Letter 452: I have not written to you for a long time.

To Ambrosius. (355/56) Having for a long time sent you no letter, and then seeking a defense, I found that not only is this sufficient to dissolve the charge, but, I think, even if I happened to have done something more vexing to you, this fine deed would have prevailed over that grievous one. For indeed we are sending you a letter by way of the most powerful of orators, the gentlest of men, and the most exacting of magistrates. These things, and still more than these, those who dwell about the Hellespont saw in the person of Eusebius. And you too shall come to know them. But grant me to foretell that from you the gain will travel hither. It is for you, then, to show yourself, that you will release your words into clean ears and that a soul will appear worthy of earnest attention, one that knows how to discern even the things to which one ought not to attend.

Ἀμβροσίῳ. (355/56) Πολύν σοι χρόνον οὐκ ἐπιστείλας εἶτα ἀπολογίαν ζητῶν εὗρον οὐ τουτὶ μόνον ἱκανὸν λῦσαι τὸ ἔγκλημα, ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, κἂν εἰ τί σε δυσχερέστερον ἐτύγχανον εἰργασμένος, ἐκράτησεν ἂν τουτὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐκείνου τοῦ χαλεποῦ. γράμματα γὰρ δή σοι πέμπομεν διὰ τοῦ κρατίστου μὲν ῥητόρων, πρᾳοτάτου δὲ ἀνθρώπων, ἀκριβεστάτου δὲ ἀρχόντων. ταυτὶ γὰρ καὶ ἔτι πλείω τούτων εἶδον μὲν οἱ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον οἰκοῦντες ἐν Εὐσεβίῳ. γνώσεσθε δὲ ὑμεῖς. δὸς δέ μοι προειπεῖν ὡς παρ’ ὑμῶν δεῦρο βαδιεῖται τὸ κέρδος. σὸν δὴ δεικνύναι σαυτόν, ὡς εἰς καθαρά γε ὦτα τοὺς λόγους ἀφήσεις καὶ ψυχὴ φανεῖται ἀξία σπουδῆς ἐπισταμένη γε διορᾶν καὶ οἶς οὐ προσεκτέον.