Letter 550: When you said you could not write me a treatise on kidney disease because you had not heard a precise enough account...
Ὀλυμπίῳ. (357)
Λέγων οὐκ ἔχειν ποιεῖν μοι περὶ τοῦ νεφροὶ βιβλίον
διὰ τὸ μὴ πάντα ἀκριβῶς ἀΚοῦσαι τὰ περὶ τὴν νόσον ἕτερον
ἐποίησας τὴν ἐπιστολὴν βιβλίον περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἐπ’ ἀκριβεῖ
τῶν τοιούτων ἀκοῇ τὰ βιβλία ποιεῖν.
ἐμὲ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ
τοῦτο ὤνησε τὸ προσαγγεῖλαί σοι περὶ τοῦ πάθους. οὐ γὰρ
ἔφθην ἐπιστείλας σοι καὶ διηλλάγη πρὸς ἐμὲ τὸ λυποῦν, οἷα
πολλὰ γέγονεν Ἀσκληπιοῦ.
ὁ δὲ σοφὸς ἐκεῖνος ἀνεπυρίασε
σοφιστὴς οὐδὲ τὸν πράξαντα τὴν εἰρήνην αἰδεσθείς. καὶ εἰ
μὲν τὰ Κύρου ζητῶν ὁ Λυδὸς ἀποβαλεῖ τὰ ὄντα, οὐκ ὄιδα·
τὰς δὲ συνθήκας ὅπως ἀνεῖλεν, ἐρῶ.
πορευθεὶς εἰς Φοινί-
κην ἐβούλετο μένειν, ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν ἕλκων ἐπανῆγον καὶ ἐβου-
λόμην εἶναι χρηστόν. ἐλθὼν δὲ μετὰ Φοινίκων ὑβρίζειν εἰ-
δότων ἐπαρῴνει δι’ ἐκείνων. ὡς δ’ οὐκ ἠνέγκαμεν, ἰδὼν νέον
τῶν ἐμῶν ἄξιον πληγῶν ἀπὸ πληγῶν εἰς ὀργὴν πεσόντα τὸν
καιρὸν ἁρπάσας καὶ πείσας αὑτὸν ἢ πεισθείς γε ὑπ’ ἐκείνου
μοῖραν ἕξειν τῆς ἀγέλης οὐ μικρὰν ἐρρῶσθαι φράσας Ὀλυμ-
πίῳ τῷ καλῷ καὶ δεξιαῖς ἠξίου κερδαίνειν.
πέμψας οὖν
ὡς Εὔβουλον ἠρώτων, τί ταῦτα; ὁ δὲ νοῦν ἔχοντος ἔφασκε
ταῦτ’ εἶναι καὶ φιλοῦντος αὑτό ἴσασι μὲν οὖν Οἰναῖοι τὴν
χαράδραν, καὶ οὐ πάνυ γε κερδανεῖ· σὲ δ’ ἂν εἰκὸς εἴη τὸν
παρασπονδήσαντα δυοῖν ἕνεκα μισεῖν, τῆς τε τῶν θεῶν ὑπερ-
οψίας καὶ ὅτι σοῦ τὴν σπουδὴν ἐκείνην ὕβρισε.
Λητόιον
δὲ πολλάκις πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπαινέσας νῦν εὖ ποιῆσαι καιρὸν
παρείληφας, οἶμαι δέ, οὐκ αἰσχυνῇ τῆς πόλεως ἡμῖν τὸν πρῶ-
τὸν εὐεργετῶν γένους τε ἕνεκα καὶ παιδείας καὶ τρόπων.
Related Letters
Though absent, you live always present in our memory.
Before you did write me a few words: now not even a few. Your brevity will soon become silence. Return to your old ways, and do not let me have to scold you for your laconic behaviour.
Though my desire to meet you is warm, and the need of your petitioners is great, yet my illness is invincible. Therefore I am bold to commit my intercession to writing. Have respect to our gray hair, which you have already often reverenced by good actions.
I have neglected my duty to pay tribute, but what could I do?
As all the fruits of the season come to us in their proper time, flowers in spring, grain in summer, and apples in autumn, so the fruit for winter is talk. About this page Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson.