Letter 40
I've been idle for some time in the retreats of Campania and had no opportunity to write. That's why my usual correspondence with you went cold for a while. But now that I've set foot back in Rome, my first thought was to resume our exchange.
So I send you the customary greeting of friendship, asking two things: that you pardon the earlier silence, and that you answer this present letter in kind. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
Is it true, my beloved Augustine, that you are spending your strength and patience on the affairs of your fellow citizens (in Thagaste), and that the leisure from distractions which you so earnestly desired is still withheld from you? Who, I would like to know, are the men who thus take advantage of your good nature, and trespass on your time? I...