Letter 1021: For a long time I was in suspense about the arrival of Your Greatness, uncertain whether the delay meant a change of...

Ennodius to Faustus. For a long time my mind hung in uncertain reckoning about the arrival of Your Greatness. But after the divine mercy released me from anxiety of this kind, I betook myself at once to my accustomed duties, although I had not held back the dutiful service of letters even toward one who had departed for distant parts. Therefore, while disclosing to you in these words the state of my health, I lay open the sickness of my soul, which I contracted from grief. I am made anxious about the well-being of our eyes [those dear to me], set as I am in a place to which an awaited message scarcely makes its way. As for what brings consolation, I pray to God that He suffer His servant no longer to be worn down by any care, but that, with their prosperity restored to full strength, He come to the aid of my fevered torment with a swift remedy. Greeting you with the service I owe, I pray that, once these things are known by which my soul is tossed about in shifting estimation, you may diligently come to my relief through the kindness of a letter bringing me cheer.

XXI. FAVSTO ENNODIVS. Diu super aduentu amplitudinis uestrae ancipiti mens mea pependit indicio. sed postquam me diuina misericordia ab huiusmodi anxietate laxauit, statim ad officia consueta me contuli, quamquam paginarum obsequia nec digresso ad longinqua subpresserim. his ergo ualitudinem meam indicans aegritudinem animi resero, quam de maerore contraxi. de luminum nostrorum salute sollicitor, in eo loci constitutus, ad quem difficile nuntius expectatus adlabitur. quod in solacio est, deum precor, ut nulla seruum suum patiatur amplius cura macerari, sed de reducta eorum in solidum prosperitate aestibus meis celeri medela subueniat. salutans debita seruitute precor, ut cognitis his, de quibus animus meus uaria aestimatione iactatur, sedulo mihi hilaritatem deferentium litterarum beneficio succurratis.