Letter 63

63. To the governor of Neocaesarea.

"The wise man, though he dwell far off in the land, though I never look upon him with my eyes, I judge a friend": this is a saying of Euripides the tragedian. So that, if — though a meeting face to face has not yet granted us the knowledge of your greatness of soul — we say that we are your friends and intimates, do not judge the word to be flattery. For we have report as the patron of our friendship, proclaiming your qualities with a loud voice to all men. Yet from the time when we met the most reverend Elpidius, we came to know you so well, and were so utterly captivated by you, as though we had spent much time together and had knowledge of the good qualities in you through long trial. For the man did not cease recounting to us each of the things concerning you: the magnificence of your soul, the loftiness of your mind, the gentleness of your ways, your experience in affairs, your judicious understanding, the dignity of your life tempered with cheerfulness, the power of your speech, and all else that he himself enumerated through much converse with us, but which it was not possible for us to write, lest we draw out the letter beyond measure. How, then, should I not love such a man? How could I master myself so as not to make plain, even with a loud cry, the feeling of my soul?

Receive, then, this address, O admirable man, offered to you out of true and guileless friendship; for our ways are far from slavish flattery. And hold us numbered in the list of your own friends, showing yourself by frequent letters and consoling us for your absence.