Sidonius Apollinaris: EPISTULARUM LIBRI IX

1. Benedictus spiritus sanctus et pater dei omnipotentis, quod tu, pater patrum, et episcopus episcoporum et alter saeculi tui Iacobus, de quadam specula caritatis nec de inferiore Hierusalem tota ecclesiae dei nostri membra superinspicis, dignus qui omnes consoleris infirmos quique merito ab omnibus consularis. et quid nunc ego dignum dignationi huic, putris et fetida reatu terra, respondeam?

1. Blessed be the Holy Spirit and the Father of God Omnipotent, because you, father of fathers and bishop of bishops and the other of your age, Iacobus, from a certain watch-tower of charity, and not overlooking from lower Jerusalem all the members of the Church of our God, are worthy to console all the infirm and who, deservedly, are honored by all as consular; and what now shall I, earth rotten and fetid in guilt, answer worthy of this graciousness?

2. colloquii salutaris tui et indigentiam patiens et timorem recordatione vitae plectibilis adducor, ut clamem tibi quod dixit domino tuus ille collega: exi a me, quia homo peccator sum, domine. sed si iste timor non temperetur affectu, vereor, ne Gerasenorum destituar exemplo et discedas a finibus meis. quin potius illud, quod mihi conducibilius est, conleprosi mei te proposita condicione constringam, ut aiam tibi: si vis, potes me mundare.

2. by your salutary conversation I am brought to feel my need and, enduring fear, to be chastened by the recollection of life, so that I may cry to you what that colleague of yours cried to the Lord: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord." But if this fear is not tempered by affection, I fear lest I be left as the example of the Gerasenes and you withdraw from my borders. Nay rather, that which is more serviceable to me, I will constrain you by the condition proposed of my fellow leper, that I may say to you: "If you will, you can make me clean."

qua ille sententia non plus de Christo quid peteret prodidit, quam quid crederet publicavit.

by that judgment he revealed no more what he sought of Christ than he publicized what he believed.

3. ergone cum sis procul ambiguo primus omnium toto, qua patet, orbe pontificum, cum praerogativae subiciatur, cum censurae tuae adtremat etiam turba collegii, cum in gravitatis vestrae comparationem ipsa etiam grandaevorum corda puerascant, cum post desudatas militiae Lirinensis excubias et in apostolica sede novem iam decursa quinquennia utriusque sanctorum ordinis quendam te conclamatissimum primipilarem spiritalia castra venerentur, tu nihilominus hastatorum antesignatorumque paulisper contubernio sequestratus ultimos calones tuos lixasque non despicis et ad extimos trahariorum, qui per insipientiam suam adhuc ad carnis sarcinas sedent, crucis diu portatae vexilla circumfers ac manum linguae porrigis in conscientia vulneratis?

3. therefore, since you are decidedly first of all in the entire, as it opens, orb of pontiffs, since the prerogative is subjected to you, since even the crowd of the college trembles at your censure, since even the hearts of the very grandaevorum grow puerile in comparison with your gravity, since after the sweated watches of Lirinian military service and after nine five‑year periods already run in the apostolic seat the most‑acclaimed primipilar is hailed and the spiritual camps of both orders of saints reverence you, yet you nevertheless, for a little while sequestered from the contubernium of the hastators and antesignatores, do not disdain your lowliest camp‑followers and lixas and you carry about the banners long borne of the cross and extend the hand of your tongue against those wounded in conscience, who through their own folly still sit bound to the carnal burdens?

4. nosti, ut apparet, ex adversa acie sauciatos, dux veterane, colligere et peritissimus tubicen ad Christum a peccatis receptui canere; et evangelici pastoris exemplo non amplius laetaris, si permaneant sani, quam si non remaneant desperati. te ergo, norma morum, te, columna virtutum, te, si blandiri reis licet, vera, quia sancta, dulcedo, despicatissimi vermis ulcera digitis exhortationis contrectare non piguit; tibi avaritiae non fuit pascere monitis animam fragilitate ieiunam et de apotheca dilectionis altissimae sectandae nobis humilitatis propinare mensuram.

4. you know, as is clear, to gather up the wounded from the opposite battle line, veteran leader, and, most skilled trumpeter, to sound the call to Christ for reception from sins; and by the example of the evangelical pastor you do not rejoice any more if they remain whole than if they do not remain, despairing. therefore you, rule of morals, you, column of virtues, you, if it is permitted to flatter the accused, true, because holy, sweetness, did not shrink from handling with the fingers of exhortation the sores of the most despicable worm; it was not avarice in you to feed with admonitions a soul fasting in weakness, and from the storeroom of most-high love to dispense to us a measure of humility to be followed.

5. sed ora, ut quandoque resipiscam, quantum meas deprimat oneris impositi massa cervices. facinorum continuatione miser eo necessitatis accessi, ut is pro peccato populi nunc orare compellar, pro quo populus innocentum vix debet impetrare si supplicet. nam quis bene medelam aeger impertiat?

