735we receive your letters, even if we are taken away to the furthest ends of the world, even if we are consigned to a place more desert than this, the service of your charity will greatly alleviate our despondency. For nothing can so much raise up the soul and fill it with great pleasure as to love and be loved sincerely. And you know this most of all, since you also most of all know how to love.
CCXXIV. To Marcianus and Marcellinus.
A What is the cause that, even though you love us so much (for we are well aware that your love is vehement and inflamed, even though we are separated from you by such a great distance), you have been able to remain silent, and have not sent us a letter even once, but have rendered this matter like an enigma? For that excuse which you set forth in the letter sent to the most religious presbyter Constantius was not a legitimate one. Nevertheless, I do not wish to examine these things too precisely. Let it be so, and let us grant that this was the cause of the silence: lo, even this is now taken away from you, and we provoke you with our letters, and at the same time we give thanks for this sincere charity which you preserve so flourishing toward us, and we ask that, as often as it is possible, you send us frequent letters. For I do not doubt B that you would have been eager to fly hither, had those impediments which you mentioned not intervened; indeed, you have already flown here in mind and purpose. But since in actual fact this cannot be done for the time being, at least alleviate our sorrow with the consolation of letters, and make us more certain about your health and that of your whole house. For if such letters are sent to us by you, even if we dwell in a solitude harsher than this one, we shall derive much consolation from your letters.CCXXV. To Constantius the Presbyter.
I have wondered why you, who love us so vehemently, and who are prepared to do, say, and suffer anything for our sake (for it does not escape us, nor is it possible for it to escape one who loves sincerely), did not write to us even once, and this while we had arrived not far from you, and when my most esteemed and illustrious brother Libanius was journeying to us. These things are said by me not with the intention of accusing you, but that I might satisfy my own grief. For since I follow your piety with great affection, not for any other reason, but because you are concerned with all zeal for the salvation of your soul, C and offer yourself as a common harbor to those who are constrained by needs, while you succor the needy, while you assist widows, while you sustain orphans, and present yourself as a common father to all, for this reason, since I am touched with great love for you, I also desire to receive letters from your piety. Therefore, grant us this kindness, and fulfill our longing. For we shall be relieved by no small consolation, even if we are established in solitude, if we receive letters from your most loving soul and hands, which will make us more certain of your health and that of your whole house.CCXXVI. To Marcianus and Marcellinus.
You have solved the enigma for us. For you have now indicated that that excuse which was then suggested did not suffice for a defense, since you thought we should be provoked even before receiving our letters. For such is the nature of charity, that it can in no way be silent, but even if there is danger that it might be accused of audacity, it performs its own function. We, in fact, are so far from suing you for having written to us first, that we even reward you with a crown for this reason, and proclaim it, and we have now made the greatest test of your sincere love, not only because you wrote, but also because you wrote first. D May God be able to free you from every sickness, and restore you to your former health, and grant the opportunity for us to meet together, and to come into each other’s sight: for we shall be refreshed by no common consolation if we receive letters from a man so generous, but we are also held by the desire for that conversation, which I hope it may befall us to enjoy as quickly as possible, so that it may be for us like some great festival.CCXXVII. To Carteria.
What do you say? That continuous illnesses did not allow you to come to us? And yet you have come, and you are with us, and we have obtained that whole thing from the affection and purpose of your soul, nor is there need for any excuse from you in this matter. For the ardent and sincere charity, which thus flourishes perpetually, suffices for us to suggest an occasion of great joy. But since you have injected no small concern into us, when you made mention of your illness, if by chance you have been freed from it (for God is able to free you from it, and restore you to your former health), make us certain about the same matter, that we may be freed from this concern. For what I have always signified in my letters, I now also signify: wherever I may be, even if we are banished to a place more desert than this, we shall not cease to be concerned about you and your affairs. You have left us pledges of your fervent and sincere charity of such a kind that they can never be extinguished, nor be weakened by time, but whether we be near to your nobility or removed from it, we preserve the same charity, as those to whom it is fully known how sincere is the charity which we have felt at every time to be directed toward us.CCXXVIII. To Theodorus the Physician.
You indeed flee to the occupations of affairs, and use an excuse sought from thence, that you have not come: I, however, judge that there is no need of this speech for you. For you have come, and as far as charity is concerned, you are held in no lower place among us than those who have come to us, since we proclaim you by name of intention no differently than them, and we number you among our chief friends, and we give you thanks that, although you have associated with us for a small space of time, and perhaps not even a small one, you have brought forward no less love toward us than those who have been educated with us for a long time. For which cause we give you huge thanks, and we beseech you that you write to us frequently. For to see you present in person