Letter 7056: If my earlier letters on behalf of my friend Iucundus had accomplished their purpose, I'd be writing to thank you...

If my earlier letters had carried any weight on behalf of a friend who is one in heart with me, my words would now be spent on rendering thanks rather than on renewing the request; but because in a civil suit the frequent summons to court increases his hardship, I am taking up the matter again not now for the sake of the case but for the well-being of my friend. And surely my request ought not to have been a difficult one to obtain, after a divine pronouncement granted him the favor of a long postponement [reprieve from the proceedings]. I am astonished that the carrying out of this should be difficult, since your clemency is accustomed to grant such things even without the authority of a written rescript. I therefore ask the more earnestly that the case, often agitated in these proceedings, be remitted to the court of the vicar [the deputy of the praetorian prefect], seeing that the sacred letters command this and the humanity of the courts does not refuse it.

Si quid pro amico atque unanimo roeo lacnndo priora scripta valuissent, agendis magis gratiis quam renovandae petitioni a me sermo inpenderetur ; sed quia in civili negotio auget eius infirmitatem crebra conventio, non iam pro causa sed pro valetu- s dine familiaris mei instauro sermonem. et certe difficilis impetratio mea esse non debuit, postquam illi divinus adfatus longae peregrinationis gratiam fecit. cuius rei exsecutionem miror esse difficilem, cum lenitas tua soleat talia etiam sine rescripti auctoritate praestare. inpensius igitur quaeso, ut vicarii foro saepe in his iudiciis agitata causa reddatur, quando hoc et sacrae litterae imperant et iudiciorum non re- lo futat humanitas. LXXXIUI (LXXXin). AD MESSALAM< Primam mihi scribendi causam religio fecit, ut amicitia nostra litteris excolatur; secundam suggessit humanitas, ut viro optimo Thalasso familiari meo tua concilietur 15 adfectio. superest, ut et mihi sermonis tui vicissitudo respondeat et commendato ex sententia procedat optatum. LXXXV (LXXVI. LXXVII) . PVMF AD MESSALAM. Numidam familiaritas nostra apud te debet iuvare : quem tuo trado suffragio , ut 20 meritum, quod apud ;ios honestis officiis conlocavit, tua pro me cura conpenset. mo- res hominis ex meo pende iudicio et in omnibus, quae utilitas eius exquirit, votum commendantis imitare. LXXXVI (LXXXrai. LXXXV).