Letter 152

152. To Victor, the general

If I were failing to write to anyone else, I might perhaps justly incur a charge of negligence or forgetfulness. But how could one forget you, whose name is on the lips of all men? And how could one grow careless of you, who rise above almost all in the world by the height of your dignities? Yet the reason for my silence is plain: I shrink from being a trouble to so great a man. But if, along with the rest of your virtue, you have accepted even this — not only to receive the letters sent by me, but to seek them out when they are wanting — then see, I now write with confidence, and I will write hereafter as well, praying to the holy God that there be granted to you the recompense for the honour you show me. As for the Church, you have anticipated my appeals, having done everything that I would have asked. And you do this not to gratify men, but God, who has honoured you; who has given you some good things in this present life, and will give you others in the age to come, in return for your having walked His way in truth, keeping your heart unswerving in the uprightness of the faith from the beginning to the end.