1. I have heard that my letter has safely reached you, but I would by no means make it a charge against your affection that as yet I have not been favoured with a reply; no doubt something has come in your way. So I recognize that I must rather beseech the Lord to provide the opportunity of carrying out your intention to send the answer you have written, since He has already provided that of writing it, for you can very easily do so when you feel so disposed.
1. Audivi pervenisse in manus tuas litteras meas; sed quod adhuc rescripta non merui, nequaquam inputaverim dilectioni tuae; aliquid procul dubio impedimento fuit. Unde agnosco a me dominum potius deprecandum, ut tuae voluntati det facultatem mittendi quod rescripseris, nam rescribendi iam dedit, quia, cum volueris, facillime poteris.
2. Further, I have hesitated whether indeed to give credence to a report which has reached me, but it is my duty not to hesitate about writing something to you concerning it as well. Briefly, this is the point: I have been told that certain brethren have hinted to your Charity that I wrote a book against you and sent it to Rome. Rest assured that this statement is untrue: I call our God to witness that this I have not done. But if some remarks happen to be found in some of my writings, in which I am found taking a different view from you on any point, I think you ought to know, or if you have no means of knowing, to believe, that what I have written is not directed against you, but is an expression of my own opinion. And indeed, in so saying, I not only profess myself quite prepared to accept in a brotherly spirit any objections you conceive to whatever you disapprove of in my writings and to feel glad either at having my faults corrected or at such evidence of your goodwill; I even demand and claim it as a right.
2. Etiam hoc ad me sane perlatum utrum quidem crederem, dubitavi, sed hinc quoque tibi aliquid utrum scriberem, dubitare non debui. Hoc autem breve est: suggestum caritati tuae a nescio quibus fratribus mihi dictum est, quod librum adversus te scripserim Romamque miserim. Hoc falsum esse noveris; deum nostrum testor hoc me non fecisse. Sed si forte aliqua in aliquibus scriptis meis reperiuntur, in quibus aliter aliquid quam tu sensisse reperiar, non contra te dictum, sed quod mihi videbatur, a me scriptum esse puto te debere cognoscere aut, si cognosci non potest, credere. Ita sane hoc dixerim, ut ego non tantum paratissimus sim, si quid te in meis scriptis moverit, fraterne accipere quid contra sentias, aut de correctione mea aut de ipsa tua benivolentia gavisurus, verum etiam hoc a te postulem ac flagitem.
3. O that it were possible to enjoy sweet and frequent converse in the Lord with you; if not by living with you, at least by living near you! But since that is denied us, I beg you to do your best to maintain and increase and perfect this one object, that we should be together, as far as we can, in Christ, and not to disdain replying to me, even if it be only occasionally. Greet with my respects your saintly brother Paulinianus a and all the brethren who rejoice in the Lord with you and because of you. May you, remembering us, be heard by the Lord in all your holy desires, beloved lord and much desired and honoured brother in Christ.
3. O si licuisset etsi non cohabitante saltem vicino te in domino perfrui ad crebrum et dulce conloquium! Sed quia id non est datum, peto ut hoc ipsum quod in Christo, quam possimus, simul simus, conservare studeas et augeri ac perfici et rescripta quamvis rara non spernere. Saluta obsequio meo sanctum fratrem Paulinianum et omnes fratres, qui tecum ac de te in domino gaudent. Memor nostri exaudiaris a domino in omni sancto desiderio, domine carissime et desiderantissime et honorande in Christo frater.