Letter 7025: I debated for some time whether to honor you with a letter while properly waiting for your return.
I debated for some time whether to honor you with a letter while properly waiting for your return. I was afraid my haste would slow you down by offering too much comfort en route. But the opposite reasoning won out -- I decided these words would serve more as a spur than a brake.
So I've kept it deliberately brief, offering you nothing but a greeting. The small sip of my words will be more effective at arousing your thirst than at quenching it. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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