Letters, Book VI

My day was made joyful by your letter, and the longed-for message doubled the festivity of our house's birthday celebration. But when I had read through the page, the added postscript wrinkled my brow, which indicated that you are being troubled by lawsuits over Petronia's inheritance. I think, however, if the promise of your sister Marciana is not lame, the ambiguity of the domestic succession can be removed, provided you send to my examination, which she herself chose, the documents of the matter. But what heads of question the opposing party raises, I have marked in the enumeration appended below, so that your holy unanimity, informed of the objections, may in turn consider what should be answered on your own behalf. Farewell.

A preface is needed when difficult things are requested: ambition ought not to be brought to bear on things easy and favorable. Briefly, then, and in short, take notice what favor my brother Fulvius asks of you. He wishes, with you as sponsor, to take in marriage the sister of Pompeianus, long since ripe for a husband, who is not inferior in birth, and perhaps superior in wealth. For among the ornaments of the betrothal I do not count her praiseworthy qualities of life, and the favorable hopes arising from friendship with good men. For each one has for himself whatever is reckoned as hope and praise. But to me the desire of bringing about this union is of such long standing, that I shall consider it a weighty gift, if your care should prove of service to his wishes. Since, then, a matter honorable in its beginning and easy in its accomplishment is requested, I beg that you apply as much diligence in promoting the affair as you conjecture I wish. Farewell.

The sickness which I endure in the pain of my right hand, you have doubled by the bitterness of your messages. But a sharper care distresses me, because I know that my daughter cannot be persuaded to abstinence from food and drink. Anxious, therefore, with a wound of soul and an illness of body, I could not put off writing until it was possible to sign my letter myself; but by hastened dictation I satisfied my anxiety rather than my custom. And first I beg that you relieve my fear with your replies. Then I beseech you, my lady daughter, that you turn aside from what is harmful to your health, and repair, by the aid of temperance, a health so often assailed. For to abstain from harmful things not only benefits health, but also pertains to the testimony of prudence. Farewell.

I have called back Severianus, a leading man of the city of Cliternum, from a public complaint, lest his grievance bring some odium upon our holy friend Severus. I have promised, moreover, by your unanimous mediation, our ornament, that if there is any dispute between them, it can be ended. And so I ask that you deign to be the one, in the presence of the excellent man Severus, to bring the lawsuit to an end before you. Farewell.

As if still ignorant of your affairs, you prescribe formulas for the things to be done. But I long ago unraveled for your unanimity the outcome of both cases, and I believe that what I had written has been delivered into your hands by the vicarian soldiers. Things already narrated and known I do not repeat. This one thing alone, even now, a certain reticence had withheld from your notice: that I have sent letters to friends, by which they may be informed of the frauds of the guardian. And I think, if chance favors the undertaking, something should be decreed by which the guilty party may be broken. But as for your having put off the journey to the estates near the city, though most desirous of your presence, I cannot disapprove. For you allege a pious cause for the delays, and therefore I put the necessity of religious affection before my own longing: though I do not know whether, if you delay, some invitation may rather draw us into Campania. But let this be left to the outcome.

Meanwhile let us nourish our mutual longing by correspondence. For the mind must be soothed with consolations, whenever things desired are put off. Farewell.

Taburnius did not conceal from me that I had been summoned; and perhaps I remember that nothing about this matter was indicated in my pages. But because I had decided, for many necessary reasons, to remain at home, I judged it a vain labor to convey to you things void and dissembled. I believe, however, that it is not unknown to your holy unanimity, what things drew me back from the plan of travel. For you know both my broken health, and you contemplate the solitude of my only son, and you have learned of the river floods reaching even to the fear of a deluge. The ruins of bridges too, and the landslides of mountains, report has not, I think, kept silent among you. From which it happened that others also asked for pardon, whom a similar summons had called forth, except Arcentius and Evangelius: of whom the vigor of youth exposed the one, and an incautious mind the other, to uncertain hazards.

I understand that you may be alarmed by the departure of a man not friendly to us. But I advise you to cast aside this scruple. For both many things have been arranged by my letters; and to those setting out the task has been given, that the detraction of a rival be repelled. Wherefore, free from cares, enjoy your leisure, and cherish me, as you deign to do, with the assiduity of your letters. Farewell.

Your letters were delivered to us when we were spending the seventh day at Ostia. And at once, through the illustrious man the vicar, at my request, the publication of the acts went forward. But your slave, without our being consulted or informed, departed from the city, as is the familiar dishonesty of servants. It is in your hands whether you allow this to go unpunished. Meanwhile it has not been kept silent that my daughter is being tossed about by a renewed illness. The wound of this message has settled deep in my breast, nor will the fear be dispelled unless I receive by mutual correspondence assurance of her health. Do, therefore, I beg you, so that a report of security, quickly brought back, may replace my dread. Farewell.

My brother Censorinus is attempting to renew a complaint about the boundary of the Baian estates, which he has learned was long since settled between me and the agents of my son Pompeianus. For the inspectors summoned said that our places were divided by the wall which descends from the top of the mountain between the houses: a judgment which the new possessor believes can be rescinded. I ask, therefore, that with our friend Felix and Castor called in, you deign to be arbiter of the truth, so that, your holiness being present in person, the vain attempt may be suppressed. Then, when the assertion of the former judgment has satisfied my brother Censorinus, let an addition of only ten feet beyond his buildings be permitted for his work and new constructions: so that the boundaries of the parties, both the agreement comprised in the assent, and the intervening construction, may mark the distinction. Farewell.

