Letter 441: Whenever someone says a letter has arrived from Andronicus, I know it means complaints have arrived.

Whenever someone says a letter has arrived from Andronicus, I know it means complaints have arrived. The result is that I feel no less pain than pleasure whenever you write. And it seems to me that, unable to change your ways, you always take the same path -- complaining either that you received no letter or that the one you received was too short. Well then, if your complaints are entirely justified, everything has been repaid through the ambassadors. Their tongues are worth more than many letters. That Cleomenes treats those he does not govern badly is no surprise -- he treats those he does govern badly too. But I was astonished when you said I had been stripped of my honors in your region and that I might be forced to come to you -- unless you mean that anyone who goes there deserves dishonor. And that you would be right to say.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (355) Ἂν εἴπῃ τις ἥκειν Ἀνδρονίκου γράμματα, δῆλον ἡμῖν ὡς ἐγκλήματα ἥκει, καὶ συμβαίνει δὴ μὴ ἧττον ἀλγεῖν ἢ χαί- ρειν, ὅταν ἐπιστέλλῃς. καί μοι δοκεῖς οὐκ ἔχων σαυτὸν ἐξαλ- λάττειν μίαν ἀεὶ στείχειν καὶ ἢ τῷ μὴ λαβεῖν ἢ τῷ μικρὰν λα- βεῖν ἐγκαλεῖν. εἰ δ’ οὖν καὶ λίαν ἀληθῆ μέμφῃ, ἀποδέ- δοταί σοι πάντα διὰ τῶν πρέσβεων· πολλῶν γὰρ ἐπιστολῶν ἀμείνους αἱ τῶνδε γλῶτται. Κλεομένην δὲ ὧν οὐκ ἄρχει κακῶς ποιεῖν οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν· καὶ γὰρ ὧν ἄρχει κακῶς ποιεῖ. σοῦ δὲ ἐθαύμασα λέγοντος ὡς ἀφῄρημαι τῶν παρ’ ὑμῖν τιμῶν καὶ ὡς ἀναγκαζοίμην παρ’ ὑμᾶς ἐλθεῖν, πλὴν εἰ τοῦτο λέγοις, ὡς τοῖς ἐκεῖσε ἰοῦσιν ἀτιμία πρέπει. τοῦτο δὲ ὀρθῶς ἂν λέγοις.