5. but pray, that I may at times regain my senses, how greatly the mass of imposed burden weighs down my neck. By the continuation of crimes I have miserably come to such necessity, that he is now compelled to pray for the sin of the people, for whom the people hardly ought to secure an innocent man to intercede if he supplicates. For who will rightly impart a remedy to the sick?

quis febriens arroganti tactu pulsum distinguat incolumem? quis desertor scientiam rei militaris iure laudaverit? quis esculentus abstemium competenter arguerit?

who, feverish, by an arrogant touch would pronounce the pulse sound? who would justly praise a deserter for knowledge of military affairs? who, a gourmand, would competently reproach an abstainer?

indignissimus mortalium necesse habeo dicere quod facere detrecto, et ad mea ipse verba damnabilis, cum non impleam quae moneo, idem in me meam cotidie cogor dictare sententiam.

most unworthy of mortals I am forced to say what I shirk to do, and I myself am condemnable to my own words, since I do not fulfil what I advise, the same I am daily compelled to pronounce as my own sentence.

6. sed si tu inter me et illum, cui concrucifigeris, dominum nostrum pro scelerum meorum populo, iunior mage quam minor Moyses, intercessor assistas, non ulterius descendemus in infernum viventes nec per carnalium vitiorum incentiva flammati ad altare domini ignem diutius accendemus alienum; quia quamquam nos utpote reos gloriae libra non respicit, satis tamen superque gaudebimus, si precatu tuo levare valeamus interioris hominis nostri etsi non integrum ad remunerationem, certe vel cicatricatum pectus ad veniam. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

6. but if you, as intercessor, stand between me and him to whom you will be crucified, our Lord, for the people on account of my crimes — younger, greater in humility than lesser Moses — we will not descend further into hell alive, nor, inflamed by the incentives of carnal vices, will we kindle another’s fire longer at the altar of the Lord; for although the scale of glory does not regard us as worthy, nevertheless we shall rejoice enough and more if by your prayer we may be able to lift up the inner man of us, even if not whole unto remuneration, at least a scarred breast toward pardon. deign to be mindful of us, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA II

EPISTLE 2

Sidonius domino papae Pragmatio salutem.

Sidonius, to the Lord Pope Pragmatio, greeting.

1. Venerabilis Eutropia matrona, quod ad nos spectat, singularis exempli, quae parsimonia et humanitate certantibus non minus se ieiuniis quam cibis pauperes pascit et in Christi cultu pervigil sola in se compellit peccata dormire, maeroribus orbitatis necessitate litis adiecta in remedium mali duplicis perfectionem vestrae consolationis expetere festinat, gratanter habitura, sive istud tibi peregrinatio brevis seu longum computetur officium.

1. Venerable matron Eutropia, so far as concerns us, singular in example, who, contending in parsimony and humanity, feeds the poor no less by fasts than by foods and, watchful in the cult of Christ, alone compels sins to sleep within herself, with the sorrows of bereavement and the necessity of litigation added, hastens to seek as a remedy for the evil the double perfection of your consolation, which she will gratefully possess, whether that pilgrimage be reckoned by you a brief or a long duty.

2. igitur praefata venerabilis fratris mei nunc iam presbyteri Agrippini, ne iniuriosum sit dixisse nequitiis, certe fatigatur argutiis; qui abutens inbecillitate matronae non desistit spiritalis animae serenitatem saecularium versutiarum flatibus turbidare; cui filii nec multo post nepotis amissi duae pariter plagae recentes ad diuturni viduvii vulnus adduntur.

2. therefore the aforementioned venerable lady, my brother now priest Agrippinus, lest it be injurious to have called it wickedness, is certainly assailed by cavils; who, abusing the weakness of the matron, does not cease to disturb the serenity of the spiritual soul with the blasts of worldly craftiness; to whom, the son having been lost and not long after the grandson, two fresh blows are alike added to the wound of long widowhood.

3. temptavimus inter utrumque componere, nos maxume, quibus in eos novum ius professio vetustumque faciebant amicitiae, aliqua censentes, suadentes quaepiam, plurima supplicantes; quodque miremini, in omnem concordiae statum promptius a feminea parte descensum est. et quamquam se altius profuturum filiae paterna iactaret praerogativa, nurui tamen magis placuit munificentiae socrualis oblatio.

3. we attempted to compose between the two, we above all, to whom toward them a new ius of professio and the old of amicitiae were making (an obligation), deeming some things, advising somewhat, entreating very many things; and which, you may marvel, from the feminine side there was a more ready descent into every state of concordia. and although the paternal prerogativa vaunted that it would be more beneficial for the daughter, to the nurus nevertheless the oblatio of the socrualis munificentia was more pleasing.