I hear that we have been asked to the consular office. My own resolve is to rest and remain at home, after last year's labor. Do you consider more deeply what you yourself will decide, and weigh it wisely. I presume, however, that you, who are said to be summoned by the authority of the most eminent man, have been counted among the chosen, and that your unanimity has been deliberately associated with these, so that you might set out on the occasion of the consular office to render thanks. It is to be feared, however, lest, if you think it should be excused, you incur offense by the obtaining of a further rescript. And perhaps, so far as it is right to hope of uncertain things, this mistake, once you have happily been present, will be corrected. I have not learned that Hispanus has been summoned. Consider, then, the outcome of either course. I will report again, if any new knowledge comes to me on this matter. Farewell.

To me, writing much to you, you reply little, and it troubles me that the beginnings of our commissions grow warm all the way to my solitude, but afterward, through silence, the progress grows cold. Perhaps you ask why even now I demand that my own diligence be reported back. I had written that the price of the Capuan house had been settled with the seller. You write back nothing of its confirmation. The restoration and vindication of the Samnite estate has been commissioned. Only belatedly have you informed me that the fields have been emptied of their dowries. Still, however, I do not know what the enjoined presentation has accomplished, the expectation of which does not allow me to go to the country. For I fear lest, as has often happened, some clandestine trickery attempt something. Wherefore either instruct me what remains to bring the business to completion; or, if matters are safely in hand, open for me the way of taking my leave into retirement.

As for the matter with my brother Censorinus, I do not take it ill that, at whatever cost to us, judgment has been given about the coastal spaces. It remains that the estates be divided by the interposition of a wall, lest, the record of the judgment ceasing, neighboring encroachments again strive to extend themselves into other bounds. Farewell.

I was delighted by our friend's letter, of which you wished me to be a reader, and I would have you believe that he lied in nothing about the relaxation of his intent to press his claim. To me the illustrious man, the praetorian judge, on account of the collation of the senate and other remedies for the City, has reported offenses given to Augusta; being saddened, as he asserts, that the curio, because the prefect of the city, on the day of the imperial games, when he was being asked by the senate for our dear friend in our presence, made public the common offering to the people. All these things he suspects were arranged to destroy the glory of his own promises, and he turns the odium upon me alone, because this pleases those who report it to him. I answered his heat as best I could, with dignity preserved. And so far as the eastern envoys assert, to whom he himself made known my writings, our replies pleased all.

But lest, overcome by reason and authority, he should be silent, he later sent a gentler letter, containing an equal complaint. A copy of all these things will be given to you, that you may know with what waves we are being buffeted. But in the matter of your holy unanimity, which the repeated instruction stirs up, a plan of drawn-out settlement must be used; and the portion which pertains to your brother should be submitted to auction: so that by an injury of this kind either the young man's estate may be increased, or his wish fulfilled. But I wish to know which estates especially belong by right to your holy brother's portion: lest through ignorance an error of the officials touch the properties belonging to your right. I will detain your brother in Rome for a while yet, since the supplies of the grain-allowance have been prolonged for twenty days by the offering. My daughter, therefore, ought not to take it ill if I delay the beasts of burden assigned for his journey.

The rest my son Cumazon will relate, whether you ask or of his own accord. Concerning the sending of an embassy on account of the shortage of grain supply, the public deliberation will be postponed until the return of the most excellent man the count. The counsel of your holiness seemed to me salutary. And so, letters having been given to my agents, I at once ordered grain to be brought from our Apulian estate to Campania. Farewell.

The steady stream of my earlier letters has used up what there was to write. Only the pious generality of greeting now remains. And indeed, if anything worth pursuing on paper were at hand, it would more rightly be entrusted to a traveler. For now the pen must be indulged, since the person of those setting out does not suffice for receiving commissions. Now, if you think anything worth knowing, you will learn it more fully from the traveler without any lengthy discourse of mine. Farewell.

I see you are in doubt whether the confiscation of goods followed also upon the punishment of Rufinus. The pledge is at hand, sealed by imperial decrees. And yet, for those in suspense, there was no need to doubt that the deserts of a long-standing plunderer, that the treasury should demand the spoils of the world. And would that so great a joy were not troubled by the failure of the grain supply, which no accession of new crop yet relieves. Besides, the very quality of the food itself breeds horror, corrupts the health of bodies, and such nourishment is more grievous to men than the punishment of hunger. Amid these things the people is consoled by the hope of grain offered by the senators, and the pious will of the leading men maintains the harmony of the city. Now there is need of prayers, that divine assistance may bring in supplies, while the safety of the citizens is prolonged by private contribution. Farewell.

The fortune of our common fatherland has been brought into such straits that extremes must be avoided. And so I wish to send your brother away from you at once; may you be willing to furnish him with pack-animals for the journey—let his haste be aided by the help of beasts of burden. But my daughter ought not to be wearied by travel, as I had written before. Since after a grave illness, her health must be nursed back with rest and quiet. Farewell.

I foresaw what fear the rumor of my illness might strike into you: which, since it is accustomed to speak beyond the truth about those absent, seemed indeed nefariously to have equaled the magnitude of my danger. And so, as soon as my health permitted me to form letters, I did not delay to soothe with my pen, before you, what I believed had been noised abroad. And although an earlier letter would have sufficed to moderate your anxiety, still a second attestation will contribute to the building of your assurance. Meanwhile, let me know what plan you have formed concerning the ordering of your return. For I confess that I have become more tender in affection after the crisis of my health, nor can I any further urge that you prefer my longing to your own leisure. Farewell.

Friendship is measured by souls, not by years. Let not, therefore, the affection of those seem raw to you, whose devotion to you is of long standing. This aims at making you know that Auxentius and Marianus, my sons, most modest young men, are reckoned among your admirers in the foremost place; and therefore they are not to be met as through some new approach, but to be cherished under the bond and observance of love. Now the treatment obtained under the compulsion of physicians has furnished them a reason for departing. For they desire to go to Stabiae, that they may drive off the remnants of a long illness with herd-milk. But they judge that there is a greater medicine in meeting with you. To you, therefore, their health will be entrusted, if you add the fomentations of your kindness to the remedies of wholesome herbs. Farewell.

