VII. Item ad Felicem episcopum Namneticum
More to Felix, Bishop of Nantes
I feel it, highest father, venerable light of all, sweet head of your city, Felix — you whom I carry embraced in my heart in the arms of devotion, my sweet burden (and that burden does not weigh on one who loves):
Why do you call me, great one, a humble man, to visit those pleasant places that hold you, dear Felix? I would gladly sing with you there. Along the glassy banks where the cold Loire [the great river of western Gaul] washes your fields — the beautiful countryside of Cariacus sloping down to the river, where the stream refreshes one side with its waters, the vines shade the other, and the crisping north wind whips the leafy pines — the land is free and lovely, the shore beautiful with fish.
But for Fortunatus, it is your face that makes it pleasant.
VII
Item ad Felicem episcopum Namneticum
Sentio, summe pater, lumen venerabile cunctis,
urbis dulce caput, mihi nomen amabile, Felix,
amplectens quem corde gero pietatis in ulnis,
pondus suave meum (nec onus gravat istud amantem)
cur humilem me, summe, vocas loca visere blanda
quae te, care, tenent? tecum modularer in illis.
qua tua rura lavat vitrea Liger algidus unda.
Cariaci speciosus ager devexus in amnem,
hinc ubi flumen aquis recreat, hinc pampinus umbris
et crepitans Boreas pineta comata flagellat:
liber nempe solum, piscoso litore pulchrum.
sed Fortunato facies tua reddit amoenum.
◆
VII. Item ad Felicem episcopum Namneticum More to Felix, Bishop of Nantes
I feel it, highest father, venerable light of all, sweet head of your city, Felix — you whom I carry embraced in my heart in the arms of devotion, my sweet burden (and that burden does not weigh on one who loves):
Why do you call me, great one, a humble man, to visit those pleasant places that hold you, dear Felix? I would gladly sing with you there. Along the glassy banks where the cold Loire [the great river of western Gaul] washes your fields — the beautiful countryside of Cariacus sloping down to the river, where the stream refreshes one side with its waters, the vines shade the other, and the crisping north wind whips the leafy pines — the land is free and lovely, the shore beautiful with fish.
But for Fortunatus, it is your face that makes it pleasant.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.