Ep. 4.19.1Cum sīs pietātis exemplum, frātremque optimum et amantissimum tuī parī cāritāte dīlēxerīs, fīliamque eius ut tuam dīligās, nec tantum amitae eī affectum vērum etiam patris āmissī repraesentēs, nōn dubitō maximō tibi gaudiō fore cum cognōverīs dignam patre dignam tē dignam avō ēvādere.Since you are a model of family affection, and loved your excellent brother, who loved you dearly, with equal tenderness, and love his daughter as your own, and show her not only an aunt's affection but also that of the father she has lost, I do not doubt that it will be the greatest joy to you to learn that she is turning out worthy of her father, worthy of you, worthy of her grandfather. Ep. 4.19.2Summum est acūmen summa frūgālitās;She has the greatest acuteness, the greatest thrift; Ep. 4.19.2amat mē, quod castitātis indicium est.she loves me, which is a sign of her purity. Ep. 4.19.2Accēdit hīs studium litterārum, quod ex meī cāritāte concēpit.Add to this her interest in literature, which she has taken up out of affection for me.
Ep. 4.19.2Meōs libellōs habet lēctitat ēdiscit etiam.She keeps my little books, reads them over and over, even learns them by heart. Ep. 4.19.3Quā illā sollicitūdine cum videor āctūrus, quantō cum ēgī gaudiō afficitur!What anxiety she feels when I seem about to plead a case, what joy when I have pleaded! Ep. 4.19.3Dispōnit quī nūntient sibi quem assēnsum quōs clamōrēs excitārim, quem ēventum iūdiciī tulerim.She posts people to report to her what approval, what applause I have roused, what verdict I have won. Ep. 4.19.3Eadem, sī quandō recitō, in proximō discrēta vēlō sedet, laudēsque nostrās avidissimīs auribus excipit.She too, whenever I give a reading, sits close by, screened by a curtain, and takes in my praises with the most eager ears. Ep. 4.19.4Versus quidem meōs cantat etiam fōrmatque citharā nōn artifice aliquō docente, sed amōre quī magister est optimus.She even sings my verses and sets them to the lyre, taught by no artist but by love, which is the best teacher. Ep. 4.19.5Hīs ex causīs in spem certissimam addūcor, perpetuam nōbīs maiōremque in diēs futūram esse concordiam.For these reasons I am led to the surest hope that our harmony will be lasting and grow greater day by day.
Ep. 4.19.5Nōn enim aetātem meam aut corpus, quae paulātim occīdunt ac senēscunt, sed glōriam dīligit.For it is not my youth or my body that she loves, which little by little decline and grow old, but my glory. Ep. 4.19.6Nec aliud decet tuīs manibus ēducātam, tuīs praeceptīs īnstitūtam, quae nihil in contuberniō tuō vīderit, nisi sānctum honestumque, quae dēnique amāre mē ex tuā praedicātiōne cōnsuēverit.Nor is anything else fitting for one brought up by your hands, trained in your precepts, who has seen nothing in your household but what is pure and honourable, who in short grew used to loving me from your praise of me. Ep. 4.19.7Nam cum mātrem meam parentis locō verērēre, mē ā pueritiā statim fōrmāre laudāre, tālemque quālis nunc uxōrī meae videor, ōminārī solēbās.For since you revered my mother in the place of a parent, you used, from my very boyhood, to form me, to praise me, and to foretell that I would be such as I now seem to my wife. Ep. 4.19.8Certātim ergō tibi grātiās agimus, ego quod illam mihi, illa quod mē sibi dederīs, quasi invicem ēlēgerīs.So we vie with each other in thanking you, I because you have given her to me, she because you have given me to her, as if you had chosen us for each other.
Ep. 4.19.8Valē.Farewell.