at tamen, cum satis tibi et quidem merito (quidnam enim simile?) in omnibus cedam, quippe qui in alio genere virtutum iam per quinquennia decem non aequaevis sacerdotibus tantum verum et antiquis, quotiens collatus, antelatus quoque sis, noveris volo, quamvis astra questibus quatias atque maiorum cineres favillasque in testimonium laesae caritatis implores, pedem me conflictui tuo, si mutuo super amore certandum est, non retracturum, quia cum in ceteris rebus tum foedissimum perquam est in dilectione superari.
Nevertheless, there is one thing I want you to know: in all other matters I entirely and rightly give precedence to your inimitable self, for in every other kind of excellence for fifty years you have, on comparison, surpassed not only contemporary priests but those of former times; but, though you shake the stars with your protestations and invoke your ancestors ashes as a witness to the outrage against friendship, I will hold my own against you without retreating one single foot, if there is to be a contest on the subject of our mutual affection; for, as in other fields, so particularly in the field of affection it is most shameful to be worsted.
final_alignments\Sidonius_Letters_Book9.json