Letter 3011: You want longer letters from me.
Si tibi haec una, ut ais, frequentandi stili causa est, ut a me vicem sermonis
excudas, magnum silentii nostri in litteris tuis pretium est. vide igitur, ne me vali-
dus a scribendo revocet fructus tacendi, quia si saepe respondeam, fortasse plura
remittes ut iam victor optati. mane ergo in proposito adsiduae scriptionis etiam post 15
2 epistulam meam, quamvis malim reditum tuum quam paginas impetrare. sunt qui-
dem illae Tulliano segmentatae auro, sed de praesentibns amicis bona plura sumuntur.
ipsa etiam verba melius ex oris fontibus fluunt quam mandantur textis papyri. quin
ergo eluctatus longi otii cariem Caelium nostrum revisas. sat /emporis Spoletio datim,
bonae urbi et optimorum civium niatri, intellegenti tamen, quod nostrae curiae viros 20
usucapere non possit.
xm.
Related Letters
I was sitting with my uncle in conversation when someone walked up and handed him a letter.
After the letter conveyed to me by the officiales I have received one other dispatched to me later. I have not sent many myself, for I have not found any one travelling in your direction. But I have sent more than the four, among which also were those conveyed to me from Samosata after the first epistle of your holiness.
I was aware, before you told me, that you do not like your employment in public affairs. It is an old saying that those who are anxious to lead a pious life do not throw themselves with pleasure into office. The case of magistrates seems to me like that of physicians.
Epistle 16. To Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea. Since I am addressing a man who does not love falsehood, and who is the keenest man I know at detecting it in another, however it may be twined in skilful and varied labyrinths; and, moreover, on my own part I will say it, though against the grain I do not like artifice, either, both from my natural co...
Jerome's reply to the foregoing. Exposing the error of Hilary of Poitiers, who supposed the expression to signify redemption of the house of David, he goes on to show that in the gospels it is a quotation from Psa. cxviii.