To Fortunatianus. (361)
Your servants seem to be only half competent: they know perfectly well how to deliver your letters to the right people, but as for taking letters back to you from those same people, they wouldn't do it even under compulsion.
I wrote back at once to your first letter and told them to collect my reply. The man said there was still plenty of time, nothing was pressing, and he certainly wouldn't be so negligent as to make me appear idle or cause you annoyance. While he was saying this, a second letter of yours arrived — Celsus coming in between with the correspondence — about which I ought to have answered first, so now I'm behind on both.
Forgive the delay and blame your messenger. My goodwill toward you is, as always, prompt.
Your servants seem to be only half competent: they know perfectly well how to deliver your letters to the right people, but as for taking letters back to you from those same people, they wouldn't do it even under compulsion.
I wrote back at once to your first letter and told them to collect my reply. The man said there was still plenty of time, nothing was pressing, and he certainly wouldn't be so negligent as to make me appear idle or cause you annoyance. While he was saying this, a second letter of yours arrived — Celsus coming in between with the correspondence — about which I ought to have answered first, so now I'm behind on both.
Forgive the delay and blame your messenger. My goodwill toward you is, as always, prompt.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.