Letter 64: Not only do I write to you, but I demand payment in kind.

To Lucian the sophist. Not only do I write to you, but I demand payment in kind. And if my constant writing is a form of abuse, then I beg you to abuse me in return and make me suffer in exactly the same way.

To Lucian the Sophist 5 Not only do I write to you but I demand to receive payment in kind. And if I treat you ill by writing continually, then I beg you to ill-treat me in return and make me suffer in the same way. 5 A merely sophistic letter of compliment such as this is a conventional "type" of the sort recommended in the contemporary handbooks on epistolary style. Gesner thinks it was addressed to the Lucian who wrote the dialogue Philopatris, preserved with the works of his illustrious namesake, but there is no evidence of this.

[Πρός: Λουκιανῷ σοφιστῇ] Καὶ γράφω καὶ ἀντιτυχεῖν ἀξιῶ τῶν ἴσων. εἰ δὲ ἀδικῶ συνεχῶς ἐπιστέλλων, ἀνταδικηθῆναι δέομαιτὰ ὅμοια παθών.