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I am not surprised that you call my long letter a short one. For this
is just the way with lovers; they do not recognize such a thing as
satiety, they will not admit such a thing as satisfaction, but the
more they receive from the objects of their love the more they seek.
Therefore, even if the letter which you have received had been ten
times as large as the former one, it would not have escaped the epithet
of "brief;" in fact it would have been called a small letter, and
not only would it have been so called, but it would have actually
seemed such in your eyes. Hence I also in my turn am never satisfied
with the measure of affection for me which you have attained, but am
always seeking to make additions to your love-draught, and daily
demanding the discharge of your love debt which is always being paid,
and yet is always owing (for it is written, "owe no man anything but
to love one another"). I am indeed continually receiving what I ask
in great abundance, yet never think that I have received the whole.
Do not cease then to pay down this goodly debt, which has a twofold
pleasure. For those who pay, and those who receive, derive equal
enjoyment, inasmuch as they are both alike enriched by the payment;
which in the case of money is an impossibility, for there the one who
pays becomes poorer, and only the man who has received is richer. But
this is not what commonly happens in the covenant of love. For he who
pays it is not less bereft of it, as in the case of money when it is
transferred to the receiver; but payment of love makes him who pays
richer than before. Knowing these things then, O Sirs, most
honoured and devout, cease not continually displaying this excellent
disposition towards me. For although you need no exhortation for this
purpose from me yet as I greatly long for your love I remind you,
even when you need it not, both in order that you may constantly write
to me, and also inform me of the state of your health. For even if
you do not need any one to remind you on this account, I shall not
desist from continually seeking this at your hands; as it is a matter
which I have very much at heart. That it is a difficult task owing
both to the season of the year, and the difficulty of the journey, and
the scarcity of travellers who will do this service for you I am well
aware: nevertheless as far as is possible and practicable in the midst
of so much difficulty, we exhort you to write constantly, and crave
this favour from your love.
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