Letter 7024: Our common son Marcellus demands of me the admonition that his progress requires.

Ennodius to Stephanus. The encouragement of our common son Marcellus, whom nature gave to you and affection gave to me, demands of me that I, going first, should aspire to the duties of writing and, overcome by love, should expend that consolation of letters through which antiquity decreed that nothing should be permitted to absence. You already owe me a double thanks, even if you make a reply in return, on this account: that I was the first to begin. He throws open the door of love who in conversations furnishes the example; those who restore what is written keep to the prescribed pattern. Therefore, with God as our author, we send a letter announcing our prosperity. We add this for your joy, that your fatherly mind may exult in it: that your son in liberal studies already holds the proof of his noble birth, and shows himself such in this pursuit that he surpasses the grasping prayers of his own kin. An honorable beginning in a youth is the hope of completion, and he who in the very first stages seizes the glory of a good course of training stands not far from the man already learned. Therefore, greeting you with the affection that I owe, I hope that, once the opportunity has been renewed, he may cause me to be lifted up by the good news of your prosperity.

XXIIII. ENNODIVS STEPHANO. .Exigit a me filii communis Marcelli adhortatio, quem natura uobis, mihi dedit affectus, ut ad scriptionis munia praeuius adspirarem et solacium litterarum, per quod uetustas uoluit absentiae nil licere, amore uictus inpenderem. iam debes mihi duplicem gratiam, etsi responsa restitueris, ob hoc quod primus 2 laetitia B 8 indirex T 6 responde] finit add. B exp . tn. rec . XXIII. Epistulas 23-29 om. LTV 8 maximo] uersus add. B ap. m. rec . 12 inoombat B discendit B 14 dedicisgis B 15 et] et adhuc B ted adhuc deletum et addidi, om. Bb 16 quae B, qui b 18 gattnlis B 20 diliciis B XXIIII. 25 literarum b nolnit B (m. rlC.) b, nolnet B incepi. ille dilectionis ianuam pandit, qui in conloquiis praestat exemplum:. propositam custodiunt formulam qui scripta restituunt. ergo auctore deo nuntiam prosperitatis nostrae epistolam destinamus. illud ad gaudium uestrum, quo uestrum paterna mens exultet, adiungimus, filium uestrum in studiis liberalibus ingenuitatis testimonium iam tenere et talem se in hac cura praestare, ut auara suorum uota transcendat. spes perfectionis est honesta in adulescente inchoatio, nec ab erudito distat qui inter exordia boni gloriam occupat instituti. salutans ergo adfectione qua debeo spero, ut reparata opportunitate de bono me faciat uestrae prosperitatis adtolli.