Letter 71
Julian the Apostate→Commander Gregory|julian emperor
imperial politics
To Commander Gregory.
Even a short letter from you is enough to make me very happy. Since I was truly pleased by what you wrote, I send you a letter of equal length — because in my judgment, the friendly greetings of comrades should be repaid not by the length of one's letter but by the depth of one's goodwill.
To Commander Gregory 2
Even a short letter from you is enough to provide me with grounds for feeling greatly pleased.
Accordingly, since I was exceedingly pleased with what you wrote to me, I in turn send you a letter of the same length, because in my judgement the friendly greetings of comrades ought to be rewarded not by length of letter so much as by magnitude of goodwill.
2 A Gregorius Dux was pretorian prefect in 336, according to
Codex Theodosianus 3. 1. 2, but this purely formal letter of the type that survived in epistolary handbooks
and is probably addressed to a younger man.
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To Commander Gregory.
Even a short letter from you is enough to make me very happy. Since I was truly pleased by what you wrote, I send you a letter of equal length — because in my judgment, the friendly greetings of comrades should be repaid not by the length of one's letter but by the depth of one's goodwill.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.