Letter 8041: The grief of those who truly love is inconsolable by ordinary means.

Ennodius to Agapitus. The absence of those who love one another would be borne without consolation, were it not that the remedies of letters provide relief, which feed the starving souls of those who long with the nourishment of conversation. For affection well paints for itself, through the pen, the beloved image of a friend, with which it mingles the honey of discourse without the endurance of toil. To this end your greatness, being skilled, wrote, so that you might not leave a kindness unfed. I owe a return in kind, since I have learned that you are mindful of me. Therefore, the honor of a salutation having been rendered, I ask that what you know to be precious among those who are dear and endowed with affection you not omit to do continually.

XXXXI. ENNODIVS AGAPITO. Insolabiliter amantum ferretur absentia, nisi opem darent remedia litterarum, quae ieiunas desiderantum animas pascunt esca conloquii. bene enim per stilum dilectio amicam sibi pingit effigiem, cum qua sine laboris patientia misceat mella sermonum. ad hoc magnitudo tua artifex, ne inpastam gratiam linqueres, scripsisti. debeo uicissitudinem, quia memorem mei te esse cognoui. honore ergo salutationis exhibito rogo, ut quod scis apud caros et adfectione praeditos esse pretiosum sub continuatione facere non omittas.