Letter 1065: You urge me to cultivate our friendship through frequent correspondence.
You urge me to cultivate our friendship through frequent correspondence. I welcome the encouragement — it promotes a sacred duty. And to be honest, your wish to hear from me is itself a compliment: the greatest affection always demands more.
But when you argue that I, being free from public responsibilities, ought to take on this obligation — there I disagree. First, because a man of unlimited leisure doesn't bother tracking down travelers who might carry a letter; your high office, on the other hand, either finds a courier or creates one. Second, because idle disuse is dulling my mind, while your active career keeps your facility for words well-oiled.
So the more resources you have for writing, the more I deserve to be pardoned for writing rarely. Do these arguments seem solid enough for the future? Remember: whatever letter you receive from me, it's a gesture of devotion, not of leisure.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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