Letter 8: On the extinction of the schism that so darkened the recent years, I cannot express my relief adequately in prose,...

Ennodius, bishop of Ticinum [Pavia], to Pope Symmachus. He extols his merits. In the sign of Christ. 1. It is the nature of things that even one well equipped in speech or in heart can be blamed for presumption, because every facility with words, once it has stepped beyond the bounds of humility, is trodden underfoot; and just as the things demanded are held at a price, so the things thrust forward become cheap. When importunity strips away the nobility of a deed by its reputation, it clothes the unlearned in disgrace. But I sustain myself by this reasoning: that to have offered a speech in advance is indeed bold, yet lovable; and that to open a road belonging to charity is as near to rashness as it is close to diligence. Among the men of the churches, is it any guilt if those unequal in rank should strive with equal love? Or do men of modest honor overstep the narrowness of their station because they desire, by the favor of grace, to be made equal to those at the summit? He has not the conscience of a proud man who does not measure himself save in the offices of affection. I presume to say: it is an error of subordinates directed [upward], the kind that outstrips those who go before in this matter. Behold, thus I have purged my own part, darkened as it was by the cloud of an apparently voluntary address. But I say what pertains to a most abundant defense. Your son the lord Rhodanius compelled me to break forth into the use of the present pen. Yet I confess that what he commanded was in keeping with my own zeal: for he who has compelled one who is willing labors not. 2. Let us render thanks to God in the first place and throughout the whole framing of this letter, because at last the Roman members have come together into fellowship with their own head. It was just that the blessed apostle Peter should restore, through the lord [the king], to his own see the churches, and to a freer senate the parts that were owed. Worthy is the ruler, worthy, in whom together with his age the sum of [our] prayers has been attained. For even if a felicity destined to pass to posterity should persevere, it is to be praised especially in the very persons from whom it took its beginning. You have supplicated God effectively, that the power of him might rescue you whose clemency is able to preserve. You have learned the prosperous outcomes of him whom you see, when victory follows upon the wars he has ordained. Little remains, that you should hold the gentleness of his mind to be so profound as though it were ignorant of campaigns. By God's grant, his peace cannot be disturbed by uncertainties, nor his fortitude broken by any opposition whatsoever. Nothing with him is safer than to supplicate: he alone escaped the lines of battle, who entreated; he conquered the onset of arms, who devoutly offered his obedience. What the ancient princes scarcely obtained by the sweat of their own presence, this the brief letter of our king has always procured. Through marches the fortunate army is directed to triumph. Who would believe that his soldier holds, in toil and accomplishment, after the glory of one who overcomes, yet the restraint of one subdued? When the engagements are completed, nothing remains of the inheritance of wrath: at one and the same time they have seen the destructive [foes]; they who pay tribute find them mild. And these things indeed are prepared by heavenly favor in return for this requital, because our faith with him, although he himself pursues another [creed], stands in a safe harbor. Marvelous is his patience, since he is tenacious of his own purpose; he does not overshadow the renown of another; for he groans that the patrimonies of our churches are slipping away unless they be increased. So it has come to pass that both the wealthy hold their estate by the substance of the poor, and the middling grow strong to the highest opulence. In priests he cherishes the virtues that have been planted, and inspires those not [yet] found. But why should I anticipate your true blessedness by the prejudgment of a diffuse discourse? Presently your own experience and that spiritual perfection will accuse me of having been meager in the praises of your son; and since deeds are wont to be amplified by discourse, it will charge me as a barren reporter concerning the harvest of his virtues. Now in what manner he renders the worldly distinctions, the curule chairs and the robes of state, the patrician dignities also, either to nature or to character, is published by the attestation of the bearer of this household letter. For he makes both the ancient [houses] endure in the old splendor of their lineage, and he irradiates the new with the brilliance of an unlooked-for radiance. More easily does his commonwealth, by the gift of his dispensation, pass into private opulence, than the wealth of those who serve be turned into palace gains. 3. Now, for what remains: having received the services of my salutation, look that Christ our redeemer may, through a long age, preserve those things which he has bestowed upon the aforesaid most merciful king while they serve him. May he grant also a successor to the kingdom from his stock: lest the goods of so great a man grow old within a single age, and, made antiquated by the times, be named only for the remembrance of a golden century! [...the middling] would suffer losses, and would receive the greatest part of increase.