To our Castorius returning to Campania, I have entrusted fuller instructions concerning domestic affairs than what is written. You will therefore learn more things by hearing than by reading. Most of these pertain to the condition of our homeland; which it is dangerous to inhabit, laboring gravely under a failure of provisions, and impious and cruel to abandon. Farewell.

To our German Taburnius, to whom you wished me to be of assistance, I would have been present even in his doubtful state of health, if chance had granted the presence of those who ought, for his benefit, to have been consulted. Let my mind, then, satisfy your unanimous wish, even though the outcome denied the effectiveness of the desire. I myself, still weak, but now, by God's grace already professed, write these things secure in my convalescence; and I rise the more in strength, the more the near hope promises me a swifter return of your holiness. Farewell.

You had written back some time ago that my daughter's health had been restored. Soon, in a following letter, you inserted a recurring sting into our anxiety. I am tormented, therefore, by the more recent report, because things are believed to be worse. I wait anxiously that, if the day has brought anything good, you may indicate it. But in the fact that our departure stirs you, I recognize the disposition of my own mind: yet it is still better for mutual desires to counsel restraint, than to begin something to be repented of through the weakness of affection. Soon, when your brother, hoped for from nearby, as you say, shall have arrived, he will grant you both a happy and a necessary return, for the sake of dividing the inheritance between you. Farewell.

The children of my brother Entrecius, a man of distinguished rank, had been summoned by the impatience of paternal love, to which the scarcity of the city added reasons for hastening. And so they have set about returning without awaiting the proper season. Wherefore, while navigation is unmanageable, they will linger a little on the shores of Campania. But that they may not endure the bitterness of a foreign sojourn, your kindness will provide. Wherefore take up my part: that those who are now torn from us by necessity may rejoice to have found my spirit in you. Farewell.

Harsh is the disturbance which injury begets: but the medicine of patience ought to soften the pain. Nor are you lacking in the practice of enduring adversity. For you have learned to bear frequently the blows of fortune. But if you were living amid prosperous affairs, you would rightly be wounded by unaccustomed evils. I write this that you may know I have marveled that a private lawsuit has changed your constancy—a suit which, under the name of kinship (as is my opinion), the frequenter of the Baian shore has animated. But for him there will be another reward. Yet the judicial bulwark of your cause has not been lacking. For it has been obtained from one of the assessors, that what the officer designated should not go unpunished; from the other, that your inheritance be granted to you. I shall also admonish the very master of the inquiry, when he has withdrawn from the countryside, either to desist from his undertaking, or to know that graver things will be reported concerning himself. Let this suffice concerning domestic matters.

As for our homeland, amid other evils of grain scarcity, the ambition of the embassy has added a worse torch. For at first the choice joined Postumianus and Pinianus, from among the two chief men of the court, with such an expression of judgment, that the embassy was said to be complete in them alone. After some days had passed, when the order was weighing the terms of its mandate, private interests joined Paulinus to them. From this a contention arose, proceeding, in my absence, even to wicked brawls. It shames me to say what crimes and abuses the leading men of the senate hurled at one another. But they are said to have grieved that the disputes of the factions should be settled by my judgment. Chance will see what end awaits the public cause. Meanwhile the reputation of the senate is being torn apart, and to misfortune a charge has even been added.

If the records of the proceedings come into my hands, you will learn by reading what the modesty of my words has refused to set forth. Farewell.

I ought to have refrained from writing, since my son the illustrious Decius is traveling, who will relate to your religiousness more things than the text of pages could embrace. But I did not begrudge increasing, by my pen, the pleasantness which his brotherly presence will bestow. Therefore I impart to your unanimity the honor of greeting, that the expectation of my arrival may be softened by the gift of these words. Farewell.

Sapricius, an accomplished man and my familiar friend, would have deserved the diligence of your holy unanimity even without an advocate. But since a first approach is commended by speech to those unknown, he wished that the ease of gaining your friendship be opened to him through me. It is fitting, then, that you receive one most eager for you with a love that meets him halfway, and that you not postpone the friendship he requests to the trials of long acquaintance, but at once meet the desire of the newcomer with equal goodwill. Farewell.

My son Zenodotus has not yet known you through closer acquaintance, but already embraces you through the goodwill fame inspires. For though he hastens to the Lucanians and Bruttians, compelled by office, nevertheless he is eager to make a detour and hurry into your presence. I introduce him to your friendship as a sort of guide into the mysteries, and I take it upon myself that he is worthy of your love. If, then, you grant anything to a parent's testimony, let the first approach of the newcomer find devotion already grown mature with you; and let him at once experience that graciousness of your heart, which he knows has never been withheld from a newcomer. Farewell.

Long did I struggle with myself, whether to send our common pledge to you, but affection won, especially as the outlook of the provisions was improving. For a sparing disbursement promises, for the time being, twenty days' worth of sustenance for the city. Moreover, a second collection by the most ample order promises that something further will be added to our security. Likewise, the offering of meat has also raised the spirits of the Roman populace. I have therefore ordered the beasts of burden to return to you, giving thanks that you have aided the need of your brother with fitting assistance. The choice of ambassadors still wavers. For to Postumianus and Pinianus, whom the senate had recognized from the beginning as charged with the mandate, a third, Paulinus, is being asserted, and, the parties having split into factions, the matter's usefulness is still deferred; when it has received the term of confirmation, full deliberation will be granted. Farewell.

