To Nicentius. (360)
You are still writing letters, when we expected to see you in person! We had heard that you were summoned and on your way, but it seems to me that while you may have been summoned, you chose to stay put -- the Nile having persuaded you that it is better to live in luxury in Egypt than to toil elsewhere so that others may live in luxury.
Now, I know you will not escape these labors forever -- I shall see you again, weighed down with the cares that belong to men in office. But in the meantime, you remember us, and that is what we do too, since we carry you in our hearts.
And yet the man who succeeded you in your post is a fine one, and no less fine is the man who succeeded him. Still, even to those men themselves we sing your praises -- and they are not offended.
You are still writing letters, when we expected to see you in person! We had heard that you were summoned and on your way, but it seems to me that while you may have been summoned, you chose to stay put -- the Nile having persuaded you that it is better to live in luxury in Egypt than to toil elsewhere so that others may live in luxury.
Now, I know you will not escape these labors forever -- I shall see you again, weighed down with the cares that belong to men in office. But in the meantime, you remember us, and that is what we do too, since we carry you in our hearts.
And yet the man who succeeded you in your post is a fine one, and no less fine is the man who succeeded him. Still, even to those men themselves we sing your praises -- and they are not offended.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.