Letter 9020: It is right for me to hope for what is good, and right for you to fulfill it.

Ennodius to Mascator. That I should hope for what is righteous, and that you should consent to it, is fitting. For by unequal roads our intent presses on toward one end: the giving of recompense. [The lines that follow in the manuscript are an editor's critical apparatus, recording variant readings of neighboring letters rather than the letter's own text: "sufficet" in B; in letter 19, "excelentissimi" in B, "qui" for "quia" in L, "scripti" for "uisua," "libri" for "uisum," "plene" in B, "fidutiam" in B, "arche" in B, "u(o)bis" in L, "praecipuae" in B, "socia" first hand in B, "quos" (the s in an erasure, apparently) in T, "quod" Sirmond, "tuae" in B, "bonorum" in Pb, "quos" in Pb, "perdncnnt" (with "er" corrected from an erasure) in B, "opitionis" in L, "quod m. q. potentiae" in L; in book 8, letter 1, "erites" in B, "lectari" in B; in letter 11, "decit" in B.] You bestow comforts upon affairs of substance, while from me only the slight aid of words is asked. So it comes about that he upon whom it falls, by the weight of his office, to supply the greater things, can scarcely manage the small ones. Let a man of the palace pay back his native frankness, since for the Church nothing more avails than to pray. You know, in the matter of the ascini [farm-laborers or dependents], from whom the recompense will come, if they are helped. Come to the aid of these men whom even their native land holds captive, for whom there is both kinship with men of servile origin and a condition to be lamented alongside fugitives. A Christian and a wise man ought not to be admonished at greater length, lest a long entreaty come to claim for itself the fruit of another's labor. I greet you, therefore, with the humility that is fitting, and I implore that you send back to me the aforesaid men with joy.

XX. ENNODIVS MASCATORI. Et me sperare quod pium est et uos decet adnuere. nam disparibus uiis ad unum finem remuneranda tendit intentio. 1 sufficet B XVIIII. 7 excelentissimi B 9 quia] qui L nisua scripti, uisum libri 11 plene B fidutiam B 12 arche B 0 u∗bis L praecipuae B 13 socia a B quos (s in ras. uid.) T, quod Sirm. 14 tuae B bonorum Pb 15 quos Pb perdncnnt (er ex rae corr.) B opitionis L 20 quod m. q. potentiae L 8. I . 21 erites B 22 lectari B XI. 25 decit B uos solacia rebus inpenditis ̃ s, a me tenue sermonis postulatur auxilium. sic fit, at cui incumbit per officii considerationem praestare potiora uix possit exigua. reddat ingenuitatem homo palatii, quia ecclesiae nihil amplius sufficit quam precari. scitis pro ascinis a quo ueniat retributio, si iuuentur. succurrite his quos et patria terra captiuat, quibus et iuuentur est cum originariis et condicio dolenda cum profugis. pluribus Christianum et sapientem non decet admoneri, ne longa deprecatio fructum sibi ueniat adscribere laboris alieni. saluto ergo humilitate qua dignum est et ut praefatos cum gaudio ad me remittatis inploro..