Letter 45: Alypius and Augustine ask Paulinus and Therasia to write back and to help the bearer.

To our truest brother and sister, dearly loved and praiseworthy in Christ, Paulinus and Therasia: Alypius and Augustine send greetings in the Lord. Your long pause has not made us slow to write, though for two full years, ever since our very dear brothers Romanus and Agilis returned to you, we have received no letters from you at all. In other matters, the more dearly someone is loved, the more worthy he seems of imitation. Here the opposite is true. The more ardently we love you, the less able we are to bear your silence, and in this we do not want to imitate you. So here we greet you, not as people answering letters from you, since none have come to us, but at least as people making a complaint. And our sorrow is not slight, though perhaps your Charity makes the same complaint in return, if you know that letters sent by you have not reached us, just as letters sent by us have not been delivered to you. If that is so, let us turn our complaints into prayers to the Lord, asking him not to deny us such great consolations. We had heard that you were writing against the pagans. If the work is finished, please do not delay sending it by the bearer of this letter. He is dear to us, and in our region we can responsibly give good testimony about his reputation. Through us he asks Your Holiness to be willing to commend him to the people with whom he has business, and before whom he fears that a good case of his may be crushed. He will explain more conveniently what the matter is. If questions arise on particular points, he can be asked. We will be deeply grateful, and before the Lord our God we will thank your sincere kindness, if through your work we may rejoice in the security of a Christian brother.

EPISTOLA 45 Scripta circa ineunte a. 398. A. Paulino Nolano rogans ut demum rescribat post biennii silentium (n. 1) mittatque opus Contra Paganos, quod ab ipso elaboratum dudum audivit (n. 2). Dominis germanissimis, dilectissimis et in Christo laudabilibus Paulino et Therasiae, Alypius et Augustinus, in Domino salutem Quam moleste ferat A. amici silentium. 1. Nequaquam nos nescio qua vestra cessatio, quaecce per totum biennium, ex quo nobis dulcissimi fratres Romanus et Agilis ad vos remeaverunt, nullas a vobis litteras sumpsimus, pigros ad scribendum fecit. Nam cum in aliis rebus quanto quisque amplius diligitur, tanto dignior imitatione videatur, in hac re contra est. Quo enim vos amamus ardentius, eo minus ferimus quod nobis non scribitis; nec vos in eo volumus imitari. Ecce igitur salutamus vos, si non respondentes epistolis vestris, quae nullae ad nos veniunt, saltem expostulantes, et non dolere mediocri, quamvis fortasse etiam Caritas vestra similiter conqueratur, siquidem missas a vobis nostis quae ad nos non pervenerunt, vicissimque a nobis quae missae erant non sunt vobis datae. Quod si ita est, querelas nostras convertamus in preces ad Dominum, ne tanta solatia deneget nobis. Petunt opus Contra paganos. 2. Scribere te audieramus adversum Paganos; quod si absolutum est, quaesumus ne differas mittere per perlatorem huius epistolae. Carus nobis est, cuius aestimationi in regionibus nostris possumus non temere bonum testimonium perhibere. Rogat per nos Sanctimonium vestrum, ut eum commendare dignemini cum quibus ei negotium est, et apud quos ne bona causa eius opprimatur, timet. Quid in re agatur commodius ipse narrabit: quid etiam ad singula, quae forte animum moverint interrogari potest, nos gratissimum habemus, et apud Dominum Deum nostrum sincerissimae vestrae benignitati gratias agimus, si per vestram operam de christiani fratris securitate gaudeamus.