From: Ruricius, bishop of Limoges
To: Nepotianus, a priest
Date: ~490 AD
Context: Ruricius thanks Nepotianus for lending him books, comparing his own spiritually sick soul to a feverish stomach that cannot properly digest the spiritual food offered to it.
Ruricius to his holy and most devoted father, the priest Nepotianus.
I received the books Your Holiness sent — brilliant in eloquence, perfect in knowledge, excellent in teaching, clear in the purity of faith, rich in the abundance of scriptural testimony, distinguished in authority, and shining with light. They can easily illuminate the minds of the faithful and expose and refute the errors of the unfaithful.
But I, barely tasting them and tempted rather than nourished by a very slight sample, could not reach satisfaction because of worldly cares. For just as a stomach, when it is consumed by the burning of fevers, neither accepts sweet foods placed before it nor seeks them when they are taken away, so too a mind worn out by worldly anxieties and cares neither desires spiritual feasts when they are absent, nor picks at them when they are served, nor even notices them when they are poured in.
But despite my condition, you have shown the affection of a devoted parent, fulfilled the duty of a watchful teacher, and carried out the office of an attentive physician — sending the right medicine to one suffering from such weariness. Even if I cannot achieve health because of my own negligence, you will still receive your reward from the just repayer, who is accustomed to return generous thanks even for the ungrateful.
Of the aforementioned books, I have kept one, as you instructed, and returned the other, which you should know belongs to Saint Hilary, bishop of Poitiers. I mention this because you had asked me to. As for the one I kept, I intend — with your permission — to copy it, so that what I cannot commit to memory, I may at least entrust to pages.
VI. DOMINO SANCTO ET PIISSIMO PATRI NEPOTIANO PRESBVTERO RURICIUS.
Codices, quos sanctitas uestra transmisit, accepi eloquentia
claros, scientia perfectos, doctrina probos, fidei puritate perspicuos,
qui sacrorum testimoniorum ubertate locupletes, auctoritate
praestantes, luce fulgentes facile et fidelium mentes
inluminent et infidelium errores detegant atque conuincant.
quorum ego gustu admodum tenui pellectus potius quam refectus
ad satietatem propter sollicitudines saeculi peruenire
non potui. sicut enim stomachus, cum febrium ardore decoquitur,
dulces sibi antea cibos nec oblatos recipit nec requirit
ablatos, ita et animus mundanis anxietatibus curisque confectus
spiritales dapes nec desiderat absentes nec carpit appositas nec
sentit infusas.
Quae cum ita se in me habeant, uos tamen et pii parentis
probastis affectum et solliciti magistri ministerium et seduli
medici implestis officium, ut tali taedio laboranti medicamenta
congrua mitteretis. quibus etsi propter neglegentiam meam
ego non ualeo consequi sospitatem, uos tamen percipietis a
iusto repensatore mercedem, qui etiam pro ingratis grates beniuolas
referre consueuit. horum ergo praefatorum codicum
unum, sicut iussistis, retinui, alium remisi, quem sancti Hilarii
Pictauae urbis antestitis esse noueritis. quod quia praeceperatis,
indicare curaui. hunc uero retentum, (dum) permittitis, transferre
disposui, ut, quod memoriae commendare non possumus,
saltim uel paginis mandare curemus.
2 nepociano S 4 elonquentia 8 5 perfectus-probus-perspicuus 81
10 sacietatem S 11 sthomacus S 12 ante v oblatus S ore post
oblatos add. v recepit requiret 8 13 ista S 16 habent S parentes
S 18 offitium S 19 etsi Kr., et S 21 beniuoles S 22 cousueuit||
S ego v prefatorum S 23 hilari S 24 pictaue S antestites
S preciperatis S 25 dum addidi, om. S, si addidit Kr., ut
mauult Mommsenns 26 possimus v
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From:Ruricius, bishop of Limoges
To:Nepotianus, a priest
Date:~490 AD
Context:Ruricius thanks Nepotianus for lending him books, comparing his own spiritually sick soul to a feverish stomach that cannot properly digest the spiritual food offered to it.
Ruricius to his holy and most devoted father, the priest Nepotianus.
I received the books Your Holiness sent — brilliant in eloquence, perfect in knowledge, excellent in teaching, clear in the purity of faith, rich in the abundance of scriptural testimony, distinguished in authority, and shining with light. They can easily illuminate the minds of the faithful and expose and refute the errors of the unfaithful.
But I, barely tasting them and tempted rather than nourished by a very slight sample, could not reach satisfaction because of worldly cares. For just as a stomach, when it is consumed by the burning of fevers, neither accepts sweet foods placed before it nor seeks them when they are taken away, so too a mind worn out by worldly anxieties and cares neither desires spiritual feasts when they are absent, nor picks at them when they are served, nor even notices them when they are poured in.
But despite my condition, you have shown the affection of a devoted parent, fulfilled the duty of a watchful teacher, and carried out the office of an attentive physician — sending the right medicine to one suffering from such weariness. Even if I cannot achieve health because of my own negligence, you will still receive your reward from the just repayer, who is accustomed to return generous thanks even for the ungrateful.
Of the aforementioned books, I have kept one, as you instructed, and returned the other, which you should know belongs to Saint Hilary, bishop of Poitiers. I mention this because you had asked me to. As for the one I kept, I intend — with your permission — to copy it, so that what I cannot commit to memory, I may at least entrust to pages.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.