel, and only time — His instrument — can begin to heal what loss has broken.
I write to mourn with you, not to console. Consolation will come later, in its own time. For now, let us share the weight. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.