An rarus qui scripta ferat? quin tempore nullo cessant Flaminiae pulverulenta viae. cum fluat ingenium, cum sit qui dicta reportet, quae, nisi contemnor, causa relicta tibi? 10 despicis ergo tuum, si fas est credere, vatem perfidus, et spatio debilitatur amor. Excidimusne tibi? lucem iam condet Hydaspes, et Tartesiaco, Sol, oriere vado, candescet Geticis Meroë conversa pruinis 15 claraque se vetito proluet Ursa mari, et, si iam nostros fastidit Olybrius ignes, constat Oresteam nil valuisse fidem. * * * * * Page 267 7. Do not despise this sphere of rock-crystal. Kings’ palaces contain no rarer jewel, nor are the Red Sea’s pearls of greater value. It may be shapeless ice, unpolished rock, a rough, uncarven mass, yet is it accounted among the most precious of riches. XL. (XLI.) _Letter to Olybrius._ What am I to think, that you send me no greeting, that no “Good wishes” traced by your fingers come back to me in turn? Is writing so difficult? Nay, who so eloquent as thou whether thou dost compose verses or, a second Cicero, thunder forth thy speeches? Greater even than thy riches is thy genius, greater thine eloquence even than thy wealth. Are the posts infrequent? Nay, couriers’ feet never allow the dust to lie on the Flaminian Way. If, then, thou hast the power to write and messengers in plenty to carry thy letters what reason hast thou for thy silence unless indeed thou wish to slight me? I take it thou hast abandoned thy poet and wilt have none of him (though I can scarce believe it); or distance has made thy heart less fond. Dost thou forget me? Now shall Hydaspes lay the day to rest, and thou, O sun, rise from out the seas of Spain; now shall Egypt change her nature and glisten with Getic frost and the Bear bathe him in forbidden waters. No, if Olybrius now disdains my love then ’tis sure Orestes’ loyalty availed nought. Nay come, banish * * * * * Page 268 Quin age rumpe moras solaturusque sodalem absens eloquio fertiliore doce, 20 crebraque facundo festinet littera cursu libris atque animis insinuanda meis. dignatus tenui Caesar scripsisse Maroni, nec tibi dedecori Musa futura. vale. XLI. (XLII.) _Ad Probinum._