Letter 3021: I wish I could use you as my envoy to the excellent consul to explain and excuse my absence -- if I knew that you...
I wish I could use you as my envoy to the excellent consul to explain and excuse my absence -- if I knew that you yourself would forgive me first. For when I think of the affection you both share for me, I worry that, just as you both love me equally, you will both blame me equally. So who should I call on to defend me in this matter? My own fortune, obviously -- whose defense, though miserable, is entirely just. It is not right for those in mourning to attend joyful ceremonies. Perhaps my sadness would even have dampened your celebration, since it always happens that we take on the mood we read in the faces of our friends. So forgive my absence, and plead my case before the distinguished consul. His honor is something I am proud to celebrate; it is only the festivities of the fortunate that I cannot bring myself to attend.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Vellem te legato uti apud optimum consulem purgandae atque excusandae ab-
is sentiae meae, si scirem, quod tu mihi in ea re primus ignosceres. nam cum amo-
rem vestrum cogito, vereor, ne ut me aeque ambo diligitis, ita similiter arguatis.
qois igitur mihi huius causae defensor adhibendus est? fortuna scilicet mea, cuius
ut misera ita iusta purgatio est. neque enim fas sinit laeta officia obire lugentes.
fortasse etiam vestram hilaritatem mea tristitudo contraheret; siquidem semper fieri
2oamat, ut habitum mentis de amicorum ore ducamus. quare ignoscCf quod desumus,
et apud egregium virum consulem fave absentiae meae. cuius honore gloriari nostrum
est, auspiciis interesse felicium.
xxn.
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