4. iurgium interim semisopitum vestris modo sinibus infertur. pacificate certantes, et pontificalis auctoritate censurae suspectis sibi partibus indicite gratiam, dicite veritatem. sancta enim Eutropia, si quid vadimonio meo creditis, victoriam computat, si vel post damna non litiget.

4. Meanwhile a quarrel, half-asleep, is brought into your bosoms. Striving to pacify, and by pontifical authority grant grace to the censures whose parties you deem suspect, tell the truth. For holy Eutropia, if you credit anything of my pledge, counts it a victory if she does not litigate even after losses.

unde et suspicor vobis unam pronuntiandam domum discordiosam, licet inveniatis utramque discordem. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

wherefore I suspect that you should pronounce one house discordant, although you may find both to be discordant. deign to be mindful of me, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA III

LETTER 3

Sidonius domino papae Leontio salutem.

Sidonius to the lord Pope Leontius, greeting.

1. Etsi nullis hortatibus primordia nostrae professionis animatis neque sitim ignorantiae hactenus saecularis ullo supernae rigatis imbre doctrinae, non ego tamen tantum mei meminens non sum, ut a meis praesumam partibus aequali officiorum lance certandum. nam cum nostra mediocritas aetate vitae, tempore dignitatis, privilegio loci, laude scientiae, dono conscientiae vestrae facile vincatur, nullum meremur, si par exspectamus alloquium.

1. Although the beginnings of our profession have been quickened by no exhortations, nor has the worldly thirst of ignorance hitherto been watered by any shower of heavenly doctrine, yet I am not so mindful of myself as to presume to contend with my presiding colleagues on an equal scale of duties. For since our mediocrity is easily overwhelmed by age of life, by the time of dignity, by the privilege of place, by the praise of learning, by the gift of your conscience, we deserve nothing if we await an equal audience.

2. igitur non incusantes silentium vestrum sed loquacitatem nostram potius excusare nitentes commendamus apicum portitorem, cuius si peregrinationem prompto favore foveatis, grandis actionibus illius portus securitatis aperitur. negotium huic testamentarium est. latent eum propriarum merita chartarum: togatorum illic perorantum peritiam consulere perrexit, pro victoria computaturus, si se intellexerit iure superari, modo ne sibi suisque desidiae vitio perperam cavisse culpetur.

2. therefore, not reproaching your silence but rather striving to excuse our loquacity, we commend the bearer of the apex, whose peregrination, if you foster with prompt favor, opens by his great actions a harbor of security. this business is testamentary to him. the merits of his own documents lie hidden: there he went on to consult the experience of those skilled in pleading in togas, intending to reckon for victory, if he should understand himself to be lawfully overcome, provided only that he not be wrongly blamed, through the fault of idleness, for the precautions he took for himself and his own.

hunc eatenus commendare praesumo, ut, si eum instruere dignanter advocatio consulta fastidit, auctoritas coronae tuae dissimulantibus studeat excudere responsi celeritatem. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

thus far I presume to commend him, so that, if the advocacy of counsel scorns to instruct him worthily, the authority of your crown may, while dissembling, strive to forge the swiftness of a reply. deign to be mindful of me, lord pope.

EPISTULA IV

EPISTLE 4

Sidonius domino papae Lupo salutem.

Sidonius to the lord Pope Lupus, greeting.

1. Praeter officium, quod incomparabiliter eminenti apostolatui tuo sine fine debetur, etsi absque intermissione solvatur, commendo supplicum baiulorum pro nova necessitudine vetustam necessitatem, qui in Arvernam regionem longum iter, his quippe temporibus, emensi casso labore venerunt. namque unam feminam de affectibus suis, quam forte Vargorum (hoc enim nomine indigenas latrunculos nuncupant) superventus abstraxerat, isto deductam ante aliquot annos isticque distractam cum non falso indicio comperissent, certis quidem signis sed non recentibus inquisivere vestigiis.

1. Beyond the duty which is incomparably due without end to your eminent apostolate, and though it be discharged without intermission, I commend the humble bearers of suppliants, for whom a new bond has become an old necessity, who in the Arvernian region have come after a long journey, in these times, with vain toil. For a woman of theirs, from her attachments, whom by chance a raid of the Vargorum (for by that name they now call the native brigands) had carried off, they found that she had been led to that place some years before and torn away from thence; and, with not unjust indication, they searched by certain signs indeed, but not by recent tracks of inquiry.

2. atque obiter haec eadem laboriosa, priusquam hi adessent, in negotiatoris nostri domo dominioque palam sane venumdata defungitur, quodam Prudente (hoc viro nomen), quem nunc Tricassibus degere fama divulgat, ignotorum nobis hominum collaudante contractum; cuius subscriptio intra formulam nundinarum tamquam idonei adstipulatoris ostenditur. auctoritas personae, opportunitas praesentiae tuae inter coram positos facile valebit, si dignabitur, seriem totius indagare violentiae, quae, quod gravius est, eo facinoris accessit, quantum portitorum datur nosse memoratu, ut etiam in illo latrocinio quendam de numero viantum constet extinctum.

