Letter 60
To Auxentius
If I were to accuse you of being false to friendship, I should win
my case before the tribunal of God and of all godlike men, for how did I become involved
in your quarrel with my brother? Without my approval he took the side of Phaus, of blessed
memory, against Sabbatius. You failed to persuade him by what you said on that occasion;
you then turned your wrath against me, and did me as much harm as you could. I accepted
your declaration of war, for at the moment it was permissible. To-day it is not
permissible, nor do I desire to continue it. The advance of years in its bounty stifles
the spirit of contention in me, and holy laws, they say, forbid it.
Then again, I well remember how we were brought up and educated
together, and how we consorted in Cyrene, things which we ought to hold stronger than
these quarrels over Sabbatius. Make a cult, then, of friendship, that excellent thing, and
receive my greetings. I account the time of my silence as my punishment. Do you not think
I was wounded at the time I allude to? Yet I persisted in my silence. Such is the evil of
lasting enmity.