Letter 6072: You tried a clever trick to excuse your silence: you claimed you were holding back bad news as long as things were...

By an elegant pretext you wished to excuse your silence: for you alleged as your reason a cautious withholding of grim tidings, so long as favorable events were following one upon another, that the very things which the interruption of your writing had previously concealed might be disclosed by more cheerful indications. But those matters had not been unknown to us through messengers, and these came to us decidedly late. For the suspicion of a neglected duty was increasing the free play of rumors. And yet we cannot be angry, since the favor of your present letter has removed the memory of past grief. Only remember to assign care for the pen a place among your foremost and first concerns, lest the recollection of this precedent should once again bring upon us greater fears, while we believe that, under the expectation of better things, certain adverse matters are once more being passed over in silence. Farewell.