Letter 493: You are not reminding people who had forgotten your hospitality — we have even told others what a host you were to us.

To Atactius. (356 AD) You are not reminding people who had forgotten your hospitality — we have even told others what a host you were to us. And this letter of yours is no less a gift than that hospitality itself. Indeed, to desire letters from others is as great an honor as writing them oneself. So you delight me with three great things: the hospitality we enjoyed under your roof, the letters you send, and the fact that you count receiving a letter from me as something of value. As for myself, I have not been like those bad flute-players who are slow to perform. It was the carriers, supposed to deliver letters, who failed to act. They were at fault, yet I get the blame — though even if I were the laziest man alive, I would not have been so neglectful about a letter, so light a task, especially to a friend. But the charge belongs to them. As for you, if it is letters you desire, we shall fill your house with them.

Ἀτακτίῳ. (356) Οὐκ ἐπιλελησμένους τῆς ξενίας ἀναμιμνήσκεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἄλλους εἰπόντας, ὅστις εἰς ἡμᾶς γένοιο. τῶν ξενίων δὲ ἐκείνων οὐ χείρω ταυτὶ τὰ γράμματα. καίτοι γε γραμμά- των ἑτέρων ἐπιθυμεῖν ἴσον εἰς τιμὴν τῷ γράφειν αὐτόν. ὥστε τοῖς μεγίστοις εὐφραίνεις τρισίν, οἷς τε κατελύομεν παρὰ σοὶ καὶ οἷς ἐπιστέλλεις καὶ ὅτι τὸ λαβεῖν παρ’ ἡμῶν ἐπιστολὴν ἐν μεγάλῳ ποιῇ. ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ κατὰ τοὺς κακοὺς ἐμέλλησα αὐ- λητάς, ἀλλ’ οἱ διδόντες, ὅπως λάβοιεν, οὐκ ἔπραττον. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἠδίκουν, ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν αἰτίαις, ὅς, εἰ καὶ λίαν ἀργῶς εἶχον, οὐκ ἂν εἴς γε ἐπιστολὴν, πρᾶγμα οὕτω κοῦφον, τοῦτο ἔπαθον καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς φίλον. ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, ἐκείνων τὸ ἔγκλημα σοῦ δὲ ἡμεῖς τὸν οἶκον γραμμάτων, εἰ γραμμάτων ἐπιθυμεῖς, ἐμπλήσομεν.