Letter 8019: And if fortune favors, I'll follow the letter in person soon.
valetudo filii mei diu in dubio versata cessationem mihi ab huiusmodi ofRciis impe-
ravit. qui ubi primum suflfragio salutarium potestatum coepit emergere, se-
cutus est ilico scribendi usus securitatem. accipe igitur libens a me dictam salutem,
quam si fors optata iuverit, mox sequemur.
25 LX (LVUII).
AD SERVIVM.
Opperiris, ut intellego, litteras meas., quasi ipse familiaris officii praesul esse
non debeas. fortasse allegatione moris uteris, quoniam plerisque persuasum est, au-
spicium salutationis profectis esse capiendum. absolvo te consuetudinis observantia
30 aut lege pigritiae. satis erit mihi ad plenam satisfactionem , si aversatus scribendi
occupare principium saltem sequaris exemplum.
personas F2.3, om, F^ patris F2, om, F» 5 nobis F^ retentatur] /7, retinetur F
etiam] et F^ etiam mihi F^ tuus] Lyp8iu$, mutnus F^, inuitus F^, munus Fi 6 est
Uxatio F2, taxatio uel existimatio est F^ mihi] (77), om, F credo F^ 7 tuo om. F2.3
romidolo F^ 8 uale om, F^
eorr. ex dinisis T 14 sensus] (r), usus (U) 16 gratias (F) 17 debitus] T, om. (IT)
^^'^testatum coepit (/7), auppU: e periculo vel aimile quid
232 SYMMACHI EPISTVLAE
LXI (LX).
n AMICIS ROMAM.
Iter Capuam promovemus. forsitan suspicemini interventuram soliti in vos officii
oblivionem per longitudinem viae; vulgati quippe proverbii est, enavigato Maleo ob-
limari eorum memoriam, quos domi reliqueris. me, quoquo versum pedem ikulero, s
amicorum cura comitatur. sperate igitur bonorem huius mnneris circa vos esse man-
surum, si optatis fortuna consenserit.
LXII (LXI).
AD ROMVLVM.
Non sum opinionis ambiguus, expectari litteras meas. nam ego quoque parem lo
desiderii inpatientiam de epistulis tui^ patior. una igitur est nostri causa sermonis,
ut tuum merear; cuius, ut in potu fontium; ideo maior est sitis, quia sapor dulcior.
vale.
LXm (LXII) a. 398.
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(When S. Gregory was consecrated Bishop of Nyssa the Imperial Throne was occupied by Valens, an ardent Arian, whose mind was bent on the destruction of the Nicene Faith. He appointed, with this object, one Demosthenes, a former clerk of the Imperial Kitchen, to be Vicar of the civil Diocese of Pontus.
I wrote to you, not long ago, about Glycerius and the virgins. Even now they have not returned, but are still hesitating, how and why I know not. I should be sorry to charge this against you, as though you were acting thus to bring discredit on me, either because you have some ground of complaint against me, or to gratify others.
1. I have received the letter which has reached me under the name of Diodorus, but in what it contains creditable to any one rather than to Diodorus. Some ingenious person seems to have assumed your name, with the intention of getting credit with his hearers.
1. What was my state of mind, think you, when I received your piety's letter? When I thought of the feelings which its language expressed, I was eager to fly straight to Syria; but when I thought of the bodily illness, under which I lay bound, I saw myself unequal, not only to flying, but even to turning on my bed.
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