Letter 1004: I received the letter from my kindred spirit, sprinkled with as much grace as eloquence, as much love as charm, as...

Ruricius to his most devoted and ever magnificent son Hesperius. I have received the note of your good will, sprinkled as much with charm as with eloquence, as much with affection equally as with wit, as much with salt as with honey, in which nothing was lacking either to sweetness or to savor. Yet, although these qualities are preeminent in every art of expression and reasoning, they nonetheless seem to differ from their own judgment alone. For while you hasten to assign to my little pages more than they deserve, pages not suited to praise but, through the ineptitude of my rusticity, fitted rather for censure, and while you pursue either the course of declamation or the affection of a devoted friend, you have strayed from the standard of right judgment. To this matter I judge that your perfection has descended not through the fault of ignorance but by deliberate choice, for a threefold reason: so that in thin material you might display both the keenness of your talent and the eloquence of your speech and the abundance of your discourse. Just as on a barren and idle plot the diligence of the cultivator appears greater, when he either subdues the rebellion of the stubborn clods by the repeated and frequent pressing of the plowshare, or makes fertile the excessive dryness by the scattering of manure, so that his industry may bring forth that abundance of fruits which the nature of the soil denies, so too you have enriched the poverty of my letter with the richness of your eloquence, so that it may, if you suppress it, be praiseworthy when you speak of it, but if indeed you bring it forth, may inflict shame both upon me on account of false praise and upon you on account of the error of your judgment. And therefore, since you have wished my unskillfulness to be the work of your own modesty, beware lest, if I do not live up to your proclamation, your choice be put at risk. And so, if you trust me at all, if you take counsel for us both, hide away in oblivion this volume that is unworthy of remembrance and most deserving of forgetfulness, if you wish both that I should retain the reputation of an orator at your discretion and that you should hold the character of an approved judge.

IIII. DEUINCTISSIMO FILIO SEMPERQVE MAGNIFICO HESPERIO RURICIUS. Recepi apices unianimitatis tuae tam gratia quam eloquentia, tam amore pariter quam lepore, tam sale quam melle respersas, in quibus nec dulcedini deesset aliquid nec sapori. qui cum omni dictionis et rationis arte praemineant, solo tamen a se 1 incomcior S 2 gaudium excidisse uidetur, uoluptatem suppkri iubet Kr . 7 ani v, una S 8 nobilium et (pro te) v 9 latentis v, lantia S (e man. alt.), laticis Mommsemu eligi 8 scires Kr . lllpunitterent IIInobilitatem S (littercu a et n supra rcu. exarauit mari. alt.) indicem Mommsenus, iudicem S 12 nisi S (alterum i add . man. sec.) a • sollertiae lu||tur S (a et e supra rcu. exarauit man. alt.) 15 IIĮuiwn S1 17 nobilo S 19 nequid S clariscere S 21 praesusisse S inlicitae S eligisse S 24 deuictissimo S magnifio S 27 inquilius S dulcidini S uidentur discrepare iudicio. dum enim paginulae meae non laudi aptae, sed uituperationi ineptia rusticitatis aptatae maiora meritis tribuere festinas et sequeris uel declamationis cursum uel diligentis affectum, a norma recti iudicii declinasti. ad quam rem ego perfectionem (tuam) non ignorantiae uitio, sed spontaneo arbitror descendisse consilio triplici ex causa, ut in tenui materia et acumen ingenii et oris facundiam et affluentiam sermonis ostenderes. sicuti in ieiuno atque otioso caespite magis strenuitas cultoris apparet, cum aut rebellionem glaebarum tenacium repetita saepius inpressione uomeris domat aut ariditatem nimiam stercoris aspersione fecundat, ut fructuum copiam, quam soli natura negat, industria producat, ita et tu egestatem epistulae meae eloquentiae tuae ubertate ditasti, ut possit esse, si eam subpresseris, te loquente laudabilis, si uero protuleris, incutiat et mihi de falsa laude et tibi de iudicii errore uerecundiam. et idcirco, quia inperitiam meam tui pudoris opus esse uoluisti, caue, ne praeconio tuo nobis non respondentibus tua periclitetur electio. itaque si quid mihi credis, si quid utrique consulis, indignum memoria, obliuione dignissimum uolumen absconde, si uis et me ad arbitrium tuum oratoris famam et te probati iudicis obtinere personam.