Letter 3028: You're quite comfortable, I see, neglecting to write back — you know this kind of offense will go unpunished.

Quintus Aurelius SymmachusUnknown|c. 379 AD|Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
friendship

You're quite comfortable, I see, neglecting to write back — you know this kind of offense will go unpunished. How many times have I threatened you with equal silence if you stopped writing? And yet affection wins every time, and I rather enjoy my own hollow threats.

From which you can see how steadfastly I love you — given how unsteadily I stay angry.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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