1As long as I was beyond the Po and you were in Picenum, I missed you less; 1since I have been in the city and you are still in Picenum, I miss you much more, whether because the very places where we are used to being together remind me of you more sharply, or because nothing sharpens longing for the absent so much as nearness, and the closer you come to the hope of enjoying something, the more impatiently you go without it. 2Whatever the cause, rescue me from this torment. 2Come, or I shall go back there, whence I hurried away so rashly, if only for this, to find out whether, when you have begun to be in Rome without me, you will send me letters like these.
2Farewell.