Complete Works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Volume 3

E P I S T L E .

I must obey not only your commands but even your slightest wishes, for you are the Supreme Librarian of the Holy Roman Church original: "S. R. E. Bibliothecarius". You are a Prince, a man most beloved by all scholars, and a person worthy to be compared with the most learned men of both ancient and recent memory. Who, ignoring for a moment the loftiness of your mind and the brilliance of your genius, does not know that nothing has ever been able to divert you from the pursuit of wisdom? Born of a family that, in its antiquity, splendor, and nobility, contends for the palm of honor with the foremost houses of Italy, and which abounds in the wealth, power, and all the things that men consider fortunate; yet, while still a youth, you possessed such a divine greatness of spirit that you looked upon all that light and abundance as nothing. You valued only the glory of your ancestors, and especially those who were distinguished in every field of learning. You emulated the generous spirits of the Romans, whom I hear reported in Sallust original: "Sallustium" to have said that when they gazed upon the images of their ancestors, their spirits were vehemently kindled toward virtue, and the flame of memory regarding those past deeds grew in their breasts, never to be extinguished until they had equaled the fame and glory of those men through their own virtue. You first began to attempt this in Brescia original: "Brixiae", in the College of Nobles original: "Collegium Nobilium", where you used your talents as was fitting, and you progressed in the humanistic arts not just with interest, but with compound interest original: "anatocismo". You seemed not to take these arts from others, but to bring them forth and generate them from within yourself. This is not surprising, since you were second to none in genius, and you had grasped from nature itself that love of virtue which, as Plato original: "Plato" so beautifully says, would excite its own love if it could be seen. Therefore, it was not without cause that everything which could be expected from a truly golden character was expected of you. You surpassed the expectations of all, because you surpassed yourself, your own youth, and your own circumstances. Lest you should lose any of your love for virtue through domestic wealth or the allurements of flatterers—of whom there is a great crowd around Princes—you looked toward Heaven like a noble bird. You bade farewell to your father’s house and flew toward where Divine Wisdom commanded you to go, and as a young man, you offered yourself to be adopted into the Cassinese family original: "Casinensem familiam". Regarding your merits here, there is no one who can sufficiently recount them with the dignity they deserve, or say more than what Florence original: "Florentia", the eye of Italy and a most august shrine of the Muses, holds in its memory. It is enough to recall those most illustrious names: the Buonarrotis, the Salvinis, the Averanis, the Magalottis, and many others, with whom that blessed city has always overflowed. You won the favor and benevolence of all these learned men in a short time. This must certainly be an indication that your integrity and reputation for learning were such that it was difficult to judge whether you were more virtuous or more prudent. For