Letter 7015: Whenever I come to Vienne, I would give a great deal for the city to have you and our mutual brother as residents...

Sidonius to his friend Salonius. Whenever I come to Vienne, I would give a great deal for the city to have you and our mutual brother as residents rather than merely as visitors to its outskirts. You are joined to me not only by affection but also by profession [both are bishops]. But he evades my complaint by claiming he frequents the suburbs — which makes him neither present to us nor guilty of absence. And you have an excuse for the time being: your recently recovered property has kept you occupied. Whatever the case, come at last — and henceforth you will be granted leave to depart only on the condition that you either return in turn or stay longer. For however capably you fill the role of diligent farmers on your estates, you will truly make your own land fertile only when you devote even more cultivation to the Church you already tend so well. Farewell.

EPISTULA XV Sidonius Salonio suo salutem. 1. Quotiens Viennam venio, emptum maximo velim, ut te fratremque communem colonum civitatis habitatio plus haberet, qui mihi non amore solum verum etiam professione sociamini. sed et ille imputationem meam praetextu frequentatae suburbanitatis eludit, per quam efficitur, ut nobis nec praesens ipse nec reus sit, et tu habes quo te interim excuses, quod te diu possidet vix recepta possessio. 2. quicquid illud est, iam venite, hac deinceps condicione discessum impetraturi, ut aut vicissim redeatis aut serius. nam quamlibet ruri positi strenuos impleatis agricolas, tum vere propriam terram fecundabitis, si ecclesiam, quam plurimum colitis, plus colatis. vale.