To Hyperechius. (360)
I received your letter with the same pleasure I always feel when something of yours arrives. Even the sight of your handwriting lifts my spirits, as if your voice were somehow embedded in the ink.
You ask about our literary output. I have been productive enough, though whether the results are worthy of the effort, others must judge. The speeches on public affairs are, I think, among my better recent work. The declamations for the school continue as always -- the young men need their exercises, and the exercises need a teacher who has not grown weary of them. I have not.
As for what you tell me about the situation in your city, I am sorry to hear it, though not surprised. The good are never given an easy time of it, and those who deserve authority are precisely those least likely to seek it by the methods that now prevail. Your friend will survive this setback, and when the wheel turns -- as it always does -- his worth will be recognized.
In the meantime, let us both keep writing. It is the one thing no one can take from us.
I received your letter with the same pleasure I always feel when something of yours arrives. Even the sight of your handwriting lifts my spirits, as if your voice were somehow embedded in the ink.
You ask about our literary output. I have been productive enough, though whether the results are worthy of the effort, others must judge. The speeches on public affairs are, I think, among my better recent work. The declamations for the school continue as always -- the young men need their exercises, and the exercises need a teacher who has not grown weary of them. I have not.
As for what you tell me about the situation in your city, I am sorry to hear it, though not surprised. The good are never given an easy time of it, and those who deserve authority are precisely those least likely to seek it by the methods that now prevail. Your friend will survive this setback, and when the wheel turns -- as it always does -- his worth will be recognized.
In the meantime, let us both keep writing. It is the one thing no one can take from us.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.