Letter 2012: You sent a fine boat — light, solid, big enough for a bed, and already stocked with fish — along with an extremely...

You have indeed sent a swift, sturdy boat large enough for a couch and already laden with fish, together with a helmsman of great skill and rowers both strong and nimble, who of course fly past the back of the opposing current with the same speed as its downward flow. But you will forgive me for declining to join you on your fishing expedition, for far stronger nets of grief hold me as our household members lie ill — a sorrow that even friends and strangers must share. And so I think that you too, if you are moved by a brother's true feeling, the very moment you take up this letter, will think rather of returning. Severiana, our common concern, was first troubled by the onset of a lingering cough and is now also wearied by fevers, which grow worse through the nights. For this reason she wishes to go out to the country estate. Indeed, just as we were receiving your letter, we were already preparing to depart for the small villa. Therefore, whether you come or stay, support our prayers with your own, so that the fresh country air may bring wholesome relief to one who longs for it. At least your sister and I, suspended between hope and fear, believed that her weariness would only increase if we opposed the wishes of the ailing woman. And so, with Christ leading the way, we are removing both ourselves and the entire household from the heat and lethargy of the city, and at the same time avoiding the advice of the mediocre attendants — both those who agree and those who disagree with each other — who, being little learned but abundantly zealous, most officiously kill many an invalid. Our friend Justus will rightly be included in our company by the claim of friendship — a man whom, if one felt like jesting amid sorrows, I could easily prove to have been trained in the art of Chiron rather than that of Machaon. All the more earnestly, then, must we entreat and beseech Christ, that the almighty power from above may heal the illness for which our own care has found no cure.

EPISTULA XII Sidonius Agricolae suo salutem. 1. Misisti tu quidem lembum mobilem solidum lecti capacem iamque cum piscibus; tum praeterea gubernatorem longe peritum, remiges etiam robustos expeditosque, qui scilicet ea rapiditate praetervolant amnis adversi terga, qua deflui. sed dabis veniam, quod invitanti tibi in piscationem comes venire dissimulo; namque me multo decumbentibus nostris validiora maeroris retia tenent, quae sunt amicis quoque et externis indolescenda. unde te quoque puto, si rite germano moveris affectu, quo temporis puncto paginam hanc sumpseris, de reditu potius cogitaturum. 2. Severiana, sollicitudo communis, inquietata primum lentae tussis impulsu febribus quoque iam fatigatur, hisque per noctes ingravescentibus; propter quod optat exire in suburbanum; litteras tuas denique cum sumeremus, egredi ad villulam iam parabamus. quocirca tu seu venias seu moreris, preces nostras orationibus iuva, ut ruris auram desideranti salubriter cedat ipsa vegetatio. certe ego vel tua soror inter spem metumque suspensi credidimus eius taedium augendum, si voluntati iacentis obstitissemus. 3. igitur ardori civitatis atque torpori tam nos quam domum totam praevio Christo pariter eximimus simulque mediocrum consilia vitamus assidentum dissidentumque, qui parum docti et satis seduli languidos multos officiosissime occidunt. sane contubernio nostro iure amicitiae Iustus adhibebitur, quem, si iocari liberet in tristibus, facile convincerem Chironica magis institutum arte quam Machaonica. quo diligentius postulandus est Christus obsecrandusque, ut valetudini, cuius curationem cura nostra non invenit, potentia superna medeatur. vale.