Letter 2005: Between friends, silence is never a good punishment for an offense.

Ennodius to Laconius. Never among those who love is an offense well punished by silence: the strangeness of the revenge strikes the one who devised it more grievously than the one who erred; it is wrong for faults to be applied as a correction of faults, while he who heals falls sick through his zeal for the cure. I wished to imitate the silence which you, until now forgetful of me, have kept toward me, but, a gentle man, I could not match the disdain of stout spirits. I have been overcome, I confess, by the frailty of my nature, and what I believe you reckon among my vices, by loving more I have offset my abstinence from the pen with an outpouring of talkativeness, and I have composed the grief of a long silence with an abundance of speech. I was indeed expecting from you the first gift in a letter, but I did not wish, while I keep silent for a long time, to deny myself a reply, judging that I could not give a form to speaking except by speaking. Therefore, my lord, paying the homage of the salutation owed to you, receive with your accustomed graciousness the bearer of the present letter, sent to you for this particular purpose, and restore the practice of writing that has been done away with by habit, lest this sparingness of words turn to the detriment of our friendship.

V. ENNODIVS LACONIO. Numquam inter amantes silentio bene multatur offensa: grauius inuentorem percutit uindictae nouitas quam errantem: nefas est pro emendatione culparum culpas adhiberi, dum studio curationis qui medetur aegrescit. uolui taciturnitatem quam circa me hactenus mei inmemores seruastis imitari, sed homo lenis animorum fortium non potui aequare contemptum. uictus 1 obligata B, oblegatam LTV tanquam T 3 quod fieri noluit V in ras. m. 1 7 cepta PT, concepta L aduliscentibus B 8 comercium PT, commertium V 10 dispendiam B 11 affectum LT, effectam V corr. m. 1 12 oportunissimum BLPTYb 13 boneraui Tl 15 effusissime L corde fort . 17 cupiosus B nescit B uerborum] sermonum Pb 18 diludere B V. 20 lacon.io L 21 amanHtes L te fort. eras . 28 *mendatione B ad.iberi L h eras . 24 midetur V1 egriscit B noluit T 25 actenus B 26 lenes B, lenia b et Sinn . equare B sum naturae fragilitate, confiteor, et quod uos credo conputare inter uitia plus amando stili abstinentiam effusa loquacitate pensaui et longi dolorem silentii sermonis ubertate conposui. expectans quidem a uobis praeuium munus in litteris, sed nolui mihi ipse, dum diu taceo, negare responsum, aestimans, quod loquendi formam dare nisi loquendo non possem. proinde, domine mi, salutationis debendae obsequium soluens perlatorem praesentium ad uos specialiter destinatum solita dignatione suscipite et sublatum de consuetudine scribendi usum reparate, ne in damnum gratiae parcitas contingat ista uerborum.