Letter 6009: A certain convention kept me from being the first to write — old custom requires that travelers initiate the...
A certain convention kept me from being the first to write — old custom requires that travelers initiate the correspondence. So I'm very grateful both to hear that your illness has passed and to feel that the way is now clear for me to write. I wish you continued improvement. Though you've already achieved the honors your character and birth deserve, fortune hasn't yet fully repaid your merit — and even if she's been generous, she can never match what you're worth. But let me return to the usual formalities: I send you a greeting in the customary way and ask you for the same. You know that correspondents' spirits are invigorated by the exchange. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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