Letter 790: You have honored me with your remembrance, but you did not quite gauge the weakness of my eyes.
Θεοδώρῳ. (362/63)
Τῇ μὲν μνήμῃ τετίμηκάς με, τῆς δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν
ἀσθενείας οὐ μάλα ἐστοχάσω. ἔρρωται μὲν γὰρ οὐδέν μοι
μέρος τοῦ σώματος, οἱ δὲ πλέον ἢ τἄλλα ἀπειρήκασι, κὰν μὴ
μεγάλων λάβωνται γραμμάτων, ζητοῦσι τὸν ἀναγνωσόμενον.
σοὶ δ’ ἔστι μὶν βιβλία πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ κοὶ οἷα βοηθεῖν τοῖς
οὅτω διακειμένοις, ἐγὼ δὲ οὔπω τῶν τοιούτων ἄξιος κοὶ οἶδα
ἐνοχλήσας καὶ συγγνώμην αἰτῶ· ὡς ὅ γε ἔπεμφας, ἓν μόνον
εἶχε καλὸν τὸ παρὰ σοῦ τε καὶ μετὰ σῶν κεκομίσθαι γραμμά-
των, ὡς τῇ γε ἄλλῃ τὸ δῶρον οὐ σόν.
ἥκει οὖν αὖθις εὶς
ταὐτὸ ταμιεῖον μετὰ τῶν καλῶν κεισόμενον, ὅπως βασκανίαν
ἀπελαύνῃ τῶν καλῶν.
Related Letters
It is time for you to call the Nile a small river, since you also call yourself small in eloquence.
The monastic life demands total commitment.
If I claimed to possess words capable of eliminating every kind of wickedness, I would rightly be accused of arrogance.
Virtue must be practiced with all one's strength — not merely admired from a distance.
...may the diligence of our correspondence grow warmer through the fruit of reciprocity.