Ep. 7.20.1Librum tuum lēgī et, quam dīligentissimē potuī, adnotāvī quae commūtanda, quae eximenda arbitrārer.I have read your book and, as carefully as I could, noted what I thought should be changed and what removed. Ep. 7.20.1Nam et ego vērum dīcere assuēvī, et tū libenter audīre.For I am accustomed to tell the truth, and you to hear it gladly. Ep. 7.20.1Neque enim ūllī patientius reprehenduntur, quam quī maximē laudārī merentur.For no one bears criticism more patiently than those who most deserve praise. Ep. 7.20.2Nunc ā tē librum meum cum adnotātiōnibus tuīs exspectō.Now I am waiting for my own book from you, with your notes. Ep. 7.20.2Ō iūcundās, ō pulchrās vices!O pleasant, o lovely exchange! Ep. 7.20.2Quam mē dēlectat quod, sī qua posterīs cūra nostrī, usquequāque narrābitur, quā concordiā simplicitāte fidē vīxerīmus!How it delights me that, if posterity takes any interest in us, it will be told everywhere in what harmony, frankness and loyalty we lived! Ep. 7.20.3Erit rārum et īnsigne, duōs hominēs aetāte dignitāte propemodum aequālēs, nōn nūllīus in litterīs nōminis - cōgor enim dē tē quoque parcius dīcere, quia dē mē simul dīcō -, alterum alterīus studia fōvisse.It will be rare and remarkable that two men, almost equal in age and rank, of some name in letters — for I am forced to speak of you too rather sparingly, since I am speaking of myself at the same time — fostered each other's studies.
Ep. 7.20.4Equidem adulēscentulus, cum iam tū fāmā glōriāque flōrērēs, tē sequī, tibi "longō sed proximus intervallō" et esse et habērī concupīscēbam.For my part, as a very young man, when you were already flourishing in fame and glory, I longed to follow you, to be, and to be thought, 'next to you, though by a long interval'. Ep. 7.20.4Et erant multa clārissima ingenia;And there were many very brilliant talents; Ep. 7.20.4sed tū mihi - ita similitūdō nātūrae ferēbat - maximē imitābilis, maximē imitandus vidēbāris.but you seemed to me — so the likeness of our natures led me — the most imitable and the most worthy of imitation. Ep. 7.20.5Quō magis gaudeō, quod sī quis dē studiīs sermō, ūnā nōmināmur, quod dē tē loquentibus statim occurrō.So I am all the more glad that, if there is any talk of literature, we are named together, and that when people speak of you, I come to mind at once. Ep. 7.20.5Nec dēsunt quī utrīque nostrum praeferantur.Nor are there wanting those who are preferred to both of us.
Ep. 7.20.6Sed nōs, nihil interest meā quō locō, iungimur;But we — it makes no difference to me in what place — are joined; Ep. 7.20.6nam mihi prīmus, quī ā tē proximus.for to me he is first who is next to you. Ep. 7.20.6Quīn etiam in testāmentīs dēbēs adnotāsse: nisi quis forte alterutrī nostrum amīcissimus, eadem lēgāta et quidem pariter accipimus.Indeed, you must have noticed it in wills too: unless someone happens to be a particularly close friend of one of us, we receive the same legacies, and in equal amounts. Ep. 7.20.7Quae omnia hūc spectant, ut invicem ardentius dīligāmus, cum tot vinculīs nōs studia mōrēs fāma, suprēma dēnique hominum iūdicia cōnstringant.All this points to one end, that we should love each other more ardently, since so many bonds — our studies, characters and reputation, and finally men's last judgements — bind us together. Ep. 7.20.7Valē.Farewell.