Letter 33

? 148–149 A.D. To my Lord. All the blessings you have prayed for me are bound up with your welfare. Health of body and mind, happiness, prosperity, are all mine, as long as you enjoy a body, a mind, a reputation so hale and well, while you are so dear to your father, so sweet to your mother, so blameless a husband, so good and kind a brother. It is this which makes me cling to life, in spite of my ill-health. Apart from you I have had enough and to spare of life and toil, of profession and fame, but of pains and infirmities something more than enough and to spare. I gave my daughter the kiss you sent her: never has she seemed to me so kissing-ripe, never so kissed. Greet my Lady, my most sweet Lord. Farewell, and give your little matron a kiss from me.