To Donatus 1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Cyprian, in a vine-covered garden during the autumn holidays, begins to keep his promise to talk with his friend Donatus.

Latin text · CSEL 3.1:3–4

Bene admones, Donate carissime: nam et promisisse me memini, et reddendi tempestiuum prorsus hoc tempus est, quo indulgente uindemia solutus animus in quietem sollemnes ac statas anni fatigantis indutias sortiatur. locus etiam cum die conuenit, et mulcendis sensibus ac fouendis ad lenes auras blandientis autumni hortorum facies amoena consentit: hic iocundum sermonibus diem ducere et studentibus fabulis in diuina praecepta conscientiam pectoris erudire. ac ne loqui nostrum arbiter profanus impediat aut clamor intemperans familiae strepentis obtundat, petamus hanc sedem: dant secessum uicina secreta, ubi dum erratici palmitum lapsus nexibus pendulis per harundines baiulas repunt, uiteam porticum frondea tecta fecerunt. bene hic studia in aures damus, et dum in arbores et in uites uidemus, oblectante prospectu oculos amoenamus, animam simul et auditus instruit et pascit obtutus: quamquam tibi sola nunc gratia, sola cura sermonis est, contemptis uoluptariae uisionis inlecebris in me oculos tuos fixus es, qua ore, qua mente totus auditor es et hoc amore quo diligis.

English · Claude translation

You do well to remind me, dearest Donatus: for I remember that I promised, and this is exactly the right time to pay, when the indulgent vintage releases the mind, and it takes its appointed and regular truce from the wearying year. The place too suits the day, and the pleasant look of the gardens agrees with the gentle breezes of mild autumn to soothe and cherish the senses. Here it is delightful to spend the day in conversation and, with earnest talk, to train the heart's conscience in the divine precepts. And lest a profane listener hinder our talk, or the unrestrained clamour of a noisy household deafen us, let us seek this seat: the nearby seclusion offers retreat, where the straying tendrils of the vines, creeping in hanging knots over the supporting reeds, have made a vine-covered portico with a roof of leaves. Here we do well to give our ears to study; and while we look at the trees and the vines, delighting our eyes with the pleasant view, hearing instructs the soul and sight at the same time feeds it. And yet for you now the only pleasure, the only care, is our conversation: scorning the allurements of pleasant sights, you have fixed your eyes on me; with mouth and mind you are all listener, and with that love with which you love me.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 3.1:3–4 · Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia, Pars 1, CSEL 3.1 (Vienna: Gerold, 1868), 3–16 · Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 3.1, 1868), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in CSEL 3.1. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 3.1; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Cite this passage

Cyprian, Don. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/1/).

Plain text

Cyprian, Don. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/1/).