Letter 59: Sincere friendships are neither dissolved by distance nor weakened by time.
To Claudianus,
Sincere friendships are neither dissolved by distance nor weakened by time. Time does indeed inflict indignities on our bodies -- it strips them of the bloom of beauty and brings on old age. But friendship it only makes more beautiful, constantly kindling its fire to greater warmth and brightness.
So although I am separated from your magnificence by many days' journey, the goad of friendship drives me to write this greeting. The letter is carried by the standard-bearer Patroinus, a man whose high character makes him worthy of every respect -- he strives with great zeal to observe the laws of God.
Please be so kind, most excellent sir, as to send back by him news of your precious health, and word on whether you have fulfilled that promise of yours.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
Original text not yet available in this corpus.
This letter still needs a Latin or Greek source-text backfill. The source link, when available, is preserved so the text can be checked and added later.
View sourceRevision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2707059.htm
Related Letters
To Claudianus [Claudianus Mamertus, a philosopher-priest in Vienne, brother of Bishop Mamertus; author of "On the...
Although you have not yet met me in person, I believe your Excellency is already aware of the open slanders that...
The divine celebration [Easter or a major feast] has brought us its usual spiritual blessings, but the bitter fruits...
To Ibas, Bishop of Edessa [one of the major cities of Roman Mesopotamia, modern Urfa in southeastern Turkey],
God the Word is before all else my witness, being confident of my hope and faith in Christ the Lord and God of all, and discerning the proof of my holding the truth in these matters: but I call on your holiness, too, to bear witness to my heart and to the reasonableness of my opinions and words. But the wicked devil has exercised his evil influe...