Letter 2004: Relax — take a break and enjoy your leisure.

I want you to rest and, free of cares, take your leisure. For the honorable gentleman Antoninus informed me that the plan for the African embassy has fallen dormant. Added to the credibility of this report is the fact that recent letters from our friends brought me nothing on this matter. Is there anything else you would wish to know? On the contrary indeed, as my opinion holds, this very thing ought to have been the first to be reported to you. When we cast off from the Cuman shore [the coast near Cumae], the sky almost whitening with dawn, I reached the Formian coast more by the labor of the rowers than by the favor of the winds; by then the sun had already broken past midday. For our friends, whom the smaller ship had taken aboard, the voyage was slower, whether because the wind stood against them or through the negligence of the crew. This account, in the meantime, has prompted itself to be written. I shall take care that, by frequent letters, I may earn from you the diligence of a like courtesy. The fifth day before [...]. 383.