Letter 128: Chrysostom celebrates spring because it reopens letter-writing after winter closed the roads.

Spring is sweet to everyone because it adorns the face of the earth with flowers and turns everything into meadows. It is sweet to me because it gives me an easier way to speak by letter with those I love. I would have liked to see you face to face, but since that is not possible, I do what I can with great eagerness: I converse with you by letters. Sailors do not cut the sea with more pleasure when the season arrives than I take up pen, paper, and ink when I am about to write to your good order. During winter, when cold froze everything and unspeakable snow walled off the roads, no one from outside would come to us and we could not set out from here. Shut inside these rooms like a prison, and tied by the lack of letter-carriers as if by a bridle on the tongue, we unwillingly kept a long silence. Now that the season has opened the highways and loosened the bonds from our tongue, we have sent the presbyter who is with us to your nobility to learn about your health. Receive him as is fitting, my admirable master, and when he returns please send us news of your health. You know how much we long to learn it.

ΡΚΗʹ. Μαρινιανῷ. Τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις ἡδὺ τὸ ἔαρ, ὅτι τὴν ὄψιν τῆς γῆς ἄνθεσι καλλωπίζει, καὶ πάντα δείκνυσι λειμῶνας· ἐμοὶ δὲ, ὅτι καὶ τοῖς ἐθάσι τοῖς ἐμοῖς συγγίνεσθαι διὰ γραμμάτων εὐκολίαν παρέχει πολλήν. Ἐβουλόμην μὲν γὰρ καὶ αὐταῖς ὄψεσιν ὑμᾶς θεωρεῖν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔνι, ὅπερ ἔνι μετὰ πολλῆς ποιῶ τῆς προθυμίας, διὰ γραμμάτων ὑμῖν ὁμιλῶν. Καὶ οὐχ οὕτω ναῦται καὶ πλωτῆρες μεθ' ἡδονῆς τὰ θαλάττια τέμνουσι νῶτα, ἐκείνης τοῦ ἔτους τῆς ὥρας ἐπιστάσης, ὡς ἐγὼ κάλαμον, καὶ χάρτην, καὶ μέλαν μεταχειρίζομαι, μέλλων ἐπιστέλλειν ὑμῶν τῇ ἐμμελείᾳ. Παρὰ μὲν γὰρ τὸν τοῦ χειμῶνος καιρὸν τοῦ κρυμοῦ πάντα πηγνύντος, καὶ τῆς ἀφάτου χιόνος τὰς ὁδοὺς ἀποτειχιζούσης, οὔτε ἔξωθέν τις ἡμῖν ἐπιχωριάζειν ἠνείχετο, οὔτε ἐντεῦθεν ἀναστῆναι. ∆ιόπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς, καθάπερ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ, τοῖς ἐνταῦθα δωματίοις καθειργμένοι, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὶ γλωσσοπέδῃ κατεχόμενοι, τῇ τῶν γραμματηφόρων ἀπορίᾳ, καὶ ἄκοντες τὴν μακρὰν ἐσιγήσαμεν σιγήν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ λοιπὸν ἀνέῳξε τὰς λεωφόρους τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ὁ καιρὸς, καὶ ἡμῖν τὰ δεσμὰ τῆς γλώττης ἔλυσε, τὸν σὺν ἡμῖν πρεσβύτερον ἐντεῦθεν ἀναστήσαντες, ἀπεστάλκαμεν πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν εὐγένειαν, εἰσόμενοι τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας ὑμῶν. ∆εξάμενος τοίνυν αὐτὸν, δέσποτά μου θαυμασιώτατε, καθώς σοι πρέπον ἐστὶ, καὶ ἰδὼν μετὰ τῆς σοὶ πρεπούσης ἀγάπης, ἡνίκα ἂν ἐπανίῃ, τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας σου δηλῶσαι ἡμῖν παρακλήθητι, Οἶσθα γὰρ ὅπως ἡμῖν περισπούδαστον περὶ ταύτης μανθάνειν.