One must write more fully, if commending the unknown. But the ancient familiarity we have with Justinus, a most grave and honorable man, does not require the aid of an introduction. It is enough, then, if you show him your accustomed love. As for the matters concerning us, and lately made known to your unanimity by letter, they will now be disclosed by his own mouth. Farewell.

If anything is safe for a man, I announce that I have returned to hope of life after an internal pain, which had suddenly snatched me away from you. If, then, the license of rumor has reported to you anything harsh, let oblivion make it old news. Above all, I want this obtained: that you not rush back with improvident anxiety. But since the matter has turned toward health, deign to satisfy our mutual desire with the just measures of a journey. Farewell.

The occasion for speaking my greeting to you must both often be sought by me, if it is lacking, and embraced, if it presents itself; especially at this time, when I am anxious about my daughter's health, whose condition I believe has been wounded even by fasting. Free, then, our fear with news of prosperous things. My own step is still weak even now. But if the mutual conversation you hope for shall bring news of you, at once the complaint of this poor body will be soothed. I shall not fail to add to this page, that a judicial summons has driven off Martinianus; upon whom such terror has been inflicted on account of his long-omitted departure to Gaul, that it was necessary for him to forestall, by a private journey, the injury of a formal summons. Concerning Atellanus, the hearing officer, with a friend intervening, asked what we wished to be done. I replied that, after the bishop's judgment, I awaited only vengeance for the ill will lately stirred up.

Nevertheless I have referred the decision to your judgment. I ask, then, that amid the delays of the holidays, you deign to disclose what is to be done; and at the same time consider, against the intervention of so many prelates, what can be obtained rather than what ought to be. For justice and innocence can be given very little weight, when the reverence due to religion is set against them. Farewell.

After we dismissed the boy, much rumor has grown, that your holiness is to be summoned by sacred letters: so that even the name of a certain Gratianus, who is said to be the one who will bring such writings, is on the public tongue. Although this still seems uncertain to me, I did not think it should be passed over in silence. It will belong to the highest divinity to determine concerning you, and to confirm the course of prosperity. Farewell.

The most eminent man Principius, conspicuous by birth and integrity, does not require another's commendation, since he also glories in the testimony of your own love and esteem for him. I would set forth his merits more fully, were it not superfluous labor to rehearse what is known to all. It will suffice to add this one thing: whatever honor you grant to him reaches all good men who love him. Farewell.

I am living in a suburban retreat. For I am weary of the vexations of the city, and delighted by the pleasant renewal of a country house suited to autumn. Besides, the arrival of friends provides me with that company which alone is deemed honorable at Rome. But the illness of my little granddaughter Galla disturbs, not lightly, the security of my leisure; concerning whom, that you may report timely and welcome and favorable news, divine aid will grant. But you, my lady daughter, I ask that you take care to indicate how much recovery is added day by day. This will be a testimony of your devout regard for me; if you both attend to her health and bring to my knowledge things that will please. Farewell.

Whatever we still hope from Sicily is uncertain. For although the letters of Eusebius announced that the performers of the circus and the stage had sailed some time ago, still now rumor of their arrival is hidden; and so it was decided to request an officer, who, having ranged over the shores everywhere, might bring back to our ears what he has learned. But concern over the games has grown, after the people, by frequent petitions, demanded a report concerning the deserved amphitheater, which soon obtained the assent of the judge. God's will shall bring it about that the authority of the divine emperor also concur in this matter. Farewell.

Your brother, long affected in spirit with grief over the loss of his teacher, has begun to lend an ear to those who console him, whose sadness has wounded me too gravely, apart from the thought that troubles us about choosing a new preceptor. If, then, it pleases you, let us by joint letter request from the illustrious man Adrianus the rhetorician Gallus, whom Eusebius had not recently forced upon us, lest the promising talent of our children, standing at the point of advancement, be abandoned. Both the labor and the expense of the coming exhibition occupy me. For in arranging the prizes, though I am sufficiently well supplied in the number of garments, I find that some things are still lacking to the equipment. Farewell.

As long as things tossed about by rumors are rashly deferred, be at ease free from cares. If more recent word brings anything worthy of hearing and resting on trust, I shall not withhold my part either in announcing or in advising. Take this one thing beforehand, of my own counsel, before the necessity of the matter arises: that by no reasoning can you decline the honor of a summons. Concerning your brother, apart from the instructions given, we have received no further news even now. We ourselves have committed to a page these matters concerning the wedding at Ostia, to which the younger son of the illustrious Sallustius has invited us. But at once, on account of preparing the games, Rome must be sought again. For these matters must long occupy me, which, if your holiness were present, our joint diligence could easily complete. Farewell.

When sacred letters were delivered to me by a court messenger, by which I am summoned to the service of the most eminent consul; I saw other letters likewise sent to your name, by which imperial honor has summoned you. The messenger also produced the consul's own writing. I advise you, then, to prepare your journey promptly, to which the Spaniard will not be attached. Another thing has also come, which may encourage you. For the illustrious man, my brother Neoterius, an admirer of our lord your brother, having been asked for the same purpose, will provide you comfort and assistance. Do not doubt, then, since you know that, by the authority of the most eminent man, chosen persons among friends are involved, and that these, the first words of the divine prince after doubtful fortune, are being brought to you. In your business, however, which you had wished conducted through me before the holy tribune, I do not enter unwillingly.

Meanwhile, advance your journey to the Formian shore, and when the letters have been delivered to you, hasten more quickly to Rome. Farewell.

I place the utterance of greeting first, which both agrees above all with my own wish, and is owed by the customary beginning of a letter. Then, my lady daughter, I commend to your diligence the birthday banquet of your brother. For our man pleads the flight of sailors leaving the shores deserted. This circumstance has compelled me to entrust to your holiness matters of lesser doing. I have nothing to write about public affairs, except that in the Piazza of Trajan the collapse of a single tenement crushed its inhabitants: a matter which the common resentment has so turned against the fortune of the public conveyance, that it now uses a private director. Farewell.

