Letter 3002: Though the exchange of letters belongs more to joy than to grief, and though a tongue stumbling under the confusion...

Ennodius to Eugenes. Although the exchange of letters belongs more to joy than to grief, and although speech that limps along under a recent disorder does not well bring into the light the secret of the heart or the diligence of friendship: nevertheless I shall see whether rather rare conversation brings loss to affection, yet it shows, if no speech be drawn out, the muteness within. The divine power has given to grace the office of the tongue as its witness. But you may say, my lord, that these things are foreign to one whom I know to be seized by the greatest griefs, that a breast pressed by anguish is not raised up to words of love, nor does it feel any soothing thing in laments: the matter that weighs upon the mind rejects what delights the hearing: he who was the greater portion of my soul, my brother, now among those above, has carried this portion away to the tomb. What is to be demanded from one whose divided well-being the grave has shut in? In the deepest afflictions the voice, subdued to groans, cannot complain. In the time of tears an untimely narration is dictated. I shall answer, that an equal grief at a bitter misfortune has entered also my own breast. Nor can I be divided from the sadness of him whom, by reason of a likeness of wills, joyful things have not seldom joined to me. Yet I show that often speech has been an informer of a graver evil amid mournings, and that the remedies of silence have been intercepted by conversation, the betrayer. I shall say: He who denies pages to his own lamentation wishes that which he weeps for to perish within a single lifetime: the memory of a brother, and a learned one, does not deserve that what we have felt about him should sink down amid wailings: with the mouth keeping holiday, the spirit is sparing in laments: the commemoration of the beloved which is committed to writing-tablets violently bursts into the inmost parts of dear ones with its stings: a narration of a death set down in writing never allows the passing-away to grow old. With this zeal I, weeping, call upon your greatness as a consoler, so that by the benefit of a conversation that stands in another's stead, and the affection promised between us under the invocation of God, may be nourished; and that the person of eloquence, which by its own merits suffers no setting, may also by our conversing come back to life.

II. EVGENETI ENNODIVS. Quamuis commercia litterarum magis sint laetitiae quam maeroris nec secretum pectoris aut amicitiae diligentiam bene in lucem digerat clauda recenti confusione elocutio: uidero tamen utrum dispendium caritati inferat sermo rarior, monstrat tamen si nullus prorogetur infantiam. testem diuinitas gratiae linguae dedit officium. sed dicas, mi domine, haec aliena esse ab eo quem nouerim maximis doloribus occupatum, pressum pectus angoribus ad amoris uerba non erigi nec quicquam delenificum lamenta sentire: res quae mentem premit repudiat quod oblectat auditum: qui maior animae fuit portio frater in superis, hanc transtulit ad sepulcra. quid exigendum ab illo sit, cuius diuiduum salutis busta clauserunt? in summis adflictionibus queri non posse uocem gemitibus subiugatam. lacrimarum tempore dictatur inportuna narratio. respondebo, quod par quoque meum pectus acerbi casus maeror intrauerit. nec diuidi me posse ab eius tristitia, quem mihi pro uoluntatum similitudine nonnunquam laeta iunxerunt. ostendo tamen saepe grauioris mali in luctibus indicem fuisse sermonem et intercepta taciturnitatis remedia proditore conloquio. dicam: n 2 reginem B . 3 qua ex qui T corr . 4 et ex e V eorr. m. 1 ? hoc contra extiterit T II. 7 ennodius om. T 8 commertia LV, commentia PT 9 meroris BLTV 10 uideo T 11 inserat L* 12 protegetur T1 15 pectus eae peccatis T quidquam B 16 premet B, praemit F* 18 superas Lt ut uidetur sepulchra BL 19 diuiduum] dimidium Sirm . 20 quaeri b et sirm. 21 dictatur scripsi, dicatnr BLPTVb 22 meror BLTV 24 nonunquam B iuncxeront BL, iunxerant V 25 saepae B 26 tacetnrnetatis B qui lamentationi suae paginas denegat in una aetate uult perire quod deflet: non meretur recordatio fratris et docti, ut planctibus quid de ipso senserimus occumbat: feriato ore in planctibus parcus est animus: amati commemoratio quae mandatur tabellis uiscera carorum aculeis uiolenter inrumpit: numquam patitur obitum ueterescere relatio funeris digesta per litteras. hoc studio magnitudinem tuam flens consolator appello, ut uicarii sermonis beneficio et promissus sub inuocatione dei inter nos nutriatur affectus et persona facundiae, quae meritis suis occasum non patitur, nostra quoque confabulatione reuiuiscat.