Letter 3031: You report what I had already perceived through hope and intuition: that the very first meeting opened the door of...

You report that something has happened which I had already foreseen in hope and expectation: that a first meeting would open up to you the friendship of good men; for both your own character and the judgments of those men had promised us this. For uprightness, once made known to the arbiters of the virtues, easily wins favor. But this part is for me to rejoice over rather than to set forth at length; I would rather proclaim more widely, if my speech could match the greatness of the matter, that you claim for your own use garments that came from us. Nothing is more sincere than this affection; you should know that confidence arising from a guileless attachment is a kind of virtue. But what worthy return shall I make for this purity of yours? Up to now we have stood as equals in the offices of devotion; now we yield to you without hesitation. I think it suffices for you, in exchange for so great a kindness, that we confess ourselves outdone. Farewell. To Ambrose.

Factum nantias, qnod spe et opinione ante percepi, nt tibi amicitiam bonornm primns congressus aperiret; namque boc nobis et tui mores et illomm iudicia promi- serant. facile enim probitas delata ad virtutum arbitros placet. yerum ista pars 5 gaudenda mihi potius quam producenda est; illud mallem latius praedicare, si aequa- ret oratio rei magnitudinem , quod vestimenta de nobis usni tuo vindicas. nihil hoc amore sincerius; scias fiduciam de simplici adfectione surgentem genus esse yirtutis. sed quid ego buic puritati dignum rependam? stetimus officiis religionis hactenns pares; nunc tibi sine cunctatione cedimus. puto tibi sufficere ad vicem tantae gratiae 10 victi confessionem. vale. AD AMBROSIVM. XXX ante a. 398.