Letter 52: (Nicobulus asked Gregory to publish a collection of his letters. Gregory forwards a copy.) You are asking flowers from an autumn meadow, and arming Nestor in his old age, in demanding from me now something clever in the way of language, after I have long neglected all that is enjoyable in language and in life. But yet (since it is not an Eurysth...

You're asking flowers from an autumn meadow, or strapping armor on old Nestor, by demanding something clever from me now — now that I've long neglected everything enjoyable in language and in life. But since the task you've given me isn't a Herculean labor but actually a rather pleasant and quiet one — collecting as many of my own letters as I can for you — take this volume and place it among your books. It's not an amatory work but an oratorical one, meant not for display but for practical use, and that within our own circle. Different authors have different characteristics, greater or lesser. Mine is a tendency to instruct through maxims and direct statements wherever the opportunity arises. And as the father's likeness is visible in a legitimate child, so in language the author is always recognizable — no less than parents are identified by their children's features. Mine are as I've described. You may repay me both by writing and by profiting from what I've written. I can't ask for a better reward than that — more useful to the one who asks, or more fitting for the one who gives.

Ep. LII. (Nicobulus asked Gregory to publish a collection of his letters. Gregory forwards a copy.) You are asking flowers from an autumn meadow, and arming Nestor in his old age, in demanding from me now something clever in the way of language, after I have long neglected all that is enjoyable in language and in life. But yet (since it is not an Eurysthean or Herculean labour that you are imposing on me, but rather one which is very agreeable and quiet, to collect for you as many of my own letters as I can), do you place this volume among your books — a work not amatory but oratorical, and not for display so much as for use, and that for our own home. For different authors have different characteristics, greater or smaller. Mine is a tendency to instruct by maxims and positive statements wherever opportunity occurs. And as in a legitimate child, so also in language, the father is always visible, not less than parents are shown by bodily characteristics. Mine are such as I have mentioned. You may repay me both by writing and by deriving profit from what I have written. I cannot ask for or request any better reward than this, either more profitable to the asker, or more becoming him who gives it.