Letter 383: You are a good fellow for seeking letters and claiming that not receiving them makes you ill, and that receiving...

To Thalassius. (358) You are a good [the word is chrestos, "good, kind, useful"] man in seeking letters and in declaring that, by not receiving one, you are falling ill, but that, if you received one, you would surely recover. That, however, even if I wished very much to gratify you, I cannot call good: that a man who has received three letters should accuse me of having been altogether silent. For that the desire to wish to receive yet again leads you to falsehood is plain; yet it was open to you, while finding fault with what was given as too little, both to speak the truth and at the same time to ask for more. But we, for our part, acknowledge that from what is yours we always receive much, more even than we wish. For these things we give thanks in return by counseling you to remember your good wife and to keep saying to yourself that you have not yet become a father.

Θαλασσίῳ. (358) Χρηστὸς εἶ γράμματα ζητῶν καὶ φάσκων τῷ μὲν οὐ λαβεῖν ἀρρωστεῖν, πάντως δ’ ἂν ὑγιᾶναι λαβών. ἐκεῖνό γε μήν, οὐδ’ εἰ πάνυ βουλοίμην χαρίζεσθαι, χρηστὸν ἔχω καλεῖν τὸ τρεῖς ἐπιστολὰς εἰληφότα κατηγορεῖν ὡς ὅλως σεσιγηκότος. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἡ τοῦ πάλιν ἐθέλειν λαβεῖν ἐπιθυμία πρὸς τὸ ψεῦδος ἄγει, δῆλον· ἐξῆν μέντοι καὶ τὸ δοθὲν ὡς μικρὸν αἰτιώμενον ἀληθεύειν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ πλείω ζητεῖν. ἀλλ’ ἡμεῖς γε παρὰ τῶν σῶν ὁμολογοῦμεν ἀεί τε καὶ πολλὰ λαμβάνειν γαῖ ὧν βουλόμεθα πλείω. οἶς ἀντιδίδομεν χάριν τὸ σοὶ παρ- αινεῖν μνησθῆναι τῆς ἀγαθῆς γυναικὸς καὶ πρὸς σαυτὸν ἀεὶ λέγειν ὅτι πατὴρ οὔπω γέγονας.