Our friend Severus, freed from his public burden, has returned to the leisure of his homeland; and soon, with your brother, the distinguished vicar, both the letter of your holiness and the recognition of their old friendship assisted him. My concern regarding the praetorian preparations increases. I write this so that your unanimity may understand that the partnership of your assistance is desired. Nor am I an imperious exactor, since I know that my necessities are to be placed after your convenience. But, if I judge rightly, the delay will suffice you for the refreshment of the present month. I have briefly set forth the disposition of my own wish: what needs to be done I leave to your judgment, that it may be more praiseworthy for you, and more welcome to me, that a spontaneous inclination should have chosen it. Farewell.

I marvel that the boys, whom on different days we sent to your holiness, are delayed; yet we do not omit the practice of writing, desiring to know how much the recovery has progressed. Let the return of the messenger, then, without delay satisfy our expectation. Farewell.

My first pleasure is to inquire what state of health you enjoy: in the second place I will set down the rest, which you had long since thought should be asked. The city is troubled by grave portents, of which I pass over the lighter ones. This above all a sad interpretation shudders at, that on the birthday of the City the chariot in which the substitute consul was riding was overturned by the ferocity of the two-horse teams that were drawing the triumph. And so, clothed in the palm-embroidered robe and distinguished by the consular ornament, he was carried off with a broken leg. The ill-omened tale offends me, and therefore in this account I will observe brevity. As for you, day by day, our glory, your fame flourishes more at home and abroad. Of present matters indeed we are witnesses ourselves. Caecilianus has reported the judgments abroad, the individual details of which it would be tedious to enumerate, since all things come together in the sum of your glory.

I wish my lady daughter, greeted along with my sweetest grandchildren, who wished me to remind you religiously about weaving the garments for the preparation of the games. She will therefore know from the enclosed what ought to be prepared in supplement of the praetorian largesse. Farewell.

My mind is ill at ease, since I have learned that my daughter is troubled by her accustomed pain; and I would have wished to set out on a journey to you, had not both a heaviness of the head and an unexpected fever of our Symmachus held me back—of whose bodily complaints it is better to keep silent, lest the anxiety of your holiness be doubled. And certainly my brother Comazon, having left the city out of longing for you, will more fully unfold what we keep silent. I ought not to ask what you will do of your own accord—that you lessen the magnitude of our cares with more cheerful letters. Farewell.

I have lately received a letter of Eusebius, in which he reported that our charioteers and some stage-performers had been put aboard ship and sent, according to my instruction, to Campania. Let your holiness, then, order the most diligent scouts to go as far as the shore of Salerno, so that they may escort those received to Naples, or discover some indication of their arrival. I also wish our common friend Felix to be advised that, if they come safely to Campania, they should be aided with provisions and expenses, to be sent on to us by continuous voyage. For long before the games we must both train them for yoking the horses, and win the favor of the people for their novelty. The sum of my request, then, is this: that the inquiry after them, and its speedy completion, be entrusted to your men.

We attempted to keep, for your presence, the crocodiles displayed at the theatrical spectacle: but as their prolonged fasting, lasting fifty days, wasted them, they were finished off at the second games in the manner of combats. Two, still breathing, we will yet defer for your arrival, though the abstinence from food does not promise that they can live long. Farewell.

It is a work of superfluous effort to remind one who remembers. But the affairs of friends undertaken by no means allow us to keep measure. Wherefore I do not cease to beg that you earnestly carry out the votive commissions of our common friend Hercules, a man of senatorial rank. May the assent of your relatives cooperate with the zeal of your holy unanimity: since indeed my son Valentinus has affirmed that he too, consulted by letter of Julian, urged the very same things that we wish concerning the marriage arrangement. Farewell.

After I learned that you were being tossed about by your accustomed pain, all sense of my remaining anxieties vanished. For, as Hippocrates says: present discomforts are dulled, if a greater pain should come upon someone. I await, therefore, that upon receiving a happier report of you, I may return to my former cares. The rest, in this consternation of my mind, I pass over as untimely, and yet I have appended a memorandum, which I would like you to consider once your health has been restored to tranquility. Farewell.

You brought us no letters at all by our man. But it was in no way permitted me to imitate the silence of your unanimity, whether because the anxiety, which you rightly bear concerning me, demanded it, or because true love impels me to the duty of writing. That my act was welcome to you the exchange of a reply will testify. Farewell.

I have neither leisure to know, nor desire to write, of the city's affairs: for my mind, occupied by bodily illness, knows not how to direct its care to other men's business. This one thing I know, that the messengers lied about the disturbances; and the rumors depart so far from the truth, that never has the prefecture been celebrated with greater applause. And so the zeal of the people is matched even by the favor of the order toward the judge. These things reach us, if any interval of pain admits the courtesies of visitors, by the consistent report of all. The rest, which men of yours who move about in public must disclose with the pen. Concerning me, other men's affairs are to be inquired into then, when my own troubles have found rest. Farewell.

With the birthday gift, which our common good fortune will cause to be repeated by you through many years, you have gladdened my spirit and shown your own worth. Of this my modesty does not allow me to write at length to you. Yet a fuller gratitude remains in my feelings than can be brought forth in speech. What pertains to the city you will learn by reading the attached memorandum. But upon you, my lady daughter, I enjoin, with the devotion that is fitting, the care of improving your health: that the assurance of your soundness may be a joy to us all. Farewell.

