Letter 71: I have two letters in circulation addressed to you: I am writing to both Thrace and Isauria at the same time, hoping...
Letter 71: Trying to Reach a Friend
[1] To Pylaemenes
There are two letters in circulation addressed to you; for I am writing at the same time to Thrace and to Isauria, that I may in any case find you with one or other of the letters. The theme of both of them is a greeting to my dear friend Pylaemenes, the philosopher, for this is he, whether he wills it so or not. [2] He can never completely get rid of his own natural bent. He will never succeed in extinguishing the spark of sacred fire, but some day when he has risen above his vain pursuits, it will shine forth again.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
Believe me when I say that I embrace Pylaemenes — soul to soul.
I have just sent you my treatise [A Eulogy of Baldness], written in Attic style and finished with care.
A man from Phycus — a harbor of the Cyrenaeans — brought me a letter written in your name.
In Plato, we see Socrates, already advanced in years, still pursuing his intellectual passions.
I had a large Egyptian rug — not the kind you put under a bedspread, but one fine enough to use as a bedspread itself.