Letters — Letter 55 — To Nicobulus

An Invitation.

Letter 55 — To Nicobulus

Source: Translated by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series , Vol. 7. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. ( Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894. ) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3103c.htm>.

An Invitation. You run away when I chase after you—perhaps following the rules of love, to make yourself more desirable. So come now, and finally make up for the loss I've suffered through your long absence. And if any household matters are keeping you away, you can leave us again afterward, and in this way make yourself even more precious as someone we long for.

An Invitation. You flee when I pursue you: perhaps in accordance with the laws of love, to make yourself more valuable. Come then, and fill up at last the loss I have suffered by your long delay. And if any home affairs detain you, you shall leave us again, and so make yourself more precious as an object of desire.