With your man returning to Campania, I have spent my time in writing; and yet I did not wish the holy and honorable man, your parent Severus, to depart empty of a letter from me: so that I might both fulfill the custom of greeting, and set forth the judgment of my own inspection concerning the work which you are building at home. The site and the extent of the baths pleased me greatly. In the smaller baths I did not approve that the pool be adorned rather with paintings than with mosaic. The occasion reminds me that you should know that Messala set out on the night following the nones of March. The other envoys will follow soon. I have noted, however, from certain conversation, that some things have been softened in favor of the household from which most of our countrymen fill themselves with delicacies. But my care will not fail to see that nothing be subtracted from the mandates of the senate through connivance. Farewell.

I do not refuse to write: but I preferred to reserve for my lord son Sibidius, in leisurely conversation, the things to be told in person. This page, then, will serve only for greeting, whose brevity will both satisfy your honor and take nothing away from what is to be reported to him. Farewell.

By my earlier letter you learned what I might now answer. I do not regret having returned. For we are both in possession of health, and, through the diligence of the tutors, your brother's progress grows; this alone gnaws at my mind, that we are separated from you by a long journey. But let the frequent use of writing exercise our exchanges: we shall between us make up for the pleasure of presence. Farewell.

The arrival of our lord and prince must again be requested. For Theodorus, an illustrious man, having undertaken the embassy of the Milanese, is said to be striving that the provincial desire be preferred to the petitions of the senate. The prefect of the city wishes your holiness to be enlisted in this matter, and I think he will send you a letter about this. I urge you, therefore, summoned by his letter, to deign to hasten before the senate, which will meet on the ides of June. For on that very day, I think, the envoys are to be chosen. There are many affairs of your household which might be settled by you in person, under the occasion of public business. Besides, this is a votive embassy, which will be thought pleasing to the ears of those who are to be summoned. I beg you not to delay, that you may obtain a reconciliation of past favor. Farewell.

Receive Maximus, an old friend but now serving as an agens in rebus, a man with gray hairs campaigning among the recruits. From him you will learn many things to be considered; and so I must avoid the charm of a long letter. Apart from the request for your arrival, which I frequently solicit—and if longing for you allowed it, I ought already to be silent, because requests made in vain create embarrassment—my love for you nearly persuades me to shamelessness, though frequently disappointed. But I fear lest you have promised your return for this very reason, that you might forbid my journey to you. Farewell.

We pray for your health, of which we hope to receive proof when the boy returns. My health for the present is free of pains, but lacks firmness, especially with the cares added by the offering recently made by the senate. It grieves me to go further, since I regret having burdened even this to an unconcerned mind. Farewell.

Yesterday I wrote by my man, moved by fear, after you reported news bitter to hear about the health of my daughter, and I am still tormented by uncertainty while the reply is pending. I ask, therefore, to be informed what has occurred toward the confirmation of her health. Of present matters, indeed, I had decided to give you no report, lest there return to your ears what you have avoided by a commendable departure. But since civic love has brought your care back to the affairs of the city, I have briefly run through certain things gathered under headings, that you may know them without the tedium of reading. Farewell.

I believe that by now at least the earlier letter of my lord the Prefect has been delivered to you: which, if by some chance or the negligence of the bearer it has gone astray, here is another letter of the same subtle man, to which he bade me add this word of mine; so that, twice consulted, you may explain what your opinion is concerning the undertaking of the business in which he wishes you to be involved. For I think you have returned to better health, since you gave me to understand that illness stood in the way of your return. And we indeed prefer that you promise your return once your health is fully restored; but if the complaints of your poor body delay that wish, then settle by clear letters the expectation of him who consults you. Farewell.

In recent days I have satisfied, with a great number of letters, both my own attentiveness toward you and your expectation. This page, however, does not require such abundance, since I would only urge this much upon your good will, according to the measure of my counsel: that the action of your case be transferred to the praetorian prefect of Sicily, if indeed the opportunity given will leave anything for you to try. Farewell.

After our dear Sibidius returned to Rome, he brought news of how great a bodily pain afflicts my daughter; my own spirit too sickens. And so, delaying not at all, I have sent off this letter, anxiously asking: first, that she be aided toward health by medical care and abstinence from harmful things; then, that the assurance of a reply may relieve my anxiety. As for ourselves, after the departure of the envoys we went to the Vatican estate, which adjoins your property; and, if nothing disturbs our plans, we shall enjoy the leisure of the villa until the calends of April. The levy of the younger men ordered from the urban households will remain pending until the response of the eternal emperor. From the enclosed copies you will learn the form of both directives. These things, since they were desired by your letter, I have sent. But the sole and only reason for dictating this letter was that certain and welcome news concerning my daughter's health might be reported back to us. Farewell.

Your earlier letter, which was soon followed by others, had given me some hope of your return: the later ones emptied that promise. So that, after many reasons for refusal, you left it to my counsel what should be followed. But I, considering, first, the disturbed health of my daughter, who cannot be deprived of your comfort; then the weakness of your stomach, which you write is unequal to the journey being undertaken; then the counsel of a paternal friend who prefers leisure; then the expectation of the illustrious man, whom you think will long be absent; besides the interpretations of men who, as you say, suppose that you have taken up a public office on the occasion of your affairs—I return to you the deliberation entrusted to me. For it is unjust that my judgment be made liable to so many opposing questions, and that the trust of one who advises be bound to the uncertain outcomes of the future.

Meanwhile, I judge that the day for settling the matter should be postponed, and I have for the time being refrained from delivering your letter to the magistrate. First, because the deference shown is bare; then because you set the reasons for refusal below the greatness of your devotion; and because I knew that what you had written must be read by more persons. I wish, therefore, that with fuller deference and weightier complaints you should fortify your excuse, if the wish remains to beg off from the labor and the journey. Farewell.

