Letter 39

? 153–154 A.D. On my return from a banquet of my father's I got your letter, and learn that the messenger who brought it has already gone. So I am writing this quite late in the evening, that you may read it to-morrow. It is no matter of surprise, my master, that my father's speech should seem to you worthy of the occasion. But my brother's speech of thanks is in my opinion the more praiseworthy, in that, as you surmise, he had but little time to prepare it. Farewell, my most delightful of masters. My mother greets you.