Letter 8018: My son is out of danger, thank God, but he's suffering from a weakness that borders on illness.

My son, by the kind indulgence of God, is free of danger, but he suffers a failing of his strength almost to the point of sickness. The plan is for him to return gradually, the stages of the journey divided into shorter stretches. I too, sharing in the contagion of my own people, have caught it, I believe from keeping watch through the night, the harm from which, slight in its immediate effect, grew raw afterward. Nevertheless I strive by carefulness and frugality to check the encroaching malady. Therefore, having called upon the powers of heaven, we are preparing to set out upon our journey. I would render thanks for your attentiveness toward us, if the love we hope for and that is owed by mutual obligation allowed itself to be coaxed by praise. 59 (58). To Romanus.

Filius meus cum bona dei venia periculo caret, sed defectum virium patitur prope usque ad aegritudinem. redire consilium est paulatim mansionibus in spatia minora divisis. ego quoque meorum contagio socius accessi, credo ex vigiliis noctur- nis, quarum in praesentia exiguus fuit sensus, noxa post cruduit. conprimere tamen 15 nitor diligentia et parsimonia ingruens malum. ergo caelestibus advocatis iter para- mus ordiri. vestrae in nos diligentiae grates referrem, si se amor speratus et ex mu- tuo debitus lactari laude pateretur. LVIIII (LVIII). AD ROMANVM.