A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

With suppliant desires, the page sent, speaking the commands of health to the mothers* and ladies, while our journey keeps us from showing our face to you, at least solicitude proves our affection: we are not absent, if sweet speech keeps us present always in the love of the heart.

Original letter:

Supplicibus votis referat mandata salutis matribus ac dominis pagina missa loquens, dumque recusat iter nostrum tibi reddere vultus, affectum saltim sollicitudo probet: nec sumus absentes, si nos oratio dulcis praesentes semper cordis amore tenet.

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.

Scholarly notes:

*Fortunatus spoke of Radegund as a mother to himself and Agnes, but Agnes was a mother by rank.

Printed source:

Venantii Fortunati, Opera Poetica, ed. Fridericus Leo (Berlin: Weidmann, 1881), 288, Appendix, xxv.

Date:

after 567