Letter 1108: The news that you're at Milan reached me by rumor before your letter arrived — fame lets nothing about prominent men...

The news that you're at Milan reached me by rumor before your letter arrived — fame lets nothing about prominent men go unnoticed. But what good does it do those of us who miss you that you've traveled to a place so near and yet still deny us your presence? I bore your distant separation more easily; when hope of seeing you is blocked by a vast distance, it simply goes quiet. But now you tease my expectations with the ease of proximity — and you can't even use the Alps as your excuse, since the road that makes your case for pardon weaker makes my case for complaint stronger. But I should put a limit on my grievance. At least let your letters visit Rome more often from now on — letters sweet as the honey of Hybla or Mount Hymettus [both proverbially celebrated for their fine honey]: receiving them is a pleasure beyond measure; repaying the debt is exhausting. Farewell.

Mediolani te agere ante litteras tuas fania pertnlerat, quae nihil ignorari de con- Bpicuis yiris patitnr. sed quid iuvat desiderantes , quod pervectus in proxima nobis 5 negaris? aequius ferebam longinquam tui separationem ; spes enim praesentiae tuae magno intervallo negata cessabat. nunc expectationem nostram viciniae facilitate sollicitas, nec te excusare coUegis interventus Alpium potest, eo quod iustior nobis ad querellam facta est via, qua tibi ad veniam causa deterior. sed dolori meo faciendus est modus. saltem posthac epistulae tuae Romam frequentent Hyblae aut Hymetti 10 favis iucundioreS) quarum me in maximo fenore perceptio iuvat. solutio defetigat. vale. cm (LXXXXVn) a. SSl.