Letter 491: You wonder why, when you were helping us in deed and giving what aid you could, we never even wrote to say what came...
Ἠλίᾳ. (356)
Θαυμάζεις ὅτι σὺ μὲν ἡμῖν ἐπεκούρεις ἔργῳ καὶ ὅ τι
εἶχες ἐβοήθεις, ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐδὲ ὅ τι ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς βοηθείας ὑπῆρξεν
ἐγράψαμεν.
τοῦτο δὲ ἐποίουν βασανίζων ἐν χρόνῳ τὴν συμ-
μαχίαν, ᾧ μόνῳ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῆς ἦν ἰδεῖν. οὐ γὰρ ὀφθαλ-
μῷ γε ἐκρίνετο ἄν, ἀλλὰ τῷ κωλῦσαι τὸ νόσημα μὴ ὡς πρό-
τερον ἐπελθεῖν.
ὅ τι δ’ οὖν ἤνεγκεν ὃ πέπομφας, ἄκουσον·
ἐρῶ δὲ μεῖζον οὐδὲν οὐδὲν οὔτ᾿ ἔλαττον. τὰς μὲν προσβολὰς
ὅλως οὐκ ἀνῄρηκεν, βραχυτέρας δὲ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐποίη·
σεν· ἀντὶ γὰρ ἡμερῶν ἑπτὰ καὶ ἔτι πλειόνων εἰς δύο συνέστειλε
τὸ πάθος, ὅσα γε ἐκ τῶν πεπραγμένων. τὸ μέλλον δὲ ἀφείσθω
τῷ θεῷ.
τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἰατροῖς, — ἀεὶ δὲ οὗτοι διασύρου-
σιν ὅ τι ἂν αὐτῶν ἔξω τῆς τέχνης ὂν μεῖζον ἰσχύῃ τῆς τέ-
χνης —, οὐκ ἐνθένδε φαίνεταί τι γεγονέναι χρηστόν, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ
τοῦ κεκολάσθαι τὰ περὶ τὴν τράπεζαν· ἐμοῦ δὲ τοῦτο οὐδεὶς
ἐξαιρήσεται, ὡς οὐκ ἐκεῖθεν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ σοῦ γέγονα ῥᾴων.
5, ὃ πεπεισμένον ἀνάγκη πλέον ἢ πρὸ τοῦ φιλεῖν, ἀμοιβῶν
δὲ παραπλησίων μή σοι δεηθείη τὸ σῶμα.
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I have written to you before and I greet you again now.
What are you about, most excellent sir, in anticipating me in humility? Educated as you are, and able to write such a letter as you have sent, you nevertheless ask for forgiveness at my hands, as though you were engaged in some undertaking rash and beyond your position. But a truce to mockery.
When I saw Clematius, I was pleased -- and yet the pleasure was not without pain.