Letter 1017: Ad Placidinam

XVII To Placidina Gifts all too small, devout lady, accept I beg you gladly, you who yourself, more comely, shine as a gift upon the world. That this island might give these things to you from the midst of the waves, the Ocean checked its swollen waters with a roar. While, hastening, I wished to make acquaintance with those regions of the sea, the raging wave, coming from the North Wind [Boreas], drove me back; yet so that your good fortune might prove itself complete, it offered upon the land what might be sought from the waters.

XVII Ad Placidinam Munera parva nimis, pia, suscipe quaeso libenter, quae magis ipsa decens munus in orbe micas. fluctibus e mediis ut haec daret insula vobis, Oceanus tumidas murmure pressit aquas. quae loca dum volui properans agnoscere ponti, a Borea veniens reppulit unda furens; prosperitas ut vestra tamen se plena probaret, obtulit in terris quod peteretur aquis.