Letter 3013: Necessity prevented me from attending the feast; your kindness made the feast come to me.
Bishop Avitus to Bishop Apollinaris.
Necessity prevented me from attending the feast; your kindness made the feast come to me. You write that you have avenged my absence with a shipment of seafood. A fitting punishment indeed — if only it did not create a conflict with the appetite! I would have been happy enough to present myself to you, if you did not punish absentees quite so deliciously. I only hope the sentence against this offender does not end here. Nothing frightens me more than your order that I have nothing further to fear — for that would mean the punishments had stopped. If your holiness condemns what it indulges, then I confess my guilt gladly and beg to be sentenced again.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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