Letter 385: Many are those who announce that you are coming, but we do not yet see the deed.
Μοδέστῳ. (358/59)
Οἱ μὲν ὡς ἥξεις ἀγγέλλοντες πολλοί, τὸ δὲ ἔργον ὁρῶμεν
οὔπω. ποίησον οὖν ἡμῖν τὴν σκιὰν τῆς ἡδονῆς εὐφροσύνην
ἀληθινήν. εἴτε γὰρ ἐδεῖτο φροντίδος τὰ περὶ τὸν Εὐφράτην,
ἱκανῶς τεθεράπευται· εἴτε ἔδει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους μαθεῖν ὅστις
εἶ πρὸς ἥλιον φλέγοντα, τῆς Ἡρακλέους καρτερίας οὐ λελεῖ-
φθαι δοκεῖς.
τί οὖν πόλιν μεγάλην καὶ καλὴν κατατείνεις
ἐρῶσαν, ᾗ χάριτας μὲν ὀφείλεις τοῦ φίλτρου, μέμψασθαι δὲ
οὐκ ἔχεις;
ἀλλ’, w γενναῖε, συνθεὶς ἀπολογίαν ἧκε παρ’
ἄνδρας ἠδικημένους. κἂν γὰρ αὐτίκα φανῇς, ὅ γε παρελθὼν
χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ ῥήτορος τέχνην. πάντως δὲ οὐδέν σε δε'- μι-
σθοῦσθαι τὸν ἐροῦντα πολλοὺς αὐτὸν ἤδη σεσωκότα τῇ φωνῇ.
Related Letters
Have you been seized by the same feeling that has seized us?
I was right to do both things: to write and to stop writing.
I was pleased that you urge me to do the very thing I urge you to do.
Hear what the bearer of this letter says: he accuses the negligent servants and asks you to correct what has gone wrong.
This Elpidius is the son of the famous Xiphidius, and no less skilled than his father in his craft.