Letter 2004: Avitus, bishop, to the most illustrious Aurelianus.

Bishop Avitus to the most illustrious gentleman Aurelianus. It is plainly a sign of some small measure of prosperity that we are visited, while the affection of friends shines forth for a little while, with the hue of a passing peace. Yet that surging flood, which you have likened to the storms of the present time, presses upon human affairs with the wave of unremitting upheaval, so long as the worldly sea is being traversed. Since this very thing, that we draw breath amid the adversities of the times, we ought to reckon rather an interval of the perils we suffer than an end of them. For it is for this reason that a certain peace seems to play upon us, circumscribing rather than healing the misfortunes of our calamities: so that, when our minds have been loosened by a deceptive security, a relapsing groan may afflict them with a fear renewed more grievously. Wherefore cease, most excellent sir, to believe in the midst of seething evils that there is an end of evils; and when, the tempest having been softened, the face of so slight a calm alternates with a motion unlike the former, do not take delight in the changeableness of outcomes, but make use of it. And let neither prosperity so lift you up nor adversity so break you down that the cause of friends is changed in your heart as much as the cause of the times. Be mindful always of the love we have set before us; if it is permitted, write; but if otherwise, then at least love—for that cannot be forbidden. And after the whirlpools which you have described in your letters, hope all the more for a harbor in that age in which the longed-for tranquillity will not be able to fear shipwreck.

Avitus episcopus viro illustrissimo Aureliano. Indicium quidem quantulaecnmque prosperitatis esse manifestum est, quod ami- corum affectu tantisper illucescente temporariae pacis colore visitamur. Verum tamen aestus ille diluvii, quem procellis temporalibus comparastis, humanis rebus, dum per mundanum pelagus curritur, fluctu adsiduae perturbationis insistit. Quandoquidem hoc ipsum; quod inter adversitates temporum respiramus, discriminum, quae patimur, inter- vallum magis debemus putare quam terminum. Nam idcirco tantum incommodis calamitatum circumscribendis potius quam sanandis pax quaedam videtur adludere, ut mentes fallaci securitate laxatas instaurato gravius metu succiduus gemitus adficiat. Quo circa desiste, vir optime, in malis ferventibus credere finem malorum, et cum se motu dissimili tempestate mollita facies tantillae serenitatis alternat, varietate pro- ventuum non delectare, sed utere. Nec sic te aut prosperitas erigat aut frangat ad- versitas, ut animis tuis tam amicorum mutetur causa quam temporum. Mementote semper propositae caritatis; si licet, scribite: sin alias, quod prohiberi non potest, vel amate. Et post gurgites, quos litteris descripsistis, in eo magis saeculo sperate por- tum, quo timere non poterit tranquillitas optata naufragium.