Letter 508: Leontius never delivered the letter.

To Aristainetus. Leontius never delivered the letter. Either he claimed to have received it when he had not, or he took it and lost it. And Themistius, who said he would bring one the next day, turned around and said he had nothing after all -- you had written it, apparently, but never sealed it. What am I supposed to make of all this? Explain it to me, because I cannot solve these riddles. Spectatus left us slowly, but he left things here in good order, following the example of our ancestor Nicias [the 5th-century BC Athenian general]. He has gone to see Babylon -- not taken by war, but opened by the peaceful custom of the times.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (356/57) Οὔθ’ ὁ Λεόντιος ἔδωκε τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ἀλλ’ ἢ οὐ λα- βὼν ἔφησε λαβεῖν ἢ λαβὼν ἀπολώλεκε, Θεμίστιός τε φήσας φέρειν τῆς ὑστεραίας οὐ φέρειν ἔφη· γράψαντα γάρ σε οὐκ ἐπιθεῖναι. ταῦτα δὴ τί βούλεται, δίδαξον, ὡς ἐγὼ τῶν αἰνιγ- μάτων οὐχ ὁρῶ λύσιν. Σπεκτάτος δὲ παρ’ ἡμῶν ἀνέστη μὶν βραδέως, εὖ δὲ τὰ τῇδε θεὶς ἀνέστη καὶ μιμησάμενος τοῦ Νικίου τοῦ ἡμετέρου προγόνου τὸν τρόπον. Βαβυλῶνα γὰρ ὁρᾶν, ὁρᾶν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πολέμῳ ληφθεῖσαν ἀλλ’ εἰρήνης γε ἀνεῳγμένην νόμῳ.