Letter 2022: I have long been hoping to restore the health of my poor body, if only I could enjoy the healthful air of the...

I have long been hoping to restore the health of my poor body, if only I could enjoy the healthful air of the countryside. But the suburbs are unsafe because of bandits, and so it is better to waste away in the idleness of the city than to risk the dangers of the rural districts. Yet I feel my health improving through your letters, in which you frequently list the benefits of our lord Theodosius [Emperor Theodosius I] and assure me that your merits are being pressed with great rewards. His tongue will suffice for thanking you; for my part, with my modest talent, I have paid the tribute of praise to the most excellent man -- our partner in wishing well for Flavianus. But it is time for you to allow that very man to return -- the one for whom we are obligated. How long will you claim the comfort of a magistrate's company in a distant province? There is no excuse involving his wife's pregnancy anymore -- a timely birth has resolved that expectation.

Reparationem iamdiu corpusculi mei valetudinem, si frui agrorum salttbritatem potuissem. sed nunc intuta est latrociniis suburbanitas, atqne ideo prae- stat macerari otio civitatis, quam pericula mris incidere. tuis tamen litteris proficere 15 sanitatem meam sentio, quibns beneficia domini nostri Theodosii freqnenter ennmeras et urgueri merita tua magnis praemiis adseyeras. et illi quidem ad agendas gratias 2 tua lingua sufficiet: ego pro mediocritate ingenii mei viro excellentissimo nostrique in Flavianum voti socio vicem laudis exsolvi. sed iam tempus est, ut ipsum illura redire patiaris, pro quo obligati sumns. quousque magistratum longinquae provinciae solacio 20 tuo vindicas? nulla de uxoris utero causatio est, cuius expectationem maturus partus absolvit. XXra a. 382—383.