Letter 612: If I knew how to revolve around the doors of the powerful, I would myself be one of the powerful.
Μοδέστῳ. (361)
Εἰ περὶ τὰς τῶν δυνατῶν ἠπιστάμην στρέφεσθαι θύρας,
ἦν ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν δυνατῶν· νῦν δέ εἰμι μὲν ἀσθενής,
αἰσχύνομαι δὲ οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλ’ ἀρκεῖ μοι τὸ ᾄδειν, ὥσπερ τῇ
ἀηδόνι.
γράμματα δέ σοι πέμπειν πολλὰ οὐκ ᾠήθην δεῖν
πολλὰ μὲν πράττοντι πράγματα, πολλὰ δὲ δεχομένῳ γράμ-
ματα· τοῖς γάρ τοι βαρυνομένοις τῶν πλοίων οὐ δεῖ προστι-
θέναι φορτία· ἐπεὶ δὲ πλήθους ἐπιθυμεῖς, Λυδὸν εἰς πεδίον
ἴσθι προκαλούμενος.
τῆς μὲν οὖν ἐπιστολῆς, ἣν πρὸς
Ἀκάκιον ἔπεμψας, οἶδά σοι χάριν, ἐδείκνυ γὰρ τὸν ἐσπουδα-
κότα καὶ βουλόμενον ἔργον ἰδεῖν, ἄλλος δ’ ἂν ἀφοσιωσάμενος
ἀπηλλάγη· περὶ δὲ τῆς στοᾶς σοι σκεπτέον, ὅπως εὔφημόν τι
λέγοιτο περὶ αὐτῆς καὶ μὴ δοκῶν τῷ Διονύσῳ χαρίζεσθαι τὸν
πατέρα λυποίης τοῦ Διονύσου τὸν Δία.
Related Letters
I was pleased that you urge me to do the very thing I urge you to do.
This Theodorus was born among us but is enrolled among you, having inherited his father's citizenship.
Have you been seized by the same feeling that has seized us?
Do well by the poets, for a debt of gratitude lodged with a poet is a fine treasure.
Hear what the bearer of this letter says: he accuses the negligent servants and asks you to correct what has gone wrong.