Letter 10069: The games next month will require the cooperation of several persons whose cooperation I cannot always count on; I...
The games next month will require the cooperation of several persons whose cooperation I cannot always count on; I am managing the situation.
I write briefly because the day has been long and my powers of composition have been exercised to their limits by obligations that do not carry my name. What remains is still genuine, even if it is not fresh.
The season passes; the city makes its demands; the literary projects that I meant to complete this year remain the projects I mean to complete next year. This is the condition of every serious person who also has serious responsibilities, and I accept it with the grace that long experience has made available.
Write to me when you can.
As always,
Symmachus
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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I thank you for your letter, my excellent lord, and for the gift of your friendship.
I know you have no desire to hear from me, brother.
Our reasons for not writing are different, but the result is the same.
I have assisted, as far as I could, the affairs of all who shared in my teaching.
Castrutius, a blind man of Pannonia, had set out for Bethlehem to visit Jerome. However, on reaching Cissa (whether that in Thrace or that on the Adriatic is uncertain) he was induced by his friends to turn back. Jerome writes to thank him for his intention and to console him for his inability to carry it out.