Letter 6017: Friendship is measured by hearts, not by years.
Amicitia animis non annis aestimatur; rudis igitnr tibi eorum non videatur aspec-
tus, quorum in te cultus annosus est. hoc eo spectat, ut noveris Auxentium et Ma-
rianum filios meos pudentissimos iuyenes inter laudatores tuos loco priore censeri, at- 5
que ideo non cognoscendos novo aditu, sed amoris foedere et religione recolendos.
nunc illis proficiscendi adtulit causam medicorum coactu imperata curatio. nam Sta-
bias ire desiderant, ut reliquias longae aegritudinis armentali lacte depellant: sed
maiorem iudicant in tuo congressu esse medicinam. tibi igitur adsignabitur eorum
sanitas, si remediis herbarum salubrium fomenta benignitatis adieceris. vale. 10
XVIII (XVffll) hieme 395/6.
Related Letters
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1. I have received your reverence's letter and I am delighted at the title which you have felicitously applied to the writing which they have composed in calling it a writing of divorcement. Matthew 19:7 What defense the writers will be able to make before the tribunal of Christ, where no excuse will avail, I am quite unable to conceive.
"Not without a god," as Homer says — and you did not write this without the hand of Asclepius.
Jerome draws a contrast between his daily life and that of Origen, and sorrowfully admits his own shortcomings. He then suggests to Marcella the advantages which life in the country offers over life in town, and hints that he is himself disposed to make trial of it. Written at Rome in 385 A.D.
How fare you this long while? Have you altogether recovered the use of your hand? And how do other things prosper?