Letter 495
To Meterius. (356 AD)
I have never ceased to love you — and indeed to admire you — nor shall I ever. But a certain reluctance came over me, perhaps not unreasonable, which made me think I would be a nuisance if I wrote. And so I refrained.
But now that Clematius has set out, I add writing to my love, remembering your household, remembering you and your character and your devotion to the divine — from which all of us drew confidence.
For you are a sufficient remedy against illness, disorder, troubles, grief, and danger. The afflicted run to you and the storm subsides. Even now I remain ill precisely because I lack your company. How much I long to be with you, Clematius knows.
Come then, write to me in return. Put aside your suspicions and hold fast to the old ways.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
One can see your soul in your letter, for in reality no painter can so exactly catch an outward likeness, as uttered thoughts can image the secrets of the soul. As I read your letter, your words exactly characterized your steadfastness, your real dignity, your unfailing sincerity; in all those things it comforted me greatly though I could not se...
You may conjecture from what it contains, what pleasure you have given me by your letter. The pureness of heart, from which such expressions sprang, was plainly signified by what you wrote. A streamlet tells of its own spring, and so the manner of speech marks the heart from which it came.
1. I have already heard of the persecution in Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and, as might be expected, I am deeply affected. I have observed the ingenuity of the devil's mode of warfare.