Letter 71: Even a short letter from you is enough to make me very happy.

To Commander Gregory. Even a short letter from you is enough to make me very happy. Since I was truly pleased by what you wrote, I send you a letter of equal length — because in my judgment, the friendly greetings of comrades should be repaid not by the length of one's letter but by the depth of one's goodwill.

To Commander Gregory 2 Even a short letter from you is enough to provide me with grounds for feeling greatly pleased. Accordingly, since I was exceedingly pleased with what you wrote to me, I in turn send you a letter of the same length, because in my judgement the friendly greetings of comrades ought to be rewarded not by length of letter so much as by magnitude of goodwill. 2 A Gregorius Dux was pretorian prefect in 336, according to Codex Theodosianus 3. 1. 2, but this purely formal letter of the type that survived in epistolary handbooks and is probably addressed to a younger man.

[Πρός: Γρηγορίῳ ἡγεμόνι] Ἐμοὶ καὶ γράμμα παρὰ σοῦ μικρὸν ἀρκεῖ μεγάλης ἡδονῆς πρόφασιν μνηστεῦσαι. καὶ τοίνυν, οἷς ἔγραψας ἄγαν ἡσθεὶς, ἀντιδίδωμι καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν ἴσην, οὐ τῷ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν μήκει μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ τῆς εὐνοίας μεγέθει τὰς τῶν ἑταίρων φιλίας ἐκτίνεσθαι δεῖν κρίνων.