“Incrēdibile est quantō dēsīderiō tuī tenear. In causā amor prīmum, deinde quod nōn cōnsuēvimus abesse. Inde est quod magnam noctium partem in imāgine tuā vigil exigō; inde quod interdiū, quibus hōrīs tē vīsere solēbam, ad diaetam tuam ipsī mē, ut vērissimē dīcitur, pedēs dūcunt; quod dēnique aeger et maestus ac similis exclūsō ā vacuō līmine recēdō.”
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“It is incredible by how much desire of you I am held. The reason: first, love, then that we are not accustomed to be apart. That is why I spend a great part of nights awake contemplating your likeness; that is why by day, during which hours I was accustomed to visit you, my feet themselves––as is most truly said––lead me to your room; that is why, at last, distressed and sad and similar to someone shut out by an empty doorway, I withdraw.”
A letter from Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Pliny the Younger) to his wife, Calpurnia. Early 2nd Century CE.