Letter 1043: People are wrong to say Fortune has no judgment.

It is wrongly believed that I am ignorant of how Fortune governs judgment; for she, both mindful of things past and attentive to things present and foreseeing of the future, repays you with whatever she has bestowed on others. She is not, then, wayward nor erratic, she from whom we know that others have received a gift, but you a reward. Who, you will ask, gave me notice of this honor of yours? The renown of report, to which, when it tells what is just, belief is at once granted. Or should I have waited on this matter for your own letter, which modesty was deferring? By no means; for endurance of joys is difficult. I am performing, therefore, as you see, your own part, and what I ought to have learned, I have chosen in a manner rather to announce. But I do not want this haste of my letter to hinder your own service. Pretend that I do not know what I am now writing, and grant it as though it were fresh news, on which I shall offer congratulations a second time. Farewell.

Falso creditur, nesciam iudicii esse fortunam; illa vero et praeteritorum memor et praesentium diligens et prudens futuri tibi rependit, quidquid cetens praestitit. non ergo vaga neque erratica est, a qua scimus alios donum cepisse, te praemium. quis tibi honoris, inquies, nostri fecit indicium? celebritas famae, cui iusta narranti statim creditur. an opperirer super hoc tuas litteras, quas verecundia diflferebat? minime; 2.s siquidem difficilis est patientia gaudiorum. fungor igitur, ut vides, partibus tuis, et quae debui cognoscere, malui quodammodo nuntiare. sed nolo ista properatio litterarum mearum tuum munus inpediat. scire me, quod nunc scribo, dissimula, et tribue quasi novum nuntium, quem ego gratulabor iteratum. vale. sententia oerbls V, ex sententia gum uerbis 77, tuppU res procedunt vel iimile quid nam cum scribam tibi ex sententia usus uerborum suppetit quorum alias supellex mihi desit. quippe F 7 me om. F obloquentem] F, loquentem V est ante hominum eoUoe. F 8 expectatissime F(77} amici- tiam] Vr^, in amicitia F 9 quam] VFir), hanc (77) 10 opere] F, ope VDP 11 iuxta om. F atque — 12 fui om. F 12 semper est 77 in me] luretuSj in meo 77, meo VF uellem F 17 uolo] rupio F est ut es (77) semper] (77), om. VF{r) quidem] nam F 29 quem] quod F ^ XXXVIIU (XXXIU) a. 370—379.