Letter 7022: Your Eminence's voice carries more weight in a single line than lesser men achieve in pages.

Ennodius to Maximus. More faithfully do the broken places of the mountains or the hidden recesses of the woods receive your voice; even mute things, by nature's appointment, render a reply to men. The exchange of clamorous solitude returns to mortals: what tongues, or even the wild haunts, have received as a benefit does not perish. Why, then, in your greatness, is this a kind of praise and of philosophy, to say nothing and to keep the safeguard of silence amid the uncertainties of those who declaim? You are a man whom nature has not brought forth barren, nor has learning left unwrought; but, I believe, you disdain to address me, unwilling to give precious words to the judgment of a boor. What of the fact that it is the mark of a man rich in eloquence not to withdraw from the unlearned the discourse they desire? It is a beggarly course of rivers that is thought to satisfy only the longing of the most noble: the abundance of the rains pours even over rocks that will bring forth nothing. It is the order of clear reasoning that he who dreads losses should seal up his poverty: whatever does not run forth is meager. Yet of the birds I have set apart a singular gift, which the hawk has taken. For, having gone forth to Bromius and the orgies of Bacchus, we joined battles among the birds: the comradely contest of wings has profited our gain. Remember that we have dispatched only a duck, knowing that the god rejoices in an uneven number. [Verg. Ecl. 8.75] Our offering is our practice: take it, if you love me, as a teaching, this thing at which we jest. Make my gladness fruitful. If perpetual chastity has enjoined upon you its diligence, the tongue that is now exercised in admonitions will labor in your praises. Farewell, lord, and as a learned man answer one who loves you, if I deserve it, with dissimulation set aside.

XXII. MAXIMO ENNODIVS. Fidelius a sublimitate tua uocem suscipiunt aut interrupta montium aut secreta siluarum: praebent hominibus naturae institutione et muta responsum : redit ad mortales uicissitudo clamosae solitudinis: non perit quod linguae acceperint uel lustra beneficium. quare istud in magnitudine tua laudis et philosophiae genus est nihil dicere et silentii tenere inter declamantium incerta cautionem? homo, quem nec infecundum natura protulit, nec infabricatum doctrina dereliquit sed, credo, me dedignaris affatu, opicis nolens pretiosa dare uerba iudicio. quid quod signum est diuitis eloquentia uiri nec indoctis sermonum cupita subtrahere? mendicus fluminum cursus est, qui tantum nobilissimorum satiare putatur ardorem: ubertas imbrium et nihil paritura saxa perfundit. liquidae rationis ordo est, ut paupertatem resignet qui damna formidat: quicquid non procurrit exile est. de uolucribus tamen munus singulare destinaui, quod cepit accipiter. nam progressi ad Bromium et Bacchi orgia, inter aues bella commisimus: profuit quaestui nostro certamen sociale pennarum. memento quod solam anatem direximus, scientes quia numero deus 25 Verg. Eel. 8, 75 1 toa om. b nigrantes Sirm., nigrantis BLVb membra L 2 propter iaceas LV XXn. 10 acoiperint B, acciperent B (M. rec.) b 12 et] est Bb fylosophiae Bl ut uidetur 13 infecondam Tl 14 natura Bb, terra LTV dereliquid L 15 crędo L opiciB Bb, obicia LTVt opici coni. Sirm., operis eoni . Schottus; nihil mutandum est, nam opicis est hominis inculti 16 uir b 17 substrahere B 19 im- • brium (pr. i m rGl.) B 20 resignit Bl (tit uidetur) b dampna LTV 22 distinaui B, destinaui. L caepit V, coepit Bb ad] a T 28 bacoi B, bachi LTV 24 queatui TV, quetui L pinnarum B 25 dizerimnfl L scientis B inpare gaudet. dona nostra institutio est: sume, si diligis, pro dogmate quod iocamur. fac meam frugiferam esse laetitiam. si tibi perpetuae diligentiam castitatis indixerit, laborabit in laudibus tuis lingua, quae modo exercetur in monitis. uale, domine, et amanti ut doctus, si mereor, sequestrata dissimulatione responde.