Letter 7036: No one doubts that people are refreshed by pleasant variety, because great weariness of the mind comes from the...

XXXVI. FORM OF A LEAVE OF ABSENCE. [1] No one doubts that people are refreshed by a pleasant variety, since in the unbroken continuation of things there is plainly great weariness for the mind. The sweetness of honey, if it is taken continually, becomes loathsome; even clear skies, however greatly they may be longed for, grow worthless once they have been obtained without interruption. Not undeservedly so, because, since man is a changeable creature, he desires to possess the qualities proper to his own nature. [2] And therefore to you, eager to be restored again by the enjoyment of the countryside, we grant the opportunity of lingering for so many months in the aforesaid province, since a man is regarded as almost shut up in prison for whom it is not free to change his ground; yet on this condition, that, when by the Lord's help you have completed the leave you have earned, you hasten to return to your city dwellings. For if it is wearisome to live continually amid the bustle of the city, how much more so to have passed long stretches of time in the fields! Gladly therefore we grant the leave of departing, not that Rome ought to be abandoned, but that she may be the more highly esteemed in her absence.

XXXVI. FORMULA COMMEATALIS. [1] Nemo dubitat homines suavi varietate recreari, quia in continuatione rerum magnum mentibus constat esse fastidium. dulcedo mellis, si assidue sumatur, horrescit: serena ipsa, quamvis magnopere desiderentur, iugiter adepta sordescunt: non immerito, quia dum sit homo commutabilis, naturae suae desiderat habere qualitates. [2] Et ideo festinanti tibi provinciali oblectatione refoveri copiam tot mensuum in supra dicta provincia concedimus immorandi, quia paene reclusus advertitur, cui mutare solum liberum non videtur: ita tamen, ut cum promeritas indutias domino iuvante transegeris, ad urbanas sedes redire festines. nam si taedium est continuatim vivere in urbis celebritate, quanto magis in agris diutina tempora peregisse! libenter ergo damus indutias discedendi, non ut Roma debeat deseri, sed ut amplius commendetur absenti.