Letter 401.19

1. As for me, where letters are concerned, I am wholly [...] — from my earliest years I have attended to this duty only fitfully, and have almost neglected it; nor is there any man, unless I am deceiving myself, who has written to his friends, or written back to them, less often than I; nor anyone [...] I give notice [...] and, when I had wept, back and forth, the same things to you as if [...] of the name [...] yet you may be [...] to friends and companions [...] [...] [...] [...] which [...] not [...] after [...] those things [...] I neither suppose, nor shall I ever complain. 2. What, then? Does it not also commonly come about that a man who has long loved someone suddenly ceases to love, whether through fickleness of character or through an abundance of new friends? You know that this happens wrongly to many people again and again, but not to men of our measure; but you do not know [...] [...] [...] [...] that, against expectation, help is more diligently brought to certain friends, if the modest standing of our time of life holds [us] back.

to Fulvianus, greeting. In the matter of letters when I was vigorous . . . . From my earliest days I have paid but fitful attention to this duty and almost neglected it; and if I mistake not, there is no man who has written to his friends or answered their letters less often than myself, nor anyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You have an opportunity of (sending) backwards and forwards . . . . to friends and companions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nor do I think so, nor shall I ever complain. What then? Is not this often the case that one, who has long loved another, suddenly, whether from fickleness of character or by reason of the quantity of his new friends, gives up loving? You know that this has constantly occurred to quite a number ot people, but not to persons of our type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ad amicos 1.21 [183 Hout; 2.192 Haines] 1 Ego integer epistularum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . munus hoc ab eineunte aetate infrequens habui et paene neglectum; nec quisquam est hominum, nisi me fallo, qui rarius quam ego scripserit ad amicos aut rescripserit, nec quisquam de . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . denuntio defletusque ultro citro eodem ea tibi ac si queaxendepricatis nominis eadesba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tas est . . . . . . . . pre . . . . . . . . . . . res . . tevate . . . . . . . . . . . . . tamen sis . . . . . . . . . . . amicis et comitibus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . possi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . quod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . quae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . neque duco neque umquam querar. 2 Quid igitur? Non illud quoque evenire solet, ut is, qui diu amaverit quempiam, subito vel levitate morum vel copia novorum amicorum desinat amare? Scis saepenumero hoc perperam multis usuvenire,s ed non nostrae mensurae hominibus; sed nescis verelarerat pro . . . . . . . . quelendines. . . . . . . . . defenderitis de spe quibusdam amicis ferri opem diligentius, si aetatis nostrae mediocritas retinet.