Letter 6017: Friendship is measured by hearts, not by years.

Friendship is measured by hearts, not by years. So don't treat these young men as strangers just because you haven't met them face to face -- their devotion to you is long-standing. I say this so you'll know that my sons Auxentius and Marianus, the most modest of young men, count themselves among your foremost admirers. They don't need a fresh introduction -- just a renewal of the bond of love already established. What brings them your way is a course of treatment ordered by their doctors. They want to go to Stabiae [a coastal town near modern Castellammare di Stabia] to shake off the lingering effects of a long illness with mare's milk. But they consider the greater medicine to lie in your company. So I'm assigning their recovery to you.

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.