Letter 91
To Troilus
In days gone by when I conversed, or when I wrote to my friends,
our intercourse was free from care. I lived in a sense with my books, and was quite out of
touch with any city or political life. But now God has assigned me a definite spot to
dwell in, and has ordered me to take a certain rank in the city, and to live amongst a
limited number of men. I should like, therefore, to be useful to my colleagues, and to do
as much good as possible to individuals in private as also to the city in public. In other
words, I desire in this voyage of life, as one might call it, to see my shipmates in a
pleasant light, and so to be seen by them.
I would to you to recommend Matyrius. If it be in your power to do him
a good turn, be assured that you are doing me a kindness in the person of one who is my
daily companion. I call our past discussions, so dear to us both, to witness that Matyrius
is devoted to me. He often sits up even to the very last hour of the night, in order to
keep me company.