Letter 4009: The polished art of letter-writing, when it is carried away by enthusiasm, tends to lose its judgment.

Ennodius to Faustus. The artful composition of a letter is accustomed, when it is carried away by partiality, not to love just judgments, and to confer a benefit too lavishly, while it exalts the undeserving. For that man owes the more to the one who vouches for him, who obtains by the favoring support of the writer what he does not exact by his own character, since, aided by no endowments of conscience, he rightly carries back to his sponsor whatever he may gain. It is one thing, in the man who is commended, to graft foreign goods upon him with words, as though they were a noble shoot; it is another to publish abroad what is inborn -- just as if you should affirm that some rustic beast clothes itself of its own accord in Tyrian purple, and should say that the fields pour forth that generous dye which the fleece has not drunk in from the intoxicating cauldron. Others tinge the tongue with a murex that no dye has ever supplied for royal use, and the wool, unknown to the snail-shells of the secluded sea, drinks in only the light of eloquence: whatever the words of those who report it have colored, even in a cheap office, is rendered worthy of princely garments. But from urbanity of this kind both my strength and my wishes alike withdraw me. No threads of a brighter dye will glow with splendor through me: no one will find a thing said about any person which he does not recognize in that person's own deeds. Hence I extend my hand to my sense of shame, or rather to my resolve, in that I expend upon him the prefatory service of my speech, who comes to your notice by deeds well done. I speak of Venantius, a man of clarity [vir clarissimus], who has for this reason obtained from me the homage of a page, that he might invite the eyes of your greatness upon himself, lest amid the masses of your cares it should befall that he be left unknown. He has his own recommendations, through which he may deserve to be enrolled among those you have received. He has displayed to you modesty, religion, innocence, with which as companions he might enter the inner chambers of your serene mind. There abound in him, believe me, those marks of distinction which you cherish: you will presently prove me to have been in his case not a praiser but a witness. Do you, my lord, grant to the bearer your esteem in the foremost place, lest a good man be disturbed by novelty: he will plainly be present to his own cause, and by the resources of his life will compensate for any shortcomings of words.

VIIII. ENNODIVS FAVSTO. Solet epistolaris concinnatio, quando fauore rapitur, iudicia non amare et copiosius facere beneficium, dum attollit inmeritos. ille enim debet amplius adserenti, qui quod moribus non exigit gratia scriptoris suffragante consequitur, quia nullis adiutus conscientiae dotibus iure ad allegantem reportat, si quid adipiscitur. aliud est in eo, qui conmendatur, tamquam nobile germen ita peregrinantia bona uerbis inserere, aliud innata uulgare, quemadmodum si rusticum pecus Tyria confirmes purpura sponte uestiri et uirus generosum, quod uellus aeno 1 consciis Y adcedo B 2 dispicet B largitor L 3 propria T, pripium B qui deo BPT2b, quid eo (i 8. I. m. 2 et eo in Faa.) L, qui ideo V, qui io Tl 4 in commodis Pb t, 5 benificium B quae B 8. 1 . 6 noscuntur B dioias B tribuistia Ll accipistis B, accepistis L 7 scanctorum B 8 que B 10 laboris om. T 11 meam om. T dispoaitione benigna T, b. dispensatione B 12 effecta me] effectum B reue. late T1 conloquio] finit adG. B VIIII. 15 epistolares B rapantor Lx 16 oupiosius B cum T 17 quod ex dem T corr . 18 suffragantem L 19 siquis B 21 germin Bl 22 confirmis B 23 uellos om. in ras. 6-7 lilt. T inebriante non sorbuit, dicas rura diffundere. tingunt alii linguae murice quae nullus ad regalem usum fucus exhibuit, et discreti maris ignota cocleis lana solam lucem bibit eloquii: redditur dignum principalibus indumentis quicquid in uili munere relatorum uerba colorauerint. sed ab huiusmodi urbanitate uires me pariter et uota subducunt. nulla clarioris suci stamina per me splendore rutilabunt: nemo dictum de aliquo inueniet quod in eius actibus non agnoscat. hinc pudori meo uel proposito manum porrigo, quod illi praeuium inpendo oris officium, qui ad notitiam uestram rebus bene gestis occurrit. Venantium Y. C. loquor idcirco a me paginale inpetrasse obsequium, ut in se oculos uestrae magnitudinis inuitaret, ne eum inter curarum moles contingeret ignorari. sunt illi suffragia sua, per quae inter susceptos uestros mereatur adscribi. exhibuit uobis modestiam religionem innocentiam, quibus penetralia. serenae mentis comitibus introiret. exuberant, mihi credite, apud eum insignia quae fouetis: non laudatorem me continuo in eo probabitis fuisse sed testem. uos, mi domine, perlatori dignationem principe loco tribuite, ne uir bonus nouitate turbetur: liquido aderit partibus suis et uitae opibus pensabit damna uerborum.