A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

[Again about his gift] If you do not complete what is here called complete, I ask, as a suppliant, receive this, take it willingly. Do not spurn what is small: for if you ask of my desires, broader love is found in a narrow gift.

Original letter:

[Item de munere suo] Si non conplestis quod hic conpleta vocatur, haec, rogo suppliciter, suscipe, sume libens. nec parva spernas: nam si mea vota requiras, munus in angustum cernitur amplus amor.

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), 268, Librum XI, xxiv.

Date:

after 567