Letter 3013: I count it a personal credit that you've announced your long-desired return.

I count it a personal credit that you've announced your long-desired return. But I'm seriously worried that a shortage of housing might delay you — and I ask you to take what I'm about to say in good faith. I swear by the gods: the houses you asked about, one of which you requested, were already promised to guests some time ago. So please take my word for it — you should have trusted my intentions alone — and hurry back to your own home. The house that satisfied you when you were younger and ambitious, living there with your children, ought not to offend a man of mature moderation now that the children have moved to homes of their own. Farewell.

In meo aere duco, qnod te adornare optatum reditum nuntiasti. scd male metuo, ne boe stndium tni negatio habitationis impediat; quam peto, ut in bouam partem voti o erga te mei eertus accipias. deos enim facio testes, has domus, quamm alteram po- stulasti, iamdudum a me hospitibns esse decretas. quaeso igitur, nt sacramento com- modes fidem, qni vel animo tantum meo credere debuisses, et in aedes tnas festinns recnrras. siqnidem domns, quae tibi prins ambitioso per aetatem inventae et habi- tanti cum liberis satisfecit, senilem moderationem distribntis in alias domns filiis non 10 debet offendere. vale. * XV.