Letter LXX to the same
A ...and although it is difficult to send letters to us frequently, whenever you are able, I would like you to do this, and to explain what is happening there, and to inform us of your health, for which we are extremely anxious.
Ad eamdem epistolam LXX, Aphthonio, Theodoto, Chærea, presbyteris ac monachis. (Arabisso anno 406.)
I, too, should wish to see you and meet you here: but since there are many things that hinder this, I do not venture to ask for this at present; but this I do ask of you, that even though you are far away, you nonetheless bring to us the aid of your prayers, which are of great power. For this assistance is neither weakened by age, nor is it cut off by the length of the journey; but in whatever place anyone who is possessed of confidence toward God, like you, may dwell, he is able to benefit even those who are stationed far away in this manner. Moreover, along with your prayers, I would wish you also to provide us with letters which may frequently inform us of your health. For although many waves surround us from every side—namely, the solitude of the place, and the siege, and the attacks of the Isaurians, and daily death (for we live in perpetual company with death, enclosed in this fortress as if in a prison, and struggling with serious bodily infirmity)—nevertheless, even if our calamities be many, we have no small solace for these evils placed in your charity. For although we have not had long-standing intimacy with you, nevertheless we have often made trial of the sincere, and fervent, and sweeter-than-honey, and firm, and constant benevolence which you show both when present and when absent. Wherefore, although we are removed far from you, and bound by so many and such great adversities, yet in the recollection of your virtue we find rest, as if in a B harbor, deeming your charity to be like a most expansive treasure. And indeed, now that winter is over and spring has risen, we have been freed from our serious illness; yet we still carry about its remnants, which the Isaurian tumults, which never cease, further exacerbate. Knowing these things, therefore, although you are far from us, I beg you to remember us always, and, when it is possible, do not be weighed down by sending frequent letters to us, bringing us the joyful news regarding your health.
LXXI. Malcho. (Ab anno 404 ad 407.)
Do not lose heart, nor ascribe the most excellent departure of your blessed daughter to your own sins. For she has reached a tranquil harbor, and has arrived at that life which is to have no end, and, snatched away from the waves of the present life, she stands upon the rock, possessing all the good things she gathered as if in a most secure treasury. And it is right to rejoice and exult and be filled with gladness on this account, that you have presented her soul, like a most excellent farmer, as a ripe fruit to the common Lord of all. Applying these and other such remedies for yourself and for my most honorable mistress, her mother, increase the reward stored up for you on these accounts: so that you may receive a great reward from the beneficent God, not only by reason of her excellent education, but also because you have borne her most beautiful departure from life with a calm and grateful spirit.
LXXII. Alphio. (Cucuso anno 404.)
Even though we are separated far from you, yet hearing of the things that you achieve with praise, and that immense liberality which you exercise toward the needy, we exult with joy and gladness. And it would have been our desire to meet you also, and to offer great thanks to you in person. But since this is in no way possible—for the Isaurian evils are growing, and all the roads are closed; for I do not doubt that otherwise you would have come here yourself, and used great earnestness to hasten to us—but this now cannot be done; therefore we greet you by letter, and we pray that when it is possible, you write to us as frequently as you can, and inform us of your health and that of your whole house. For we, abiding here as well, will derive no common consolation from such letters of yours.
LXXIII. To Agapetus. (Cucusus, year 404.)
Even though a long time has flowed by since we were separated from you, and we are cut off from you by a great interval of distance; yet we are bound to you by love, and we dwell in your proximity, or rather, to speak more correctly, in our very minds, wherever we may be, we carry you about. To such an extent do we hold firmly impressed within our inner heart that fervent and sincere and vehement and constant friendship which has long since and from the beginning existed between us. And we ourselves, my most excellent and highly admirable lord, retain a vivid benevolence toward you, and we do not suffer it to be weakened or extinguished either by the magnitude of time or by the distance of the journey. Wherefore we ask of you, that when it is possible, do not be weighed down to write to us frequently regarding your health. For you know how desirous we are of it, and how much gratitude you will gain from us, by sending such letters to us.
LXXIV. Hesychio. (Cucuso anno 404.)
I myself would have liked to see you, and neither the fear of the Isaurians nor the infirmity of my body could hold me back, if it were lawful for me to set out to wherever I might wish; but you, since that is otherwise in your own power, I do not, in this way, even try to drag, nor do I ask you to leave your home and hasten to us. But although the season of the year permits this, and you could accomplish that journey in a short time (for we are not separated by a great distance), nevertheless I would least of all wish to drag you here because of the fear of the Isaurians. But this at least I do ask of you, that you write to us frequently regarding your health: for the incursions of the brigands will not be C an impediment to prevent you from being able to do this. Wherefore, I beg you, favor us with this benefit, that