^^^^^ Ennodii episcopi Ticinensis ad Symmachum papmii. merita extolHt. In*) Christi sigiio. 1. Natura rerum est, ut etiam idoneus ore vel pectore possi^ (le praesumptione culpari , quia omnis verborum commoditas humili* tatis terminos egressa ealcatur, et sicut habenda sunt, quae^xigoM- tur, in pretio, ita ingesta vilescunt. Importunitas quum facTinAoB opinionis nobilitate dispoUet, dedecore vestit indoctos. Sed hac cne ratiocinatione sustento, quia est quidem audax sed amabile, prac- ^aum praestitisse sermonem; et sicut vicinum temeritatis, ita pros- mum diligentiaC; ad caritatem pertinens iter aperire. Inter ecdf- siarum homines numquid reatus est, si pari amore contenderiiii dispares dignitate? Aut excedunt modici honoris angustiam, qia desiderant sufiragio gratiae summatibus comparari? Non habet su- perbi conscientiam, qui se tantimi in affectionis muniis non metitor. Praesumo dicere, directus subditorum error est, qui in hac re prM- cedentes antevenit. Ecce sic partes meas quasi voluntariae aDo- cutionis fuscatas nube purgavi. Sed dico, quod ad defensionem spectat uberrimam. Filius vester domnus Rhodanius coegit a me in usum styli praesentis erumpere. Fateor tameu in studio meo fuisse quod jussit: quia qui volentem coegerit, non laborat. 2. Deo grati&s principe loco et tota epistolae concinnatione referamus, quia in societatem capitis sui aliquando Romana membra coierunt. Justum erat, ut et beatus Petrus apostolus sedi soae ecclesias et senatni liberiori per dominum partes debitas refonnaret Dignus regnator dignus , in quo cum aetate votorum summa con- tigerit. Nam etsi itura ad posteros felicitas perseveret, Utandm» illis est laudatione praecipua, a quibus sumpsit exordium. Deoeffi- caciter supplicastis, ut illius vos virtus erueret, cujus potest serrart clementia. Didicistis ejus eventus prosperos, quem videtis, dnffl mandat secutam bella victoriam. Parum superest, ut mansuetndi- nem mentis illius ita profundam teneatis, quasi sit ignara pro- cinctuum. Deo tribuente nec pax ejus turbari dubiis potest, nec fortitudo qualibet objectatione confringi. Nihil apud illum tutiua supplicante: solus evasit praeliares acies, qui rogavit; vicit armoTum impetus, qui obtulit devotus obsequium. Quod vix veteres principea praesentiae suae sudore potiti sunt, hoc semper regis uostri brevis procuravit epistola. Per excursus dirigitur felix exercitus ad trium- '; Ita Ms. Ciyub luco 8iriu. Syiumacho papae. BP18T0LA 9. 699 ium. Quis-credat miliiem ejus in labore et perfectione habere (poBt lidem soperantis gloriam^ sed continentiam subjugati? Gonsum- ^' '^ atis congressionibus de irae haereditate nil remanet: uno tempore^ lOB pemiciosos adversarii viderint; blandos sentiunt tributa pen- Mites. Et haec quidem coelesti praeparantur pro hac repensione iffragio^ quia fides nostra apud eum^ quum aliud ipse sectetur^ in >rtu est. Mirabilis patientia^ quando tenax propositi sui; clarita- m non obumbrat alieni; nam et ecclesiarum nostrarum patrimonia labi; nisi aucta faerint; ingemiscit. Sic factum est^ ut et statum Lom locupletes pauperum substantiae^) teneant; et mediocres ad ipremam opulentiam convalescant. In sacerdotibus virtutes et in- Bitas colit')^ et non repertas inspirat. Sed cur beatitudinem ve- ram praejudicio diffusi sermonis anticipem? Continuo experientia »ira et spiritalis illa perfectio jejunum me fuisse in filii^) vestri budibus accusabit; et quum soleant amplificari facta colloquiiS; ste- lem me relatorem de virtutum ejus messe causabitur. Jam saecu- ires apiceS; curules et trabeas^ patricias etiam dignitates qualiter ut naturae reddat aut moribus^ domestici perlatoris adstipulatione ulgetur. Nam et veteres in antiqua generis luce durare facit^ et 0V08 splendore inopinati fulgoris irradiat. Facilius respublica ejus ono dispensationis in privatam migrat opulentiam, quam famulan- iom census in palatina lucra commutetur. 3. Nunc quod superest; meae servitiis salutationis acceptis^ rospicite, ut Christus redemptor noster quae in praefato clemen- »simo*) rege servientibus sibi contulit, longa aetate conservet. Det tiam regni de ejus germine successorem: ne bona tanti hominis ^ tma aetate veterescant, et antiquata temporibus pro sola aurei ^cuU commemoratione nominentur! UetrimentL paterentur, et augmenti plurimum perciperent mediocres.