Letter 529
To Olympius.
The moment I heard that Rome had claimed you, I counted you fortunate. When I then learned that your reputation and influence were growing there, I called you even more fortunate. I do fear, however, that this may rob our own city of what belongs to her -- it is hard for our people when their descendants win fame elsewhere.
I want you to receive praise everywhere, but not at the cost of wronging the city that raised you. She needs you. Through me, she asks you to come home, rejoicing in the literary accomplishments you have acquired but longing to enjoy them firsthand. She blames me before she blames you, because people think you follow my lead, and they fault me for not telling you to return.
Let Rome be the crown of the world, as it is. But do not let that make you forget your friends and your family. Come back on the same terms as before. Help me tend our flock -- you would find it more pleasant to lead students alongside me than to govern cities far away. And if hearing about your eloquence falls short of hearing your actual voice, well, you will make the hearing far better with that voice of yours.
As for the books you sent -- they were a delight. And the ones you said you are collecting are eagerly awaited. You will receive from us in the summer what you requested.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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Before you did write me a few words: now not even a few. Your brevity will soon become silence. Return to your old ways, and do not let me have to scold you for your laconic behaviour.
Again I write when I ought to come: but I gain confidence to do so from yourself, O Umpire of spiritual matters (to put the first thing first), and Corrector of the Commonweal — and both by Divine Providence: who have also received as the reward of your piety that your affairs would prosper to your mind, and that you alone should find attainable...