Ancient custom has made this order of writing, that those setting out from home should be the first to perform the duty of the epistolary office. But it seemed too long to wait for the letter of your unanimity, whose slowness we ourselves accuse. And so, changing the custom, we have broken forth into this office. It remains that you willingly repay what you ought to have begun, and rouse your pen to challenge, as an indicator of your health. We ourselves await, at Arabiana, the arrival of my lady daughter; though the reckoning of the solemn days already promises that you too, our glory, will soon be present. Farewell.

It is a happy subject, to urge leisure. But this exhortation requires a mind at its own disposal. As for us, neither does the faction of the envious permit us to remain settled, nor does the education of a young son allow long absence. Wherefore, as best we can, now by departure, now by return, we vary the distinction of places. This letter is witness to it, sent lately from our suburban estate, which will be followed by another from our Coranum, if nothing disturbed disposition. It is your part to increase, if it please you, the condition of this absence of ours by frequent letters; to relieve it, if it displease. Farewell.

The delegates of our order have returned, all matters having been transacted to advantage. For both the levy of recruits has come to rest, and grace has been granted us concerning the silver. Yet a speech is still hoped for concerning what has been obtained. Now let us join domestic matters, friendly to your mind. The good state of our health remains with us. Often we vary our stay in the city with the nearby countryside. Only your absence wastes us with grief. But if you come speedily into our presence, we too shall gladly accompany your return to Campania. Farewell.

I had sent a letter by my own man. Immediately Maximus was present, who was asking for others; wherefore it did not displease me to repeat the greeting. Besides, a recent report concerning the arrival of our lord and prince demanded that I remind you of your return, which you ought to hasten, lest the delay of your stay be forestalled by the votive embassy which must now be repeated for the sake of public advantage. Farewell.

You had written that you had emptied the bowels with a purgative medicine, so that the heat of the eyes might depart along with the rest of the burden. I wish to know whether the aforesaid treatment was effective, and whether the case did not also require that the veins be aided by bloodletting. A like concern asks how much confidence my daughter's health gives you, so that, learning of these matters as I wish, I may lay aside the sharpness of my anxieties. For as to other things too it grieves me, thinking upon the disturbances of the fatherland, which are chiefly stirred by the levies demanded for military service. And we indeed strive with frequent prayers, and pass the day in supplication; and already, by a wretched offering, the price of five pounds of silver has been reached. But I fear lest the avoidance of another matter despoil us of both. The prefect, seeming too slow in conducting the business, has been changed for a successor, Lampadius, by whose character they believed impossible things could be advanced.

Now I ask that you relieve me, anxious as I am, of the greater care which concerns you. For I am still tormented by uncertainty because of the delay of the little servant, who was sent to you long ago to learn the same things, and has not yet returned. Farewell.

Things to write are not lacking, but my mind shudders to speak hard things worth mentioning. Yet I see that the report of city affairs can by no means be restrained, which, as it is wont to do, will announce present things as greater than they are. Lest this happen, we have distinguished what should be known by adding a Summary: so that neither the letter, which brings you greeting, may draw bitterness from anxious matters, nor yet may the license of rumors exclude the trustworthiness of the writing. But of these things enough. My daughter's health is more grave to me than other things, at which my mind is now embittered. I wait therefore that you may report to me that, with God's help, all things tend to her health. If I learn that matters concerning her are as I wish, that portion of comfort will also soften the rest of my cares. Farewell.

We were absent from our fatherland but a few days, and the votes of the citizens demanded our return for the theatrical games. Yet even now we inhabit the suburb of the Ostian Way, delaying our return meanwhile, lest we seem to have awaited the entreaties. But if I had wished before to act according to the judgment of your reverence, I would both have avoided the dangers that followed afterward, and the expectation of me would have had more dignity. But there was one reason for this counsel: lest I seem driven out by certain persons, and a modest departure turn into a mark of timidity. Concerning your Sicilian business, the holy Comazon has written back with my assent also. That Nectarius is troublesome regarding our Sicilian affair, the letters which Euscius recently sent will show as evidence.

I ask therefore that this man, ignorant of affairs, who, shut up in his chamber, cherishes leisure, be restrained by a letter from you, lest he afterward think otherwise of Euscius, if he should defend our interests more vigorously than is fitting. I have sent the man's own letter, that you may judge from his manners the insolence of the attempt, since it is certain that he does not wish to be reproved by us. I had asked in earlier letters that you adorn the side of my Puteolan estate, by which one goes to the baths, with a gentler slope. If the matter has been deferred, I ask again that you do it; if completed, write back, that I may rejoice. Farewell.

It is true that a man cannot obtain all things equally favorable to his wish. How much more brightly should I have kept my birthday, had you been present? Which, in the time remaining, chance, being entreated, will at least grant through the numerous course of years. Meanwhile, my lady daughter, I rejoice enough that I have been honored by the excellent memorial of your wool-work. For in it both love for your parent and matronly industry have shone forth. Thus women of old are said to have spent their life. And indeed that barren age of pleasures bade them cultivate the distaff, and turn their mind to the looms: because, allurement ceasing, one lives by such means. But for you, even Baiae close at hand cannot take away the care of a sober work. You renounce those who sweep the pools, and, sitting or walking among the tasks and provisions of your maidservants, you consider these alone the delights of your sex.

Rightly, therefore, do I love you, and judge you worthy of your husband: since to us alike is praise and pleasure derived from his acquired perfection, and from your innate honesty. Farewell.

Although I hope, God's leave being first invoked, that we shall soon come into each other's presence: yet I ought not to abstain from letters, lest any time be without the offices of familiarity. Take, then, this greeting sent in advance, which I still pay you by pen, for the sake of good omen, but shall soon deliver by voice. Farewell.

