Letter 30
I'm taking advantage of the openness you've offered me. You've been stingy with your letters for a while now, but I won't follow your example — I know that for a man stationed at the peak of public honors, with vast and varied responsibilities, it's not the will to write that's lacking but the opportunity. That's the kind of neglect, born of duty rather than indifference, that we readily forgive.
Still, secure as ever in your affection, I won't abandon my usual habit of writing. And I'll count it a great favor if my man who delivers this letter meets with some success, in return for his devoted service to me. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
Your annoyance is over. Let this be the beginning of my letter. Go on mocking and abusing me and mine, whether laughing or in earnest.
Jerome invites two of his old friends at Rome, Desiderius and his sister (or wife) Serenilla, to join him at Bethlehem. It is possible but not probable that this Desiderius is the same with Desiderius of Aquitaine, who afterwards induced Jerome to write against Vigilantius. An interval of seven years separates this letter (of which the date is 3...