A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

[Again to the same for the gifts sent] With solicitous piety you order always to learn how I am cherished by the banquets you offer. this was also the first abundance of today’s supper, that you gave me vegetable with honey sauce; not once, nor twice, but three and four times it hastened, whose odor alone could have fed me. One messenger did not suffice for so much; the feet wearied which returned so often. moreover the messenger came with high hills and everywhere the proud peak on the carnal mountain, girded with the delights that earth or sea serves up; from the combined feasts there was a garden within. I, now avid, gluttonous, conquered them all: and the mountain and garden are held inert by my stomach. I do not recount each thing, since your gifts conquer me: conqueror, you fly to the heavens and over the stars.

Original letter:

[Item ad eandem pro eulogiis transmissis] Sollicita pietate iubes cognoscere semper, qualiter hic epulis te tribuente fover. haec quoque prima fuit hodiernae copia cenae, quod mihi perfuso melle dedistis holus; nec semel aut iterum, sed terque quaterque cucurrit, cuius me poterat pascere solus odor. portitor ad tantos missus non sufficit unus; lassarunt totiens qui rediere pedes. praeterea venit missus cum collibus altis undique carnali monte superbus apex, deliciis cinctus quas terra vel unda ministrat; conpositis epulis hortulus intus erat. haec ego nunc avidus superavi cuncta gulosus: et mons et hortus ventre tenetur iners. singula nec refero, quia me tua munera vincunt: ad caelos victrix et super astra voles.

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), 262, Librum XI, ix

Date:

after 567