To Fortunatianus. (361)
We are truly in a desert with you gone — or rather, in something worse than a desert. For those in a desert associate with neither worse nor better people, but we go searching for the one we should have and keep running into those we would profit from avoiding.
The one man who was our sole consolation himself needs consoling. Rufinus, who has been struck so many blows by fortune, now hangs in suspense over the imperial couriers. You would see the same man now laughing, now weeping, his mood shifting with each new report that arrives.
One remedy alone is stronger than these troubles: if you would appear and offer your usual philosophical counsel.
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To Eudoxius. (361)
It is not bold to write a letter — rather, it is blameworthy not to. So even if nothing urgent presses, send your greetings; and if something does press, write with confidence. For I consider both you and your brother good men, and will not deny you my help, if I can be of any.
We are truly in a desert with you gone — or rather, in something worse than a desert. For those in a desert associate with neither worse nor better people, but we go searching for the one we should have and keep running into those we would profit from avoiding.
The one man who was our sole consolation himself needs consoling. Rufinus, who has been struck so many blows by fortune, now hangs in suspense over the imperial couriers. You would see the same man now laughing, now weeping, his mood shifting with each new report that arrives.
One remedy alone is stronger than these troubles: if you would appear and offer your usual philosophical counsel.
---
To Eudoxius. (361)
It is not bold to write a letter — rather, it is blameworthy not to. So even if nothing urgent presses, send your greetings; and if something does press, write with confidence. For I consider both you and your brother good men, and will not deny you my help, if I can be of any.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.