2. and incidentally this same laborious affair, before these men were present, was carried out and openly sold in the house of our merchant and of the lord by a certain Prudens (that is the man’s name), whom rumor now reports as dwelling among the Tricassians, the contract lauded by men unknown to us; whose subscription is shown within the market-form as if of a suitable guarantor. The authority of the person and the opportunity of your presence among those placed before you will easily avail, if you shall deign, to trace the series of the whole violence, which, what is more grave, reached that degree of atrocity, so far as it is permitted for carriers to recount, that even in that robbery one of the number of wayfarers is known to have been slain.

3. sed quia iudicii vestri medicinam expetunt civilitatemque, qui negotium criminale parturiunt, vestrarum, si bene metior, partium pariter et morum est, aliqua indemni compositione istorum dolori, illorum periculo subvenire et quodam salubris sententiae temperamento hanc partem minus afflictam, illam minus ream et utramque plus facere securam; ne iurgii status, ut sese fert temporis locique civilitas, talem descendat ad terminum, quale coepit habere principium. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

3. but since your judgment seeks a remedy and civility for those who bring forth a criminal business, it is, if I measure rightly, equally of your parts and of your morals to relieve by some indemniteous composition the pain of these men and the peril of those, and by a certain salutary tempering of sentence to make this party less afflicted, that one less guilty, and both more secure; lest the state of the quarrel, as the civility of time and place reports itself, descend to such a terminus as its beginning began to have. deign to remember us, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA V

EPISTLE 5

Sidonius domino papae Theoplasto salutem.

Sidonius to the lord Pope Theoplastus, greeting.

1. Causam meam nesciens agit qui ad vos a me litteras portat; nam, dum votivi mihi fit gerulus opportunus officii, beneficium praestat, quod se arbitratur accipere, sicuti nunc venerabilis Donidius dignus inter spectatissimos quosque numerari. cuius clientem puerosque commendo, profectos seu in patroni necessitate seu in domini. laborem peregrinantum qua potestis ope humanitate intercessione tutamini; ac, si in aliquo amicus ipse per imperitiam novitatemque publicae conversationis videbitur minus efficax, vos hoc potius aspicite, quid absentis causa, non quid praesentis persona mereatur.

1. He who brings letters from me to you pleads my cause while ignorant of it; for, as he becomes a convenient bearer of a voluntary service to me, he confers a beneficium which he supposes he receives, even as now the venerable Donidius is worthy to be counted among the most conspicuous. I commend to you his client and his boys, who have set out, whether from the patron’s necessity or into the lord’s labour of peregrination; by whatever aid, humanity, and intercession you can, protect them; and if in any thing that friend himself shall seem less effective through lack of experience and the novelty of public conversation, consider rather this: what is the cause of the absent man, not what the person of the present one deserves.

memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

Deign to be mindful of me, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA VI

EPISTULA 6

Sidonius domino papae Eutropio salutem.

Sidonius to Lord Pope Eutropius, greetings.

1. Postquam foedifragam gentem redisse in suas sedes comperi neque quicquam viantibus insidiarum parare, nefas credidi ulterius officiorum differre sermonem, ne vester affectus quandam vitio meo duceret ut gladius inpolitus de curae raritate robiginem. unde misso in hoc solum negotii gerulo litterarum, quam vobis sit corpusculi status in solido quamve ex animi sententia res agantur, sollicitus inquiro, sperans, ne semel mihi amor vester indultus aut interiecti itineris longitudine aut absentiae communis diuturnitate tenuetur, quia bonitas conditoris habitationem potius hominum quam caritatem finalibus claudit angustiis.

1. After I learned that the faith‑breaking people had returned to their homes and were preparing no ambushes for travelers, I deemed it wrong to put off further discourse of duties, lest your affection be led by some fault of mine so that an unpolished sword, from scarcity of care, gather rust. Wherefore, sending this single business‑bearing little letter, I anxiously inquire what the state of your little body is in person and according to what disposition of mind things are carried on, hoping that once granted your love to me may not be weakened either by the length of the intervening journey or by the common long continuance of absence, for the goodness of the Maker bounds the habitation of men rather than confines charity with final narrowness.

2. restat, ut vestra beatitudo conpunctorii salubritate sermonis avidam nostrae ignorantiae pascat esuriem. est enim tibi nimis usui, ut exhortationibus tuis interioris hominis maciem saepenumero mysticus adeps et spiritalis arvina distendat. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

2. it remains that your beatitude, by the compunctious salubriety of admonition, should feed the hunger of our ignorance eager for discourse. for it is of great use to you that, by your exhortations, the thinness of the inner man may often be filled with mystical fat and spiritual stores. deign to be mindful of us, lord pope.

