[Editor’s note]1…Having given up being for God, I began to live for an idol of flesh and then for another more jealous and demanding end — ambition. The seductive images and caressing promises of this deceptive goddess had led me to the point of not thinking and not desiring anything else but one thing: the …
My dear friend, I have received with the greatest pleasure your most polished letter written in the grand language — that is, in the worldwide language of France. Apart from French self-conceit, I have to tell you that this language pleases me and that having written to me in French, you have given me the …
Dear Little Joe, I hasten to answer your dearest letter after a period of some days — I didn’t have any stamps — now I am well provided. So? By this time the decision must have been made already, and with what rectitude. I have always known you to be inexorable and very firm in …
My Riccio, most dear and most pungent1, …2 and so I offer you a million reasons. I’ve been lazy, it’s true. I’ve sinned by neglect, I grant you. There is no satisfactory excuse I can offer — Here I make a distinction: an excuse that would be sufficient to totally protect me from your every …
From the hills of San Martino Tanaro1 Sixth period of the autumnal Era divided into six twenty day periods. Dear Friend from Montafia2 The other day Riccio wrote me a terrible threatening letter, summoning me to render an account of my strange behavior towards my friends. In your regard he wrote me that you …
