Letter 1008: I'm in good spirits now that you've remembered your promise and set out.

We are in good spirits, since, mindful of your promise, you have set out upon the journey. Now there is need of haste, so that, while the season of the year is warm, we may snatch in passing the good things of autumn. For in these months Campania shines with the richness of its fields and the glory of its orchards; Baiae is tempered by rare rain and moderate sun, and its tables are abundant with delicacies, with which you threaten me by way of throngs of friends. But to me there is no threat in an honorable multitude, and if there should be present twice as many more than you write of, you will have done a good service. There will be no lack of those to befoul their hunger; for, as your companions are sober men, the care of slaughtering fattened beasts is a secondary matter. How long shall I speak at length? I send words aside, I demand the deed. To seize the opportunity is the mark of a prudent man. If anything of delay is subtracted from the journey, the lingering is repaid in leisure. Farewell.