EPISTULA VII

LETTER 7

Sidonius domino papae Fonteio salutem.

Sidonius to Lord Pope Fonteius, greeting.

1. Si aliquid ad inchoandam gratiam compendii posteris tribuit necessitudo praemissa seniorum, ego quoque ad apostolatus tui notitiam pleniorem cum praerogativa domesticae familiaritatis accedo. nam sic te familiae meae validissimum in Christo semper patronum fuisse reminiscor, ut amicitias tuas non tam expetendas mihi quam repetendas putem. his adicitur, quod indignissimo mihi impositum sacerdotalis nomen officii confugere me ad precum vestrarum praesidia compellit, ut adhuc ulcerosae conscientiae nimis hiulca vulnera vestro saltim cicatricentur oratu.

1. If anything of a grace of brevity for posterity is due to the necessity imposed by my elders, I too approach a fuller knowledge of your apostolate with the praerogative of domestic familiarity. For thus I remember that you have always been the most mighty patron in Christ of my household, so that I deem your friendships not so much to be sought by me as to be renewed. To these things is added that the sacerdotal name of the office, most unworthy laid upon me, compels me to flee to the presidia of your prayers, that at least by your prayer the too gaping wounds of my still ulcerous conscience may be cicatrized.

2. quapropter me meosque commendans et excusans litteras seriores granditer obsecro, ut intercessione consueta, cuius viribus immane polletis, clericalis tirocinii in nobis reptantia rudimenta tueamini, ut, si quid dignabitur de morum pravitate nostrorum immutabilis dei mutare clementia, totum id suffragiorum vestrorum patrocinio debeamus. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

2. wherefore, commending and excusing myself and mine by later letters I earnestly beseech you, that by your customary intercession, whose powers you wield with immense force, you defend the crawling rudiments of clerical training in us, so that, if by the immutable clemency of God anything should be deemed to be changed from the depravity of our morals, we may owe that whole thing to the patronage of your suffrages. deign to be mindful of us, lord pope.

EPISTULA VIII

EPISTLE 8

Sidonius domino papae Graeco salutem.

Sidonius to the lord Pope, a Greek, greeting.

1. Apicum oblator pauperem vitam sola mercandi actione sustentat; non illi est opificium quaestui, militia commodo, cultura compendio; hoc ipsum, quod mercennariis prosecutionibus et locaticia fatigatione cognoscitur, fama quidem sua sed facultas crescit aliena. sed tamen quoniam illi fides magna est, etsi parva substantia, quotiens cum pecuniis quorumpiam catapli recentis nundinas adit, creditoribus bene credulis sola deponit morum experimenta pro pignore.

1. Apicus the supplier sustains a poor life by the sole action of merchandising; to him craftsmanship is not for gain, soldiery for convenience, agriculture for economy; this very thing, which is learned by mercenary prosecutions and the fatigue of leases, indeed increases his fame but his means grow from others. Yet since great confidence is his, though his substance is small, whenever with money he visits the fresh market-days of certain petty dealers, to creditors well-believing he deposits only the proofs of his habits as pledge.

2. inter dictandum mihi ista suggesta sunt, nec ob hoc dubito audita fidenter asserere, quia non parum mihi intumos agunt quibus est ipse satis intumus. huius igitur teneram frontem, dura rudimenta commendo; et, quia nomen eiusdem lectorum nuper albus accepit, agnoscitis profecturo civi me epistulam, clerico debuisse formatam; quem propediem non iniuria reor mercatorem splendidum fore, si hinc ad vestra obsequia festinans frigoribus fontium civicorum saepe fontem + mercatoribus anteferat. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

2. Meanwhile these suggestions suggested themselves to me while dictating, and I do not for that reason doubt to assert them confidently, because they move me not a little, to whom he himself is sufficiently intimate. I therefore commit the tender brow of this one to hard rudiments; and, since the name of that same lector was recently taken by Albus, you will recognize that, about to set out to the citizen, my letter ought to have been fashioned by a cleric; whom shortly I think not unjustly will become a splendid merchant, if, hurrying from here to your services, he often prefers the spring of the civic fountains to merchants because of the colds of the fountains. Deign to be mindful of us, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA IX

LETTER 9

Sidonius domino papae Lupo salutem.

Sidonius to the lord Pope Lupus, greetings.

1. Vir iam honestus Gallus, quia iussus ad coniugem redire non distulit, litterarum mearum obsequium, vestrarum reportat effectum. cui cum pagina, quam miseratis, reseraretur, actutum compunctus ingemuit destinatamque non ad me epistulam sed in se sententiam iudicavit. itaque confestim iter in patriam spopondit adornavit arripuit.

