Letter 9011: I received your letter, rich with the wealth of many joys, and I give thanks for the grace God has shown in...

Ennodius to Faustus. I have received your letter, enriched with a manifold dowry of joys and announcing to me the favor of God toward you which I had already known. At once, with Christ our Lord as witness, with tears which my gladness called forth, I disclosed and made plain what had been announced, and rendering thanks I declared, as if I were a ninth reporter, that what had been obtained had been obtained through these very persons. Truly, lord Faustus, in this matter it has been published plainly what merit, what power in entreaty that holy soul possessed who went before us: for although our hope is still blind, clothed in the light of the world, yet she earned without the labor of any action on our part what she had known to be fitting; when she divided from us the goods placed in our hands, she offered us things distant by a long interval, more happily granting what is necessary than what is desired. Therefore this world has some measure of truth in it: or if it does not have it, it is not from its dominion that it is presently snatched away. Those men have lied who swore that they would receive benefits if they had given them: even those have been joined by heavenly dispensation from whom we have neither received flatteries nor given any; a sure confidence drawn from despair, and a settled thing built out of a published promise. Truly I would say, if this severing pained me, that such men Liguria could not have sent forth -- that Liguria which you call a nurse of falsehood. What shall I accuse first in them? The foulness of deceit or of folly? They have lost two persons who are bound to each other by the intercession of the saints, through whom the spark of a family long laid low and forced into shadow might have been restored. You remember that lord Avienus said to you in the church that he did not specifically ask God concerning that girl. Behold the offspring proceeding from holy parents to the loan-term of life. He understood that he would accomplish more by the tears of the parents than by his own action. Thanks be to you, almighty God, thanks, ruler of the faithful, who, looking upon the prayers of your handmaid, have fulfilled in her the promises of the prophecy which says: "His soul shall dwell in good things, and his seed shall inherit the earth" [Psalm 24:13]. Bring to completion, merciful judge, what remains, and breathe serenely upon the joining of another of your servants. If the sickness, which has already seized beforehand my vital substance, does not leave me to see these things, may the father look upon good fortune concerning them, and may grandfather and great-grandfather receive the name before their passing. Yet, sinner though I am, the heavenly grace has not yet deserted me, who forestall admonition by my own caution. For my own desires -- that I might not receive the title of provincial legate -- I have suspended, though with grief. I feared lest either the lord of affairs, while you were making your arrangements, should believe that these things were being exacted from himself which necessity compels to be requested, or lest I should be rendered burdensome in my offices and unfruitful in my actions, since I am able neither to carry them out nor to be equal to the duties enjoined. I ask that you make supplication to God, that he keep me in the uncertainty of this world at least until the time of our common prayers.

XI. FAVSTO ENNODIVS. Suscepi litteras multiplici gaudiorum dote locupletes et gratiam circa uos dei quam noueram nuntiantes. protinus testibus Christi nostri cum lacrimis, quas suggerebat hilaritas, indicata patefeci et quod per ipsos inpetratum fuerat gratias 1 relinquid L fedis B intelligat B 2 benefitia B desinet B debeo] deo B 3 tranl B preuenisti B 4 lucem B 7 cupilia B dilegibus B 8 rimatus est] rimator B, rimatur fort . alciori B 9 maerores scripsi, matores B, maiores LTVb accenderes Tl et Schottus, adcenderis B, accenderis PT2Vb, accederis L cuoetibus (e in ras.) B 10 dibuisti , B mediolansibus L, mediolaninsibus B1 11 te ex ti L tenebre L possiderunt B 12 anplexibus B inbare B 14 praefanatus B memor d. donationem om. L in mg. add . m. ant . 15 haec L1 repotans B 17 disperationis BLV XI. 20 suscipi B locupletes Pb, locupletis B, locupletas L TV 21 graciam B nunciantea B 22 sugerebat B 23 imperatum T referens quasi nonus relator adserui. uere; domne Fauste, simpliciter in hac causa uulgatum est, quid haberet meriti, quid uirium in precibus illa sancte anima quae praecessit: nam etsi sit spes nostra adhuc caeca mundi luce uestita, sed quod conueniens esse nouerat sine nostrae actionis labore promeruit: cum a nobis diuideret res in manibus conlocatas, obtulit longa statione distantes, felicius tribuens necessaria quam cupita. ergo mundus iste ueri aliquid habet: aut si non habet, non de eius dicione mox: rapitur. mentiti sunt homines qui se iurabant accipere beneficia, si dedissent: etiam superna dispensatione coniuncti sunt a quibus nec accepimus blandimenta nec dedimus: certa de desperatione confidentia et nebulosum de publicata promissione constitutum. uere dicerem, si doleret ista discissio, quod tales homines nec illa, quam dicitis nutricem mendacium esse, Liguria potuisset emittere. quid arguam prius in illis? fallaciae aut fatuitatis obscena? perdiderunt duos, qui inter se sanctorum impetratione sociantur, per quos potuisset diu iacentis et in umbram coactae familiae scintilla reparari. memores estis domnum Auienum uobis in ecclesia dixisse, deum se de illa puella specialiter non rogare. uide progeniem sanctis creatoribus ad usuram uitae procedentem. intellegebat plus se parentum fletibus quam actione promoturum. gratias tibi, omnipotens deus, gratias, rector fidelium, qui ancillae tuae uota respiciens prophetiae in ea pollicitationes inplesti dicentis: anima eius in bonis 25 Ps. 24, 13 1 nouos B 4 etsi om. B ceca B uestitas| et B 5 sinae B nostre B 6 dioiderit B 7 optulit LTV felici∗us B 8 si non] sisi B, si T 9 ditione BT, dictione L 10 benefitia B 11 accepimus Tab, accipimus BLPTlV 12 didimuB B disperatione B 18 pullicata B 14 disIII|cissio B dicetis B 15 neutricem T mendaciorum coni. Schottus mittere Sirrn . 16 falatiae B 18 iacentes B 19 scentilla B, scintille L reparari T 20 acclesia B illas B 21 progenies L saotia B procidentem B 22 intellegebant F, intellebat B 23 promuturum B 24 profitaei ne a B 25 inplisti B dicentes B demorabitur, et semen eius hereditabit terram. perfice, pie arbiter, quod remansit, et m alterius serui tui copula. serenus adspira. mihi si haec uidenda morbus, qui iam uitalem praeoccupanit substantiam, non relinquit, uideat de illis bona pater et aui proauique ante transitum suum nomen accipiat. me tamen quamuis peccatorem adhuc gratia superna non deserit, qui admonitionem cautione praeuenio. nam desideria mea, ne legati prouincialis nomen acciperem, licet cum dolore suspendi. timui, ne aut rerum dominus uobis disponentibus haec a se exigi crederet, quae cogit necessitas postulari, aut ego redderer officiis onerosus et actionibus infecundus, quamuis nec exsequi nec iniunctis par esse sufficerem. rogo ut supplicetis deo, ut me uel usque ad uotorum communium tempora. in mundi istius seruet incerto.