Letter 1095: I'd been wondering, my dear friend, why you'd let the silence drag on so long.

Some time ago, my brother, I marveled that you indulged in silence. That circumstance increased my grief at great cost, because I myself was by no means neglecting the dutiful practice of writing. The moment I received your letter, joy took possession of my mind, and complaint ceased; for friendship is quickly healed by an act of dutiful service. You too had so smeared the page with the honey of your most learned eloquence that any offense whatsoever was, as it were, drowned in a draught of Lethe [the river of forgetfulness in the underworld]. Therefore, turning my pen about, I confess gratitude, I who had been meaning to lodge a complaint, adding this one request: that you never persist in withholding your letters. But if matters to write of are lacking, it will be enough for me that I may congratulate you on your good health. [Editorial apparatus: letter number 92 (86); before the year 379.]

Dudum te, mi frater, silentio indulgere mirabar. ea res inpendio augebat dolo- rem, quod ipse minime scribendi observantiam neglegebam. simul atque accepi litte- ras tuas, animum subiit laetitia, querella desemit. amicitia enim cito sanatur officio. 20 tu quoque ita paginam melle emditissimi oris obleveras, ut quaelibet offensa tamquam Lethaeo poculo mergeretur. verso igitur stilo gratiam fateor, qui expostulare medi- tabar, adiciens postulatum, ne umquam supersedere litteris perseveres. quod si scri- benda defuerint, mihi satis erit, ut tibi gratuler sospitatis. LXXXXII (LXXXVI) ante a. 379.