1. A man already of honest repute, Gallus, because, having been ordered to return to his wife, he did not delay, bore back the obedience of my letters and the effect of yours. When to him the page which you had sent was opened, he straightaway, pricked at heart, sighed, and judged the letter to be destined not for me but a sentence upon himself. Therefore immediately he vowed the journey to his fatherland, fitted it out, and set forth.

quem nos propter hanc ipsam paenitudinis celeritatem non increpative sed consolatorie potius compellare curavimus, quia vicinaretur innocentiae festinata correctio.

whom, because of this very swiftness of penitence, we strove to address not reprovingly but rather consolingly, since the hastened correction of innocence was drawing near.

2. neque enim quisquam etiam sibi bene conscius plus facere praesumpsit, si quis tamen vestrae correptionis orbitam non reliquit, quippe cum ea ipsa, quae legimus, parcentis verba censurae maxuma emendationis incitamenta sint. nam quid potest esse castigationis huiusce tenore pretiosius, in qua forte peccato animus aeger repperit intrinsecus remedium, cum non valeret extrinsecus invenire convicium?

2. for no one, even well conscious to himself, presumed to do more, if nevertheless he did not abandon the orbit of your correction, since those very things which we read are the sparing words of censure and the greatest incentives to amendment. for what can be more precious in the tenor of this chastisement, in which perhaps a sick soul found inward remedy for sin, when it was not able to find rebuke externally?

3. quod superest, obsecramus, ut crebra oratione, per quam vitiis omnibus immane dominamini, nos quoque, sicut evangelicos magos remeasse manifestum est, vel iam nunc per aliam viam morum in beatorum patriam redire faciatis. paene omiseram, quod minime praetereundum fuit: agite gratias Innocentio, spectabili viro, qui, ut praeceperatis, naviter morem gessit iniunctis. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

3. as for what remains, we beseech that by frequent prayer, through which you rule with immense authority over all vices, you likewise make it possible that we, as it is manifest that we too returned like the evangelical magi, may even now by another road of morals be led back into the fatherland of the blessed. I almost omitted what least ought to be passed over: give thanks to Innocent, a notable man, who, as you ordered, dutifully observed the injunctions imposed. deign to be mindful of us, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA X

EPISTLE 10

Sidonius domino papae Censorio salutem.

Sidonius to Lord Censorius the Pope, greeting.

1. Gerulum litterarum levitici ordinis honestat officium. hic cum familia sua depraedationis Gothicae turbinem vitans in territorium vestrum delatus est ipso, ut sic dixerim, pondere fugae; ubi in re ecclesiae, cui sanctitas tua praesidet, parvam sementem semiconfecto caespiti advena ieiunus iniecit, cuius ex solido colligendae fieri sibi copiam exorat.

1. Gerulum honors the office of the levitical order. He, with his household, avoiding the whirlwind of Gothic depredation, was carried into your territorium by that very, so to speak, weight of flight; where, in the matter of the church over which your sanctity presides, the stranger, fasting, cast a small seed into the half‑made turf, and begged that a supply to be gathered from its solid yield be made for him.

2. quem si domesticis fidei deputata humanitate foveatis, id est, ut debitum glaebae canonem non petatur, tantum lucelli praestitum sibi computat (peregrini hominis ut census, sic animus angustus), ac si in patrio solo rusticaretur. huic si legitimam, ut mos est, solutionem perexiguae segetis indulgeas, tamquam opipare viaticatus cum gratiarum actione remeabit. per quem si me stilo solitae dignationis impertias, mihi fraternitatique istic sitae pagina tua veluti polo lapsa reputabitur.

2. If you cherish him with a domestically‑assigned humanity of faith, that is, so that the canonical due of the glebe be not demanded, he counts as supplied for himself only so much of a small allowance (peregrini hominis ut census, sic animus angustus), and as if he were tilling in his paternal soil. If you indulge him, as is the custom, with the lawful payment from his meagre crop, he will return as though sumptuously provisioned for travel, with thanksgiving. Through whom, if you grant me by the stylus the usual mark of favour, your page there set down will be reckoned to me and to the brotherhood as if fallen from the heavens.

memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

deign to be mindful of us, Lord Pope.

EPISTULA XI

LETTER 11

Sidonius domino papae Eleutherio salutem.

Sidonius to the Lord Pope Eleutherius, greetings.

1. Iudaeum praesens charta commendat, non quod mihi placeat error, per quem pereunt involuti, sed quia neminem ipsorum nos decet ex asse damnabilem pronuntiare, dum vivit; in spe enim adhuc absolutionis est cui suppetit posse converti.

1. The present charter commends the Jew, not because I approve the error by which the entangled perish, but because it is not fitting that we pronounce any of them damnable by our vote while he lives; for there is still hope of absolution for one to whom the power to be converted remains.

