Letter 343: Dionysius comes to you with a letter of mine.

To Ekdikios (358) Dionysius comes to you bearing my letter. Earlier I did not have the confidence to write, since I had detained Dionysius. And although it was the scarcity of copyists that consumed the time, nevertheless I could not but be ashamed at the delay. Now therefore, since it has at last become possible to deliver up the sophist, it seemed to me not Hellenic to make the restitution in silence; rather, just as that course partook of shamelessness, so this one stands far from the Muses. You then, repay my letter with letters in return, especially since you possess beauty of letters; but send us no parchment. For you are in love with them, and you do well in that. And it is a hard thing for a lover to take a partner in his beloved.

Ἐκδικίῳ (358) Ἥκει σοι μετ’ ἐμῶν γραμμάτων ὁ Διονύσιος. πρότερον δὲ οὐκ ἐθάρρουν ἐπιστέλλειν κατελὼν τὸν Διονύσιον. καίτοι τὸν χρόνον ἡ τῶν γραφέων ἐποίει σπάνις, ἀλλ’ ὅμως οὐκ εἶχον μὴ οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθαι τῷ χρόνῳ. νῦν οὖν ἐπειδή ποθ’ ὑπῆρ- ξεν ἀποδοῦναι τὸν σοφιστήν, ἔδοξεν οὐχ Ἑλληνικὸν εἶναί μοι διὰ σιγῆς ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀπόδοσιν, ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνο μετέχειν ἀναιδείας, οὕτω τοῦτο πόρρω Μουσῶν ἱστάναι. σὺ τοίνυν τὰ μὲν γράμματα ἀμείβου καὶ ταῦτα κάλλος γραμμά- των κεκτημένος, διφθέραν δὲ ἡμῖν μηδεμίαν πέμπε. ἐρᾷς γὰρ αὐτῶν, καὶ καλῶς ποιεῖς. βαρὺ δὲ ἐρῶντι κοινωνὸν λαμβά- νειν τῶν παιδικῶν.