A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

[Again to the same] A most happy fate has acceded to our desires, as my prayers deserved to receive gifts. that food of the sisters has done me a lot of good: you satisfy them with banquets, you care for me with piety/affection. sparkling with what goodness you unite both parts! You restore me in spirit, them with satisfying food. Feasts feed the limbs, love nourishes the soul: you, to one whose need is greater, who come as sweeter food. May the omnipotent hear you asking pious wishes, that he may pour perpetual food into your mouth. May you thrive long ages with your mother surviving and that chorus be under your control for God.

Original letter:

[Item aliud ad eandem] Accessit votis sors iucundissima nostris, dum meruere meae sumere dona preces. profecit mihimet potius cibus ille sororum: has satias epulis, me pietate foves. qua probitate micans partes conponis utrasque! me recreas animo has saturando cibo. pascunt membra dapes, animam dilectio nutrit: quae, cui plus opus es, dulcior esca venis. audiat omnipotens et te pia vota petentem, ut tibi perpetuos fundat in ore cibos. saecula longa simul cum matre superstite vernes et vestro freno stet chorus ille deo.

Historical context:

Bishop Venantius Fortunatus met Agnes and her patron Radegund when he visited Poitiers. They became good friends and exchanged epistolary poems and small gifts until the women died.

Printed source:

Venanti Fortunati Opera Poetica, ed. Fridericus Leo (Berlin: Weidmann, 1881), 261, Librum XI, viii.

Date:

after 567