Letter 207
To Olympius. (360?)
Your silence is not characteristic of you, and I choose to blame it on the press of affairs rather than on any cooling of affection. A man in your position has a thousand claims on his time, and letters to old teachers must sometimes give way to the urgent demands of the day. I understand this perfectly -- and yet I confess that understanding does not entirely prevent me from missing your letters.
I send this partly to remind you that I exist and partly to tell you about a young man from your city who has been studying with me. He is gifted, well-mannered, and diligent -- a combination rarer than it should be. I think he will do your city credit, and I commend him to your attention when he returns.
The rest of my news you can guess. I teach, I write, I grow older, and I watch the world change in ways I do not always welcome. But as long as I have students who want to learn and friends who remember to write, I shall manage well enough.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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