Letter 9019: For a long time my soul hung in uncertainty, not knowing whether your silence meant neglect or misfortune.

My mind has hung long in uncertainty, whether out of regard for my acquaintance with you I should knock upon the door of writing with affable presumption and enter, by this path, into the heart of a most excellent man, or whether, content with a wandering greeting conveyed through your people, I should break in upon the private cares by which I was beset; for it has been my striving not to be reckoned among the number of men, when I would be unknown to the foremost of men. And plainly neither his character nor his nature offers any confidence to one who is hidden away among those set on the heights, least of all to you, whom both halves of the world embrace in friendly and allied diversity, whom the fear of God, having strengthened you by the graciousness of his favor, has now made to bestow the highest of honors and-something to which even the most distinguished are scarcely brought-to grant glory of reputation to those beneath you. The summits are to be praised, but they are reached only with the greatest sweat. Yet let it be said with good omen: among your gifts the heights too are numbered. Therefore, greeting you reverently, I bring this letter to a close with brevity, lest before your worthiness praise should appear importunate. More fully, after a letter in reply-such as befits your character, such as befits your power-you will read it together with me, Mundus bearing witness.