Letter 7019: ...is there really anything in my words that can soothe your ears or serve as medicine for your mind?
...is there really anything in my words that can soothe your ears or serve as medicine for your mind? I suppose so -- I'll grant it. Bitter draughts often work wonders for the health, and foul-tasting remedies restore the ailing. But you're terribly greedy if you want anything more while my dear Flavianus is right there with you. He's such a treasury of delights that I'd have thought you were trapped among the Sirens or the Lotus-eaters [mythological figures whose charms made visitors forget everything else].
If only I could join your leisure! I'd get more good out of your company than you're hoping for when you ask me for mere letters. Farewell.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
10 est; nimiis te salibus sinus Lucrinus infecit. estne aliquid in verbis meis, quod au-
res tuas sospitet, quod medicinam sensibus faciat? credo, consentio. nam plerumque
amara haustu ad salutem valent et sucis tristibus adfecta refoventur. sed nimium 3
quantum avarus es, qui Flaviano meo praesente quicquam requiris, in quo tanta re-
rnm bonarum delenimenta sunt, ut mihi quasi apud Sirenas aut Lotophagos haesisse
15 videaris. atque utinam vestro otio iungerer; plus de vobis caperem salubritatis, quam
tu desideras, qui a me solas litteras poposcisti. vale.
xvn.
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