A letter from Fortunatus (after 567)

Translated letter:

[Again to the same]What words to the dear mother, what to the sweet sister shall I speak alone in the absent love of the heart? Those [fem] whom the place keeps out the anxious mind seeks and at the same time asks to see by pious desire/promise. I ask you, dear sister, with benign piety for the mother, that you might wish less cost for your servant. May she live fittingly with you a long time for me and I pray there be for the three one salvation in Christ, that present nor future life not separate us, but one salvation cover us and one day take us. Yet, as I desire, may long times keep you [pl] here, so the sister and mother be certain rest for me.

Original letter:

[Item aliud ad eandem] Quae carae matri, quae dulci verba sorori solus in absenti cordis amore loquar? quas locus excludit mens anxia voce requirit et simul ut videat per pia vota rogat. e peto, cara soror, matri pietate benigna quod minus inpendi tu famulare velis. illa decens tecum longo mihi vivat in aevo et tribus in Christo sit precor una salus. os neque nunc praesens nec vita futura sequestret, sed tegat una salus et ferat una dies. hic tamen, ut cupio, vos tempora longa reservent, ut soror et mater sit mihi certa quies.

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, vii.

Date:

after 567