71. To Commander Gregory[1] edit
Even a short letter from you is enough to provide me with grounds for feeling greatly pleased. Accordingly, since I was exceedingly pleased with what you wrote to me, I in turn send you a letter of the same length, because in my judgement the friendly greetings of comrades ought to be rewarded not by length of letter so much as by magnitude of goodwill.
Footnotes edit
- ↑ A Gregorius Dux was pretorian prefect in 336, according to Codex Theodosianus 3. 1. 2, but this purely formal letter of the type that survived in epistolary handbooks and is probably addressed to a younger man.