A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

[Again for gifts] I sent the gifts, but not mine, believe the speaker: what come to you are rather your gifts. You offer foods of all things infused with honey whose sweet honeys flow from the pious mouth. What an abundance may remain with me from your gift believe, while the throat already conquered distributes the foods. But give me mercy, to be revered with a benign heart: let what love took for granted be venial for me. ow may that venerable chorus adores Christ for me, lest my fault weigh me, a sinner, down.

Original letter:

[Item aliud pro eulogiis] Munera direxi, sed non mea, crede fatenti: ad te quae veniunt sunt tua dona magis. melle superfusas cunctorum porrigis escas, cuius ab ore pio dulcia mella fluunt. copia quanta mihi maneat de munere vestro credite, dum spargit iam gula victa cibos. sed mihi da veniam, venerando corde benigna: quod praesumpsit amor sit veniale mihi. unc Christum pro me chorus ille verendus adoret, e peccatorem me mea culpa gravet.

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), 263-64, Librum XI, xii.

Date:

after 567