Letter 7011: It pains me that a man so richly endowed with the gifts of eloquence should withhold them from one who would value...

Ennodius to Agnellus. It grieves my spirit that your abundance has granted me nothing of the endowments of its own eloquence, and that it broods so jealously over the riches of its eloquence that to part with any portion of them is reckoned a sacrilege. Greed for all manner of things is base indeed; yet, if you deny me your words, it proves still more shameful. It often happens, too, that those who write frequently love the less; but it has never come to pass that one who persists in perpetual silence reserves anything for affection. From the flatteries of letters an ambiguity may arise; but it is a sure assurance that the one who keeps silence does not love. These things I have written in haste, swift before the carrier's arrival, spurred on by twin goads, either the messenger's haste or my own grief. Therefore apply remedies without delay to the weariness of my spirit, so that, although until now its proper nourishments have been wanting to my affection, the love that was promised may nevertheless be made known to be standing at its post. My lord, bidding you fullest health, I beg that what suffices may not be denied to my expectation by one so very skilled in speech.

XI. ENNODIVS AGNELLO. Male est animo meo, quod de facundiae suae dotibus mihi abundantia uestra nil tribuit et ita eloquentiae opibus incubat, ut partem ex eis facere sacrilegium computetur. turpis est 1 seraastis T diligentiam — praesentaretis om. B add. a. I . I eorr . me portionS L 2 praesentaretis Bb m T, mihi BLVb 3 calamitatis T 4 solatia LTV ferentiam B mUtatis sirm. X. 7 redibitionem BTV, redibilcionS L 8 debebat (bat corr.) L ezolneret T 9 dicendam L 10 nericondiam B I# moliuntor V 11 uellit B qui raptores — epist. 13 p. 181, 36 ecce om. Bb, primM edd. Sirm . stimate L 18 pferendam L 14 reeignetis fort . 15 domine T m T, mihi LV 16 per] per me L V1, om. Sirm . pro me sanctoB Sirm . 17 noetris Sirm. XI. 21 est om. T facondie T\' 22 habondantia T et sic saepius nihil Sirm. 12* - equidem uniuersarum rerum auaritia: contigit tamen, si uerba deneges, plus pudenda. saepe etiam euenit ut frequenter scribentes minus diligant: numquam tamen accessit, ut aliquid caritati reseruet qui in perpetua taciturnitate perdurat. potest nasci de epistolaribus blandimentis ambiguitas: certa fides est ab eo, qui seruat silentium, non amari. haec sunt, quae in festinatione perlatoris celer scripsi, geminis stimulis incitatus uel properationis baiuli uel doloris. ergo taedio animi mei remedia incunctanter adhibete, ut quamuis defuerint hactenus affectioni pabula sua, in statione esse tamen promissa caritas innotescat. domine mi, salutem plenissimam dicens quaeso, ut expectationi meae quod sufficit loquendi peritissimo non negetur.