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|AI-assisted
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.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Securus, ut yideo, scribendi ad me yices neglegis ; scis enim tibi istiusmodi culpam
sine talione cessuram. quotiens tibi minatus sum par silentium, si a litteris temperasses?
vincor tamen adfectione et delector tali mendacio meo. ex quo intellegere potes, quam
20 constanter te diligam, qui tam inconstanter irascor.

XXVII.

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