2. quae sit vero negotii sui series, ipse rectius praesentanea coram narratione patefaciet. nam prudentiae satis obviat epistulari formulae debitam concinnitatem plurifario sermone porrigere. sane quia secundum vel negotia vel iudicia terrena solent huiuscemodi homines honestas habere causas, tu quoque potes huius laboriosi, etsi impugnas perfidiam, propugnare personam.

2. as for what the sequence of his affair truly is, he himself will more rightly lay it open in person before the present narration. for it suffices for prudence to supply by varied speech the due neatness of an epistolary formula. and since, in matters either of business or of earthly judgment, men of this sort are wont to have honest causes, you too can defend the person of this industrious man, even as you assail perfidy.

memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

deign to be mindful of us, lord pope.

EPISTULA XII

EPISTLE 12

Sidonius domino papae Patienti salutem.

Sidonius to Lord Pope Patientius, greeting.

1. Aliquis aliquem, ego illum praecipue puto suo vivere bono, qui vivit alieno quique fidelium calamitates indigentiamque miseratus facit in terris opera caelorum. 'quorsum istaec?' inquis. te ista sententia quam maxume, papa beatissime, petit, cui non sufficit illis tantum necessitatibus opem ferre, quas noveris, quique usque in extimos terminos Galliarum caritatis indage porrecta prius soles indigentum respicere causas quam inspicere personas.

1. Someone cares for another — I especially think that he lives by his own good who lives for another, and who, pitying the calamities and indigence of the faithful, performs the works of heaven on earth. "Whither this?" you ask. This very sentiment seeks you, most blessed Pope, as much as possible, you who are not content merely to bring aid to those necessities which you know, and who, with a charity inquiry stretched even to the farthest borders of Gaul, are wont first to regard the causes of the needy rather than to examine persons.

2. nullius obest tenuitati debilitatique, si te expetere non possit. nam praevenis manibus illum, qui non valuerit ad te pedibus pervenire. transit in alienas provincias vigilantia tua et in hoc curae tuae latitudo diffunditur, ut longe positorum consoletur angustias; et hinc fit, ut, quia crebro te non minus absentum verecundia quam praesentum querimonia movet, saepe terseris eorum lacrimas, quorum oculos non vidisti.

2. it does no harm to anyone’s slenderness and debility, if he cannot seek you. for you outstrip with your hands him who has not been able to reach you with his feet. your vigilance passes into foreign provinces and in this the latitude of your care is diffused, so that it consoles the angustiae of those placed far away; and hence it comes about that, because often modesty moves you toward the absent no less than complaint moves you toward the present, you often wipe away the tears of those whose eyes you have not seen.

3. omitto illa, quae cotidie propter defectionem civium pauperatorum inrequietis toleras excubiis precibus expensis. omitto te tali semper agere temperamento, sic semper humanum, sic abstemium iudicari, ut constet indesinenter regem praesentem prandia tua, reginam laudare ieiunia. omitto tanto te cultu ecclesiam tibi creditam convenustare, ut dubitet inspector, meliusne nova opera consurgant an vetusta reparentur.

3. I omit those things which you daily endure in restless watches, prayers expended, on account of the defection of impoverished citizens. I omit that you always act with such temperament, so always humane, so judged abstemious, that it is constantly evident that the king is present at your meals and your fasts praise the queen. I omit that with so great a care you embellish the church entrusted to you, that the inspector doubts whether new works should be raised up or the old be restored.

4. omitto per te plurimis locis basilicarum fundamenta consurgere, ornamenta duplicari; cumque multa in statu fidei tuis dispositionibus augeantur, solum haereticorum numerum minui, teque quodam venatu apostolico feras Fotinianorum mentes spiritalium praedicationum cassibus implicare, atque a tuo barbaros iam sequaces, quotiens convincuntur verbo, non exire vestigio, donec eos a profundo gurgite erroris felicissimus animarum piscator extraxeris.

4. I omit that through you in very many places the foundations of basilicas rise, their ornaments are doubled; and whereas many things in the state of the faith are increased by your dispositions, only the number of heretics is diminished, and that you, by a certain apostolic venation, would ensnare the minds of the Photinians in the nets of spiritual preachings, and that your now barbarian followers, whenever they are convicted by the word, do not depart from the spot, until you, the most blessed fisher of souls, have drawn them out from the deep whirlpool of error.

5. et horum aliqua tamen cum reliquis forsitan communicanda collegis; illud autem deberi tibi quodam, ut iurisconsulti dicunt, praecipui titulo nec tuus poterit ire pudor infitias, quod post Gothicam depopulationem, post segetes incendio absumptas peculiari sumptu inopiae communi per desolatas Gallias gratuita frumenta misisti, cum tabescentibus fame populis nimium contulisses, si commercio fuisset species ista, non muneri. vidimus angustas tuis frugibus vias; vidimus per Araris et Rhodani ripas non unum, quod unus impleveras, horreum.

