Letter 2058: I had resolved to be away from home for a long while and was enjoying a pleasant period of leisure with our friends...

I had resolved to be away from home for a long while, and I was spending a most pleasant leisure with our intimate friends at the suburban estate whose name is Arabianae. But because chance keeps human affairs in turmoil, and matters destined for us do not always turn out according to our wish, a letter from the prefect broke into my leisure, mingling anxieties with my good hopes. It demanded my presence in an ambiguous fashion. I shall not put off your expectation. Under compulsion, he gave notice in his more confidential dispatches that the senate was to be reminded in a debate, and that a contribution was to be made. Nothing was made public, nothing was read out. The amount of the thing demanded exceeded our wealth. When the matter became known, a sudden stupor enjoined a vast silence upon all. Since it was proceeding too far, it was decided that the deliberation should be deferred to another time, so that those who were absent might not be passed over; although I myself said that those situated at Rome or in the nearby places ought either to be summoned or to be consulted, men who, on account of that precaution, ought not to promise their assent to the things decided by the order as if they were settled in advance. You have the whole matter; as to what I think about it, you know well enough. Even if the cause is a common one to you, nevertheless being far off serves toward your comfort.

Diu domo abesse decreveram, iucundwiwque otium cum familiaribus nostris in sub- urbano, cui Arabianae nomen est, exigebam. sed quia fors versat humana nec sem- 20 per ex voto destinata succedunt, praefecti litterae ruperunt otium meum, quae bonae spei soUicita miscebant. SQe£idtim praesentiam meam per ambiguum poposcerunt. 2 non difiFero expectationem tuam. fcoactu in tractatu senatum commoneri sed et ob- lationem faciendam scriptis secretioribus indicavit. nihil publicatum, nihil lectum est. quantitas postulatae rei excessit opulentiam. re cognita vastum silentium cunctis stu- 25 3 por subitus imperavit. quo longius prodeunte placuit in^ tempus aliud deliberanda produci, ne omitterentur absentcs. quamvis ipse dixerim, Romae aut in proximis positos vel evocari debere vel consuli, quorum non debet ob eam cautionem futuram ut statutis ordinis polliceantur adsensum. habes omnem rem, de qua quid sentiam, satis nosti. tibi etiamsi causa communis est, procul tamen abesse ad solacium proficit. 30 LVm (LVH) ante a. 395.