Letter 124: Just as I'm enjoying the hospitality gifts you sent, so I'll make use of your letter's opening.

Just as I'm enjoying the hospitality gifts you sent, so I'll make use of your letter's opening. Let what comes from your marketplace and your land be shared between us -- and your thoughts too. I say it myself: thanks be to the Seasons [the Horai, goddesses of seasonal change] for bringing the festivals, which in turn bring your letters -- letters sweeter, I think, than the festivals themselves. Your letter arrived while I was listening to my students, and I was annoyed at the one who wouldn't stop talking, since the letter was pulling me away. I couldn't focus properly on what he was saying -- all I wanted was to open it. When he finally stopped and I found the Seasons praised throughout every line of your writing, with grace stretched from beginning to end, I abandoned what I'd been about to say and shared the letter with my associates. It was enough for them too. And so your gift brought with it relief from the labor I'd been enduring.

**To Demetrius** (359/60 AD) Just as I make use of the guest-gifts you sent, so too shall I make use of the opening of your letter. For let me share not only the products of your marketplace and your land, but also those of your mind. I say, then, myself as well: thanks be to the Seasons for all their blessings, and especially because in bringing the festivals they bring occasion for letters from you — letters sweeter, I believe, than the festivals themselves. I received your letter, however, while I was listening to my students recite, and I grew annoyed at the one who would not finish, drawn as I was by your epistle. For I could not properly attend to what he was saying, so eager was I to break the seal. But when he stopped and I found the Seasons praised within, and grace stretched through every line of what you had written, I set aside what I had been about to say and shared the letter with my companions — and it was enough for them too. And so, to your gifts was added relief from the labor that had been pressing upon me.

Δημητρίῳ. (359/60) Ὥσπερ οἷς ἔπεμψας χρῶμαι ξενίοις, οὕτω καὶ τῇ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἀρχῇ χρήσομαι. κοινὰ γὰρ ἔστω μοι μὴ μόνον τὰ τῆς σῆς ἀγορᾶς τε καὶ γῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῆς διανοίας. λέ- γω τοίνυν καὶ αὐτός, ὅτι τῶν τε ἄλλων χάρις Ὥραις καὶ ὅτι τὰς πανηγύρεις φέρουσαι φέρουσιν ἀφορμὴν τοῖς παρὰ σοῦ γράμμασιν αὐτῶν, οἶμαι, τῶν ἑορτῶν ἡδίοσι. τὰ μέν- τοι γράμματα ἔλαβον ἀκροώμενος τῶν νέων καὶ πρὸς τὸν μὴ κύνοντα ἠχθόμην ἑλκόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς. οὐ γὰρ ᾔδει] ἀκριβῶς ὅ τι λέγοι, λύειν ἐκείνην ἐπιθυμῶν. ὡς δὲ δίε παύσατο καὶ εἶρον τὰς Ὥρας ἐπαινουμένας καὶ διὰ πάντων τῶν γεγραμμένων τεταμένην τὴν ὥραν, ἀφεὶς ἃ λέξειν ἔμελ- λον ἐκοίνωσα τοῖς ἑταίροις τὴν ἐπιστολήν, τοῖς δὲ ἀπέχρησε. καὶ οὕτω προσετέθη τοῖς δώροις ἀπαλλαγὴ τοῦ τότε ἐπικει- 5 μένου πόνου.