Letter 7022: You've redeemed two offenses against friendship in a single letter, with wit as your payment: you'd been away too...
You've redeemed two offenses against friendship in a single letter, with wit as your payment: you'd been away too long, and you'd written nothing. What Colchian or Thessalian sorcerer [regions famous for magic] could have charmed away such grievances?
So in return for the balm of your letter, you'll get your pardon. I'll allow you to tend to your friend's wedding celebrations with a clear mind and to make the town of Tibur -- which recently carried the wedding torches for you -- a city shared between Juno and Hercules [Tibur's patron deities, associated with marriage and festivity].
You'll come back to your Caelian house after the reception, I hope. But if you still insist on lingering through the summer days in your orchards, then once again you'll have to sweeten my indignation with the honey of your letters. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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