Letter 1021: Even if I could honor you with letters every single day, I still wouldn't feel I'd done my duty as the situation...
Even if I could honor you with letters every single day, I still wouldn't feel I'd done my duty as the situation demands — let alone reproach you for not doing the same. But while this restraint is proper to my modesty, it's equally proper to your good nature to match my effort with equal warmth.
Notice where I'm heading with this: you haven't sent me anything to read in quite some time. "My work at the prefecture has consumed me entirely," you'll say. Fair enough — you hold the highest judicial office and deserve it. But great demands don't overwhelm a mind as powerful as yours. So attend to these smaller matters too: for busy men, they cause no trouble, and they often provide relief from trouble itself. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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