Letter 7019: ---

19. Ennodius to Simplicianus. May the rudiments of your youth be made firm by the help of divine favor: may he himself grant success to the crops who bestowed adornments upon their beginnings, so that what you have sent ahead in the white blossom you may not withhold in the ripeness of the fruit. The first concern of our purpose is this: that, being anxious for the praise of one who is beginning, we send up prayers to God, to the end that what has been undertaken in the cultivation of a good natural disposition may ripen by aid from on high. May he bring the harvest of your talent to the granaries, who has drawn forth from the turf the grass that nourishes mankind: may he himself shape into wheat the form pressed out from the milk of the earth, by whose rain the wedded face of the soil is made fruitful. But to you, learned boy, I give thanks, because, although you have shone with brilliance of speech and are praised in that city, with knowledge of letters bearing witness, you nevertheless also desire the aids of my commendation. The fruit of my diligence has accrued to you, even though no adornments of a rustic's testimony are bestowed. Gladly do I proclaim your words together with the most eloquent men, with whom I join my opinion, that I may grow rich in the fellowship of good men. It follows that those are not divided in their merits who agree in any judgment whatsoever: he is one, nor indeed does he wander far from the citadel of the lofty, who concurs with no unequal admiration in that which those men declare. To the honey of your letter, however, and of its diction I betake myself: whose preface concerning the present and tender age is so charming that valor and genius are not withdrawn from the future. Your elocution has taken its stand upon hollowed channels [Latian beds], while through its own bed the wave of Roman eloquence glides past: to what heights it may reach up, estimation scarcely comprehends, which appears greatest at the doors. In the light of morning you have glowed red with the radiance of midday. May the heavenly grace watch over its own gift around you, and, that you may cultivate one who loves you with frequent services of letters, may Christ our salvation inspire it.

XVIIII. SIMPLICIANO ENNODIVS. Diuini fauoris adiumento adulescentiae tuae rudimenta solidentur: ipse det successum frugibus qui contulit ornamenta principiis, ut quod in cano flore praemisisti in pomorum maturitate non subtrahas. est propositi nostri prima curatio, ut de incipientis laude solliciti ad deum uota mittamus, quatenus quod in bonae indolis eruditione praesumptum est de superna ope maturescat. ille ingenii segetem perducat ad horrea, qui altricem hominum herbam exegit e cespite: ipse de terreno lacte expressam in triticum formet effigiem, cuius imbre soli facies maritata fecundatur. tibi autem, erudite puer, habeo gratias, quod quamuis dicendi splendore nituisses et in illa urbe litterarum scientia adstipulante lauderis, mei quoque desideras adiumenta praeconii. accessit tibi fructus diligentiae meae, etsi nulla tribuuntur rusticantis ornamenta testimonii. libens dicta tua cum facundissimis praedico, cum quibus sententiam meam, ut bonorum ditescam societate, coniungo. proximum est, ut non diuidantur meritis qui in qualibet iudicatione consentiunt: unus est, nec enim procul euagatur ab arce sublimium, qui ad hoc, quod illi pronuntiant, non dispari admiratione concordat. ad epistolae tuae tamen dictionisque mella me refero: cui sic est blanda de praesenti et tenera aetate praefatio, ut non subtrahatur uirtus et genius de futura. constitit concauatis Latiaris elocutio, dum per alueum suum 2 adripuet B conualiscat Ll ut uidetur IYHIL 4 simplicio Bb, cf. Epigt. VI15 5 adolescentiae BTb 6 ipso L ∗∗∗frugibus B 9 quatinus LT 11 maturilCat B segitem B perducat ad horrea B ita ros . 12 exigit fort . ciapite B 18 expraessam B 14 fecondator 7* 16 urbae B 17 adoesait B frnctns tibi T 18 in illa T 20 bonorum] beatorum T ditiscam B 22 nnns] secnndns fort., cf. Wiener Studien II 256 enagatus Sirm, 25 blandita fort . 27 concauatil] concnmatibus B, contumacibus b Latiaris] lauaris T Romanae eloquentiae unda praelabitur: ad quae se porrigat, uix conprehendit aestimatio, qui maximus adparescit in foribus. in matutina luce meridiano fulgore rutilasti. tueatur circa te caelestis gratia munus suum et ut frequentibus amantem epistolarum colas muniis, salus nostra Christus inspiret.