Letter 1051: I was overjoyed to hear that your health has been restored — your well-being is always my highest wish.

I was overjoyed to hear that your health has been restored — your well-being is always my highest wish. Now, if the gods are willing and your recovered strength has revived your mental vigor, I insist that your letters start running to multiple pages. I hate verbal stinginess when the words are good. Brevity in writing is closer to contempt than to courtesy. I don't want letters that drip from the tip of your tongue. I want the kind that never run dry — drawn from the deepest well of your heart. I remember when Spartan brevity was once considered a virtue. But I'm dealing with you under Roman rules — or Athenian ones, if you prefer — and the Athenians owed so much of their greatness to eloquence that I suspect the Spartans adopted their terse style out of fear of the comparison. I'd say more, but you need to be dosed with your own medicine. Besides, I have to be careful that a long letter from me doesn't offend you. So I'll stop here, obeying your standard while violating my own. And from that you should understand the bind you've put yourself in: you can't expect me to write briefly unless you write at length. Farewell.

Aactas sam gaadio, qaod valetado tecam revertit in gratiam; nam semper in- eolamitas taa voti mei samma est. nanc si diis yolentibas reconciliatae vires animi tai integraverant yigorem, facito epistnlae taae multiiagis paginis aageantur. odi par- simoniam yerboram bonorum. scribendi qnippe breyitas magis fastidio qaam officio n proxima est. nolo litteras stillantes de summo ore; illas peto, qaae arescere nesciant, qaae ex intimo pectoris fonte promuntar. memini breyitatem Spartanam laadi quon- 2 dam faisse; sed ego Romanis tecam legibas ago et, si ita yis, Atticis, qaibas tantam decas a facandia ftiit, nt mihi yideantar Lacones meta collationis in diyersam stadia destinasse. yellem plnra, sed tao modo conpangendas es. simal cantio est mihi, ne 20 te sermo maltas offendat. instituto igitar meo calcem pono, dum tuo pareo. qaa ex re intelleg^s, eo te inyidiae et condicionis adductum, quasi a me pauca scribi yelis, nisi multa rescripseris. yale. XXXXVI (XXXX) ante a. 38^.