You wished to excuse your silence by an ingenious pretext. For a caution against sorrowful reports was alleged, so long as favorable things should follow: so that what the interruption of writing had before concealed might be revealed by happier signs. But to us those things also were not unknown, through messengers, and these seemed to us exceedingly late. For the suspicion of a ceasing duty was increasing the license of rumors. And yet we cannot be angry, since the pleasure of your present letter has removed the memory of past grief. Only remember to reckon the care of writing among the chief and first things; lest the recollection of this example bring greater fears again, while we believe that, under the expectation of better news, some adverse things are again being kept silent. Farewell.

I confess I have long refrained from the pen. For nothing arose that we might write. But I received glad assurance of your health from the report of those arriving. At length affection overcame the delay. We resume, therefore, the custom of sending greeting, free of all business. For after the Tiburtine retreat we spend leisurely idleness at Rome. But we are not entirely idle as regards matters to be done. For at home the breaches of the crumbling walls are being repaired: because the first builder preferred haste before solidity, and speed of use seemed to him more important than the security of those to come after. You are undertaking new works to last for ages: since report has told that you have made certain things to be equalled with the Lucullan works. Nor yet shall we yield to you in the magnitude of expense. For the cost is equal, to lay solid work once, and to keep mending what constantly falls. Farewell.

Indulge your pleasures, since you so abound in the riches of land and sea, that the plenty of both elements furnishes you a lavish table. For us, it is enough that we enjoy so abundantly a share of all that you gather, that we ourselves too abound in rich feasts. Farewell.

Restored to our fatherland and household gods, we have found certain things that offend us: since a frequent assault troubles our Ostian estate. But if things prosper according to your wishes, grant me letters, whose gladness may wipe away the cloud of the present injury. Farewell.

I am tormented by grief at events. But lest a greater report reach your ears, I have briefly indicated the present state of my health. When happier things follow, I shall, according to my custom, send you a happier page. Farewell.

Not without cause have we thus far delayed our reply. For the handling of the business and the investigation of the documents demanded a proper delay of time. When these were completed, we added, for the rest which the instruction of the case demands, the reciprocal service of a letter. For as for us, hindered by many cares, we cannot undertake a journey to you. Yet the counsel which we might contribute to your settlement you will receive more abundantly from your other parent. Who, although he needs no assistant, will nevertheless, on account of the empty formalities of the forum, and the tricks of old formulas, deign to await the holy Prosdocius: who will come to you at once, when he has polished away the remains of his ill health with full soundness. Farewell.

It was my intention to pass by Fundi, had I learned that you had come to Formiae. Since it turned out otherwise, it seemed best to divide the journey so as to lessen the labor. It will therefore be in Fortune's decision to ratify this, that we may be refreshed at the Formian residence on the fifth day before the Kalends of August. This is our mind's resolve; now the accomplishment of the wish rests in the hand of the heavenly powers. Farewell.

No day passes without a letter from me. What if you were to return the mutual greeting? Yet I do not regret my diligence, though the honor of reciprocity be neglected. For things done from habit delight us even when unrepaid. As for me, I am advancing toward health with a still slow step: and therefore, being uncertain of further travel, I suspend deliberation until progress is made. What you yourselves have decided about returning or about a suburban stay, my mind is eager to learn. Farewell.

I forestalled your inquiry, when I perceived that you would be anxious, because I had been attacked by illness. And although I had already written on my own accord that the adverse effects of my pain were lessening: yet, for the sake of dispelling anxiety (which among those who love is always incredulous), I now report again, if no envy of fortune bewitch the saying, that my health is returning into harmony with me. But not yet does the pleasantness of the shore penetrate my feeling. For as, after long tossing at sea, a steady step is slowly regained, so time is needed, that the departure of so great an evil may make room for delight. Therefore neither in the Formian shore, nor in my building, do I yet take any sweetness. But all these things, as I hope, will return together with the good of health, and will soon reach the joy of your mind, communicated by my pen. Farewell.

When your boy had delivered one letter to me, he pressed upon me to write back at once, as though about to return to you presently. But, as I learned, he himself, hastening onward, used a stage-trick, so that his companion Rusticus might deliver our page. That one, now having returned, received another. I think you laugh, that I, circumvented by a servile trick, have paid double for a single lot. For the crafty little slave, what he delivered once, received back twice. I would go on further, if I had more to add. You, near the city, live amid more frequent news of affairs, and equal leisure. It is your part to enrich those placed afar with what you have learned. Farewell.

May this day endure forever, daughter, which gave you to us. This day I wish to celebrate with you, through many returning years, both with joys of mind and honors of words, adding also, to me weighty, to you pleasant, little gifts. As now I have sent a small linen garment; whose offering can hardly seem meager, if it be weighed more by the estimate of my affection toward you than by its own price. Farewell.

I should have wished to keep and share the birthday of my lady daughter, which we wish to be many through the returning years, with you, had not the continuation of rains stood in the way of my purpose. Yet I discharge with religious honor the pleasant little gift: asking that the smallness of the offering be increased by the kindness of its reception. Farewell.

You have transferred to us all the abundance of the birthday banquet. But one thing was lacking, that the full festivity might overflow into our mind: namely, that we did not rather consume everything together with you: whose sight and company is sometimes wont to commend even sparing feasts. Wherefore, both for you and for our common pledge, whose solemn day you have celebrated with dutiful devotion, we pray for abundant years, and a return, many times over, to these same festivities. For untroubled happiness befits devoted parents. To us the air of Tibur is pleasant; but on the other hand the badly managed accounting of the stewards vexes the mind. Neither does the field shine with cultivation, and a great part of the fruits is owed elsewhere, nor is there left to the tenants any means either to assist the accounting or the cultivation. Farewell.