Letter 142: Though my desire to meet you is warm, and the need of your petitioners is great, yet my illness is invincible. Therefore I am bold to commit my intercession to writing. Have respect to our gray hair, which you have already often reverenced by good actions.
Gregory to Olympius.
Though my desire to meet you is warm, and the need of those I represent is great, my illness is unrelenting. I am therefore bold to commit my plea to writing.
Have respect for our gray hairs, which you have already shown reverence to on many occasions. I ask on behalf of those who suffer and those who fear. Show them the mercy that your position makes possible and that your character has always made natural.
A letter is a poor substitute for a face-to-face appeal, but when the body cannot travel, the heart must go by post.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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