The letter had been written yesterday. The handwriting was slightly heavy, as if suppressing an irritable temper, yet it was still neat rather than scrawled—far better than the essays she had read from certain students.
I waited hopefully for your letter, but presumably, unless I write to you first, you will not write to me.
Since Cato said, "A fawning friend is worse than a sharp-tongued enemy, for the latter always speaks the truth, while the former never does," then I should not resent you. Compared to those frivolous, ingratiating, untrustworthy friends, an upright enemy was more worthy of respect.
The Latin word for friendship was derived from love. Some people, driven by impure motives, treated friendship as a tool for profit. They cared most about those who promised to bring them the greatest benefit.
I love you because you made me understand that even if a friend asks you to do something bad, you must not do it. Not only would that make friendship a dishonorable excuse, it would never be forgiven.
But now I must also make you understand that one should not wait for a friend to ask before doing them a kindness. One must always act with eagerness and initiative.
Both Pyrrhus and Hannibal fought the people of Italy. After a Roman soldier captured by Pyrrhus escaped back to his homeland, he told the Senate of the Directory that he was willing to sneak into Pyrrhus's tent and poison him. Without hesitation, the Senate of the Directory escorted the prisoner of war before Pyrrhus. Cicero said this was because Pyrrhus was too upright for the Romans to hate him deeply, whereas Hannibal, because of his cruelty, was hated by every Roman, and would be hated forever.
Now the Emperor told you that he had been wrong.