Letter 623: We have never met, yet from what we hear of each other we may reasonably trust one another.
Φαυστιλλιανῷ. (361)
Οὔπω συγγεγόναμεν ἀλλήλοις, ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἐξ ὧν ἀκούο-
μεν περὶ ἀλλήλων εἰκότως ἂν θαρροίημεν ἀλλήλοις. ἐγὼ δὲ
τοῦ φιλεῖν σε σημεῖον ἐκφέρω τὸ καὶ χάριν αἰτεῖν· σὺ δ’, εἰ
πρὸς τῷ δοῦναι τὴν χάριν καὶ ἐπιτάξαις, δύ’ ἔσῃ χάριτας δε-
δωκώς.
τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦτον εὖ ποιεῖν ἠρξάμην πάλαι
λόγους ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ καλοὺς ἀκούσας παρὰ Γαυδεντίου τοῦ κα-
λοῦ. νῦν οὖν αὐτὸν ἠρόμην, τί ποιῶν μάλιστ’ ἂν αὐτῷ βοη-
θοίην, ὁ δ’ ἔφησεν· εἰ σὲ βοηθὸν αὐτῷ ποιοίην.
πέμπω
δὴ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν πράξουσαν τὴν συμμαχίαν καὶ πιστεύω δυ-
νήσεσθαι.
Related Letters
I am attacked by sickness after sickness, and all the work given me, not only by the affairs of the Church, but by those who are troubling the Church, has detained me during the whole winter, and up to the present time. It has been therefore quite impossible for me to send any one to you or to pay you a visit. I conjecture that you are similarly...
Take this opening salvo of fatherly words with good cheer, and be generous in returning the favor going forward.
We are truly in a desert with you gone — or rather, in something worse than a desert.
I took Aurelianus — my protege, who now commands the urban cohorts — into my circle of friends at your suggestion.
I am dissuaded from writing often to you, learned as you are, by my timidity and my ignorance. But your persistent silence is different. What excuse can be offered for it?