A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

[To the same for flowers sent] O powerful queen, to whom gold and purple are vile, the one who loves you worships you with small flowers. And if it is not the thing itself, yet it is the color in the plants, purple through violets, gold in the form of saffron. Rich, you avoided the rewards of the world for love of God: scorning those, you will retain these riches. Accept the gifts of various flowers sent to you, than which blessed life calls you more strongly. As you crucify yourself now to be restored in future light, see which field here will retain you. Through fragile branches which we now offer with their scent, consider how much the odor will revive you here. To whom they are owed, I pray that when you have come there, the comforting right hand draw these and me by your merits. Though the grace of the flowers of paradise awaits you, these wish to see you now outside. And though they seem to please by surpassing scent, they adorn their own hair more with you returning.

Original letter:

[Item ad eandem pro floribus transmissis] O regina potens, aurum cui et purpura vile est, floribus ex parvis te veneratur amans. Et si non res est, color est tamen ipsa per herbas: purpura per violas, aurea forma crocus. Dives amore dei vitasti praemia mundi: illas contemnens has retinebis opes. Suscipe missa tibi variorum munera florum, ad quos te potius vita beata vocat. Quae modo te crucias, recreanda in luce futura, aspicis hinc qualis te retinebit ager. per ramos fragiles quos nunc praebemus olentes perpende hinc quantus te refovebit odor. Haec cui debentur precor ut, cum veneris illuc, meque tuis meritis dextera blanda trahat. Quamvis te expectet paradisi gratia florum, isti vos cupiunt iam revidere foris. Et licet egregio videantur odore placere, plus ornant proprias te redeunte comas.

Historical context:

Bishop Venantius Fortunatus met Radegund and Agnes, whom Radegund had had installed as her abbess, when he visited Poitiers. They became good friends and exchanged epistolary poems and small gifts until the women died. After her death, Fortunatus wrote a life of Radegund emphasizing her ascetic qualities.

Printed source:

Venanti Fortunati Opera Poetica, ed. Fridericus Leo (Berlin: Weidmann, 1881), 194-95, Librum VIII, viii.

Date:

after 567