5. and yet some of these things perhaps to be communicated with the remaining colleagues; but that which is owed to you under a certain, as jurisconsults say, principal title — and your modesty will not be able to deny it — namely that after the Gothic depopulation, after the harvests consumed by fire, at your private expense you sent free grain into the common want through the desolate Gaul, when you would have given too much to peoples wasting with famine, if that had been a matter of commerce and not of gift. We saw the roads narrow with your provisions; we saw along the banks of the Araris and the Rhodani not a single granary which you had not filled.

6. fabularum cedant figmenta gentilium et ille quasi in caelum relatus pro reperta spicarum novitate Triptolemus, quem Graecia sua, caementariis pictoribus significibusque illustris, sacravit templis formavit statuis effigiavit imaginibus. illum dubia fama concinnat per rudes adhuc et Dodonigenas populos duabus vagum navibus, quibus poetae deinceps formam draconum deputaverunt, ignotam circumtulisse sementem. tu, ut de mediterranea taceam largitate, victum civitatibus Tyrrheni maris erogaturus granariis tuis duo potius flumina quam duo navigia complesti.

6. let the fictions of pagan tales yield, and that Triptolemus—as if borne up into heaven by the novelty of the ears of grain found—whom his Greece, illustrious in masons, painters, and sign-makers, consecrated, fashioned into temples, formed into statues, and effigied in images. A doubtful rumor composes that he, wandering in two ships, carried seed among peoples still rough and Dodonian; poets afterwards assigned to those ships the form of dragons, as having borne that unknown sowing about. You, to say nothing of your Mediterranean liberality, when about to distribute food to the cities of the Tyrrhenian Sea from your granaries, filled rather two rivers than two vessels.

7. sed si forte Achaicis Eleusinae superstitionis exemplis tamquam non idoneis religiosus laudatus offenditur, seposita mystici intellectus reverentia venerabilis patriarchae Ioseph historialem diligentiam comparemus, qui contra sterilitatem septem uberes annos insecuturam facile providit remedium, quod praevidit. secundum tamen moralem sententiam nihil iudicio meo minor est qui in superveniente simili necessitate non divinat et subvenit.

7. but if perhaps, lauded as religious, he is offended by the Achaean examples of Eleusinian superstition as if unsuitable, putting aside the reverence of mystical intellect, let us compare the venerable patriarch Joseph’s historical diligence, who, against barrenness, easily provided a remedy which he foresaw for seven fruitful years to come. Yet according to a moral sententia, nothing in my judgment is lesser than he who, in an ensuing similar necessity, neither divines nor succors.

8. quapropter, etsi ad integrum conicere non possum, quantas tibi gratias Arelatensis Reiensis Avenniocus Arausionensis quoque et Albensis, Valentinaeque nec non et Tricastinae urbis possessor exsolvat, quia difficile est eorum ex asse vota metiri, quibus noveris alimoniam sine asse collatam, Arverni tamen oppidi ego nomine uberes perquam gratias ago, cui ut succurrere meditarere, non te communio provinciae, non proximitas civitatis, non opportunitas fluvii, non oblatio pretii adduxit.

8. wherefore, although I cannot conjecture to the full how great thanks the possessor of the cities Arelatensis, Reiensis, Avenniocus, Arausionensis also and Albensis, and Valentinaeque and likewise of the Tricastina city may pay you — for it is difficult to measure their vows by an as, for those whom you know supplied sustenance without an as having been given — yet I render very abundant thanks in my own name to the fertile town of the Arverni, to which, when you contemplated coming to its succor, neither the communion of the province, nor the proximity of the city, nor the convenience of the river, nor the offering of price drew you.

9. itaque ingentes per me referunt grates quibus obtigit per panis tui abundantiam ad sui sufficientiam pervenire. igitur si mandati officii munia satis videor explesse, ex legato nuntius ero. ilicet scias volo: per omnem fertur Aquitaniam gloria tua; amaris laudaris, desideraris excoleris, omnium pectoribus, omnium votis.

9. and so they give through me great thanks by which, through the abundance of your bread, they have come to self-sufficiency. therefore, if I seem to have fully discharged the duties of my commission, I shall be a messenger from the legate. I wish you to know at once: throughout all Aquitaine your glory is spread; you are loved, you are praised, you are desired, you are esteemed, in the hearts of all, in the prayers of all.

inter haec temporum mala bonus sacerdos, bonus pater, bonus annus es quibus operae pretium fuit fieri famem suam periculo, si aliter esse non poterat tua largitas experimento. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.

amid these evils of the times you are a good priest, a good father, a good man, for whom it was worth the toil to make his hunger a peril, if it could not be otherwise, by the proof of your generosity. deign to be mindful of us, Lord Pope.