Letter 260: It seems you have done something to upset our friend Asclepius.

To Honoratus. (361) It seems you have done something to upset our friend Asclepius. He would not have pressed me so urgently to write unless you owed him some recompense, great or small. I begged him repeatedly not to send you the kind of letter that would cause you annoyance. I judge that my letters have become unwelcome to you from the fact that things went wrong for us after they arrived. He is no fool -- he notices the change. For these reasons I was urging myself to keep silent, and I regretted the letters I had previously sent. After all, it is perfectly possible to love someone without writing to them. But Asclepius was practically choking me, declaring he would not let go whatever happened, and he forced me into this letter. So do what a just man should. And if any unpleasantness results from this letter, spare the heralds and blame Agamemnon [a proverbial expression from Homer: do not blame the messenger, blame the one who sent him].

Ὁνωράτῳ. (361) Ἔοικάς τι λελυπηκέναι τὸν ἑταῖρον ἡμῖν Ἀσκληπιόν. οὐ γὰρ ἄν με ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἀνάγκαις ἐβιάζετο γράφειν, εἰ μή τι- νος αὐτῷ δίκην ὤφειλες ἢ μείζονος ἢ ἐλάττονος. ἐγὼ δὲ πολλὰ μὲν ἐδεήθην αὐτοῦ μὴ τοιαῦτά σοι φέρειν, ἐξ ὧν ἀνιά- σει, τεκμαίρομαι τεκμαίρομαι δὲ σοὶ προσίστασθαι τὰ ἡμέτερα τῷ ἡμὶν ἐκεῖθεν ἐλθεῖν. ὅτι γὰρ οὐ πάνυ Μελιτίδης, αἰσθάνεται τῆς μεταβολῆς. διὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα παρῄνουν ἐμαυτῷ σιγᾶν καί μοι μετέμελε τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεσταλμένων, πάντως δὲ ἔξ- εστί μοι καὶ μὴ γράφοντι φιλεῖν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄγχων Ἀσκλη- πιὸς καὶ φάσκων οὐδ’ ἄν, εἴ τι γένοιτο, ἀφήσειν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ποίησον ὃ τὸν δίκαιον εἰκός. εἰ δέ τις ἀηδία γένοιτο διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων, ἀφεὶς τοὺς κήρυκας αἰτιῶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα.