Letter 209

209. Without Address, by Way of Defense.

You have been allotted a share in the griefs and in the struggles on our behalf. This affords proof of a youthful and vigorous soul. For God, who orders our affairs, provides for those who are able to bear great contests the greater occasions of good repute. And you, then, have set forth your own life as a test of your virtue toward your friends, as the furnace is a test for gold. We pray to God, therefore, that the rest may become better, and that you may remain like yourself, and may not cease to bring such charges as you now brought, alleging the lack of letters against us as a very great injustice. For the complaint is a friend's complaint; and wait patiently while you demand such debts. For I am not so absurd a debtor of friendship.