Unknown→Euphronius, of Colonia Armeniæ|c. 456 AD|sidonius apollinaris
grief death
LETTER II
Sidonius to his lord Bishop Euphronius, greetings.
1. Bishop Albiso and the deacon Proculus -- whom I must call our masters in conduct, since they deserve to be counted your disciples -- have delivered the letter with which you honored me in sacred affection. Yet that letter lays upon me far more of a burden than an honor. Thus I rejoice in its blessing even as I am confounded by its commission, since, thoroughly overwhelmed as I am, I obey only in part. For you command things both too diverse and too numerous, and you decree that I produce a work which my inadequacy can accomplish only with as much difficulty as impudence.
2. But if I rightly gauge the greatness of the devotion I have found in you, you labored more to make public the affection of your heart than the product of my labor. For when Jerome the translator, Augustine the dialectician, and Origen the allegorist bring forth for you the heavy-laden ears of spiritual meaning from the harvest of wholesome doctrine, surely the dry stubble of my fasting tongue will not crackle for you now. By this standard, you would be right to rank the hoarse honking of geese alongside the songs of swans, and the chittering of common sparrows alongside the measured laments of nightingales.
3. What more? Even so, it would be done arrogantly and indecorously if I were to take up the weight of the task you prescribe -- a new cleric, an old sinner, light in knowledge, heavy in conscience -- so that if I sent a piece of writing anywhere, my person would not escape the laughter of critics even when absent from their sight. I beg you, my lord bishop, do not require my modesty, such as it is in its hiding place, to be disgraced by the rashness of this undertaking, for so great is the envy of detractors that the material you assign would sooner earn reproach when begun than approval when finished. Deign to remember me, my lord bishop.
EPISTULA II
Sidonius domino papae Euphronio salutem.
1. Albiso antistes Proculusque levites, ideo nobis morum magistri pronuntiandi, quia vestri merentur esse discipuli, litteras detulerunt, quarum me sacrosancto donastis affectu; quae tamen litterae plurimum nobis honoris, plus oneris imponunt. unde et ipsarum sic benedictione laetor, quod iniunctione confundor, quippe qui ex asse turbatus vel ex parte non pareo. iubetis enim tam diversa quam nimia explicarique decernitis opus, quod ab extremitate mea tam difficile conpletur quam inpudenter incipitur.
2. sed si amplitudinem in vobis pietatis expertae bene metior, plus laborastis, ut affectus vestri cordis quam nostri operis effectus publicaretur. neque enim, cum Hieronymus interpres, dialecticus Augustinus, allegoricus Origenes gravidas tibi spiritalium sensuum spicas doctrinae salubris messe parturiant, nunc scilicet tibi a partibus meis arida ieiunantis linguae stipula crepitabunt. hoc more tu et olorinis cantibus anseres ravos et modificatis lusciniarum querelis inproborum passerum fringultientes susurros iure sociaveris.
3. quid? quod sic quoque arroganter fieret indecenterque, si negotii praecepti pondus aggrederer, novus clericus peccator antiquus, scientia levi gravi conscientia, videlicet ut, si scriptum quocumque misissem, persona mea nec tunc abesset risui iudicantum, cum defuisset obtutui. ne, quaeso, domine papa, nimis exigas verecundiam meam qualitercumque latitantem coepti operis huiusce temeritate devenustari, quia tantus est livor derogatorum, ut materia, quam mittis, velocius sortiatur inchoata probrum quam terminata suffragium. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
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LETTER II
Sidonius to his lord Bishop Euphronius, greetings.
1. Bishop Albiso and the deacon Proculus -- whom I must call our masters in conduct, since they deserve to be counted your disciples -- have delivered the letter with which you honored me in sacred affection. Yet that letter lays upon me far more of a burden than an honor. Thus I rejoice in its blessing even as I am confounded by its commission, since, thoroughly overwhelmed as I am, I obey only in part. For you command things both too diverse and too numerous, and you decree that I produce a work which my inadequacy can accomplish only with as much difficulty as impudence.
2. But if I rightly gauge the greatness of the devotion I have found in you, you labored more to make public the affection of your heart than the product of my labor. For when Jerome the translator, Augustine the dialectician, and Origen the allegorist bring forth for you the heavy-laden ears of spiritual meaning from the harvest of wholesome doctrine, surely the dry stubble of my fasting tongue will not crackle for you now. By this standard, you would be right to rank the hoarse honking of geese alongside the songs of swans, and the chittering of common sparrows alongside the measured laments of nightingales.
3. What more? Even so, it would be done arrogantly and indecorously if I were to take up the weight of the task you prescribe -- a new cleric, an old sinner, light in knowledge, heavy in conscience -- so that if I sent a piece of writing anywhere, my person would not escape the laughter of critics even when absent from their sight. I beg you, my lord bishop, do not require my modesty, such as it is in its hiding place, to be disgraced by the rashness of this undertaking, for so great is the envy of detractors that the material you assign would sooner earn reproach when begun than approval when finished. Deign to remember me, my lord bishop.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.