Letter 8015: Before the test, the loyalty of friends is hidden.

Ennodius to Edasius. Before the test, the loyalty of friends lies hidden; once it has come forth into the light, it binds to itself the minds of those who have had any taste of it. Yet that servitude which is rendered to those we hold dear is an exceedingly free one. I confess it to your greatness: before the report of my man, it lay hidden from me what depth of taste and of charm lay concealed in your sublimity beneath a noble humility. I have learned of a man who, while he handles well the absence of friends, surpasses the time-honored blessedness I hold in his fidelity. Indeed, when departing you had promised many things, but to the temper of your conscience you have furnished still greater. My lord and son, bestowing upon you the gift of a most lavish greeting, I render and hold insufficient thanks for those things which have been conferred upon me at the very first appearance of our acquaintance. As for what remains, I beg that you now have those remaining slaves held fast. Behold a confidence descending from goods that have gone before: he who before feared to offer his prayers to one unknown, now does not hesitate to command.

XV. ENNODIVS EDASIO. Ante experimentum amicorum fides occulta est: postquam in lucem processerit, eorum qui aliquid saporis habuerint sibi mentes obligat. est tamen nimis libera seruitus, quae caris exhibetur. confiteor magnitudini tuae: latebat me ante relationem hominis mei quid in sublimitate tua et saporis et gratiae sub nobili humilitate delitesceret: didici hominem, qui canam in fide beatitudinem, dum amicorum absentiam bene tractat, exsuperat. plura quidem discedens promiseras, sed ad genium conscientiae tuae maiora praestitisti. domine fili, salutationis effusissimae munus inpertiens ago atque habeo insufficientes gratias de his, quae mihi in prima notitiae fronte conlata sunt. quod restat, deprecor, ut residua illa mancipia teneri iam facias. ecce fiduciam de bonis praecedentibus descendentem: qui ante ignoto preces metuebat offerre, iam non dubitat imperare.