Annaeus Seneca to Paul and Theophilus, greeting. I profess myself well content with the reading of your letters which you sent to the Galatians, Corinthians, and Achaeans; and may we so live together as you show yourself to be inspired with the divine horror. For it is the holy spirit which is in you and high above you which expresses these exalted and adorable thoughts.

2I would therefore have you careful of other points, that the polish of the style may not be wanting to the majesty of the thought. And, brother, not to conceal anything from you, and have it on my conscience, I confess to you that the Augustus was moved by your views.

3When I read to him the beginning of the virtue that is in you, his words were these: that he could wonder that a man not regularly educated could think thus. I replied that the gods often speak by the mouths of the innocent, not of those who try deceitfully to show what they can do by their learning. And when I cited him the example of Vatienus the rustic, to whom two men appeared in the territory of Reate, who afterwards were recognized as Castor and Pollux, he appeared fully convinced. Farewell.