Letter 6072: You tried a clever trick to excuse your silence: you claimed you were holding back bad news as long as things were...
You tried a clever trick to excuse your silence: you claimed you were holding back bad news as long as things were going well, so that what you'd hidden by not writing would eventually come out under happier circumstances. But the bad news hadn't escaped me -- I'd heard it through other channels -- and the good news arrived painfully late. Your silence only fed suspicion that something worse was being concealed.
Still, I can't stay angry now that the charm of your present letter has erased the memory of past hurt. Just remember to put the duty of writing at the very top of your priorities. Otherwise the memory of this episode will make me fear, the next time you go quiet, that more bad news is being held back. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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