Letter 6081: When your boy delivered a single letter, he insisted I write back immediately, as if he were about to rush straight...
When your boy delivered a single letter, he insisted I write back immediately, as if he were about to rush straight home to you. But as I discovered, he was actually heading further on and used a sly trick: his companion Rusticus would carry my letter back while he went on his way. Now he's returned and collected a second letter. I imagine you're laughing that I was outfoxed by a servant's ruse and paid double for a single delivery -- the cunning little slave got two letters for the price of one trip.
I'd go on, but there's nothing more to add. You're closer to the city and busier with more important matters, enjoying equal leisure. It's your job to share the news with those of us stuck out here. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
I'm embarrassed to be asking you a favor when I've never done you any kindness, and don't expect I ever will.
It is good to do good to your friends.
To my Brother.
A monk of Gaul had during a visit to Bethlehem asked Jerome for advice under the following circumstances. His mother was a church-widow and his sister a religious virgin but the two could not agree. They were accordingly living apart but neither by herself.
A translation by Jerome of Theophilus's paschal letter for the year 402 A.D. Like that of the previous year (Letter XCVI.) it deals mainly with the heresies of Apollinarius and Origen. About this page Source.