Letter 6012: I was delighted by the letter from our friend that you wanted me to read, and please believe me when I say I wasn't...

I was delighted by my friend's letter, of which you wished me to be the reader, and I would have you believe that he lied in nothing concerning the relaxation of mind he is claiming for himself. The distinguished man, the praetorian prefect [iudex praetorianus], gave me notice of offenses on account of a levy of the senate and other remedies for the city of Augusta, distressed, as he asserts, by Curio, by whom, when on the day of the imperial games, while a curio was being demanded of us by the senate in our presence, he made public a common offering to the people. 2. He suspects that all these things were contrived to destroy the glory of his own promises, and he turns the ill will upon me alone, because this pleases those who report it. I answered, as best I could with my dignity preserved, to his heat, and as far as the Eastern envoys affirm — to whom he himself gave a sample of my writings — our replies pleased everyone. But lest, overcome by reason and authority, he should fall silent, he afterward sent a gentler letter containing a like complaint. 3. A copy of all these will be handed to you, so that you may know by what waves we are buffeted. But in the matter of your holy unanimity, which the repeated instruction has set in motion, we must use a plan of drawing out the settlement, and the part which pertains to your brother must be subjected to an auction, so that the young man, injured in this way, may magnify the deed or fulfill his wish. But I desire to know which estates in particular pertain to the right of your holy brother as his share, 4. lest, through ignorance of your right, error should lay hold of the personnel of the staff. Your brother I shall keep at Rome for the time being, since the offering has extended the supplies of the grain dole for twenty days. Therefore my daughter ought not to take it ill if I have delayed the beasts of burden assigned to her journey. 5. The rest my son Comazon will narrate, whether at your asking or of his own accord. As for sending an embassy, on account of the straits of the grain supply, the public deliberation will be deferred until the return of the most excellent man, the count [comes]. Your holiness's advice seemed wholesome to me; and so, having given letters to my people, I at once ordered that, in accordance with our interest, the grain be carried over from Apulia to Campania. Farewell.

Amici litteris delectatns snm, qnarum me lectorem esse yoluisti, et velim credas nihil enm de nsnrpanda animi remissione mentitnm. mihi vir inlnstris index prae- torianns ob conlationem senatns et alia remedia nrbis at^gnstae dennntiavit offensas contristatns , ut adserit , cnrione , qno praefectns nrbi ludomm imperialinm die , cum 20 a senatu curio nobis praesentibns posceretnr, oblationem communem populo pnblicavit. 2 haec omnia ad destmendam promissomm snomm gloriam conposita suspicatur et in me solum, qnia hoc referentibus placet, vertit invidiam. respondi, nt potui dignitate servata, eins calori, et quantum legati Orientales adsemnt, qnibns ipse scriptomm meomm fecit indicinm, cnnctis responsa nostra placnerant. sed ne ratione et ancto- 25 ritate victus sileret, molliores postea litteras misit parem qnerimoniam continentes. 3 homm tibi omninm tradetur exemplar, nt noveris, qnibus fluctibns perstrepamnr. in negotio antem sanctae nnanimitatis vestrae, quod praeceptio iterata commovit, consilio trahendae solntionis ntendnm est et pars, quae ad germanum tnnm pertinet, snbicienda anctioni , nt hninsmodi ininria factnm invenis exaggeret ant expleat volnntatem. sed 30 scire desidero, quae potissimum praedia ad ius sancti fratris tui pro partb pertineant, 4 ne per ignorantiam inris tni corpora apparitionis error adtrectet. fratrem vestmm Romae tantisper tenebo, qnoniam snbsidia annonae in dies viginti oblatio prorogavit. moleste igitnr filia mea ferre non debet, si inmenta itineri eius depntata tardavero. 5 cetera filius mens Comazon vel quaerentibns vobis vel sponte narrabit. de legatione 35 mittenda ob angnstias fmmentariae rei nsque ad reditum viri excellentissimi comitis tractatns pnblicns differetnr. consilium sanctitatis tuae salubre mihi visum est; ita- que datis ad homines meos litteris statim iussi ex re nostra Apula ad Campaniam fmmenta deferri. vale. 2 Bymmacus nichomaohis flliis P .3 repondetis: moleste fero 8u8t 5 in noscentiam] /urelKS, innocentiam P 8 docnittiB P 2 m. 11 secessiones P 1 m, 13 indic// P (moui in ras.) P 29 solutionis (utionis m ras,) P 30 iuuenis (is 2 m. in ra$.) P 33 Untis pertinebo P 35 cumazon P 37 salubrem P LIBEK VI. 157 xm.