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the tear, set limits for grief, with wisdom heal the passion, become your own physician; you have reason, the drug that banishes sorrow and anger, making one forget all ills. The creator never brings his creations from a better to a worse state. Let us leave mortal things to mortals; for here the royal part of the soul is stained with great blemishes. I would weep for birth rather than death; for the one is the beginning of tears, the other the end of sorrows. Ignorance makes us fearful, and we are wary of death not because it is an evil, but because it is unknown to men; for what one is deprived of knowing, one most readily condemns. Therefore do not become a rival to Niobe, lest you too seem to exchange human nature for stone.

26 Cecropis to Dexicrates They say the Magnetic stone loves iron, and they record that the stone lives only so long as it is with its beloved. For whenever the stone is separated from its partner, it immediately dies and lays aside its own power. Such passions, Dexicrates, occur even in inanimate things. But what would I suffer, dearest, being deprived for so long of your presence? I think even to say it is more difficult than to suffer it. Thus may I grieve those who grieve me and become a dart to lovers; for a spark of Aphrodite is more fiery than soot and flame.

27 Theristron to Speiron To Etna, the Sicilian mountain, we depart, having said farewell to Attica. For we have never seen a more unfortunate land for the yielding of crops; instead of wheat it bore us myrtles, instead of barley, ivy. The grain-bin is empty, and my threshing-floor is filled with famine. For this reason, since my first seeds did not sprout, I would not sow again in the ungrateful soil. A farmer cannot have both famine and a soldier as an enemy, nor are sailors able to fight against winds and thunderbolts at the same time.

28 Heracleides to Antisthenes You have not yet abated your anger toward me, Antisthenes, but are still angry with us, and you hide your vexation under the pretense of kind words, just like those who store a spark of fire in soot. Therefore cleanse the grief from your heart; for this our words recommend. If not, you will be harsher than the sea; for it calms its savagery and presents a kind face to sailors, whenever they treat with oil the sea that is raging excessively with its waves.

29 Lachanon to Peganon Come to me for the oil tomorrow; for I would leave the city and I will be a guest at a banquet, dearest friend. For to the Nymphs and to Pan I would dedicate the first-fruits of the flock. For at long last the gods are kind to us; my wooden cups are filled with milk, the lambs have been born well, the goats leap about at the good fortune as if rejoicing. We have ceased fighting with poverty, an incorrigible and difficult beast; it entwines itself with those who possess it like a sore and is a familiar evil, making one lazy, downcast, inconsolable in grief, quick to vexation, sleepless, full of care, toilsome, inventive of evils, inglorious, easily despised, unenvied. For no one wants to encounter such an evil, not even if he were condemned to suffer the madness of Orestes. Therefore, having cast off the things of poverty to poverty, we shall move to another lot, having changed our way of thinking along with our fortune.

30 Rhodine to Calliope Concerning lovers you slander and mock us for this and that, making fun of how my vigor is slackened and the firmness of my body. But you think your own villainy is hidden; for you, the all-defiled, expel what you are carrying unfulfilled, and you have made abortions preferable to births, strangling with harsh drugs the living things in your womb, and you commit murders harsher than those of Medea of Colchis. Her husband, being ungrateful, taught her, his bedfellow and ally in his struggles, to be a child-killer; but you, on account of the seemliness of your beauty, cause countless calamities, you little whore. Cease then also your own

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τὸ δάκρυον, ὅρους νομοθέτει τῇ λύπῃ, φρονήσει τὸ πάθος θεράπευσον, ἰατρὸς γίνου σαυτοῦ· ἔχεις λόγον τὸ φάρμακον νηπενθὲς ἄχολόν τε, κακῶν ἐπίληθον ἁπάντων. οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ κρείττονος ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ὁ δημιουργὸς παράγει ποτὲ τὰ ποιήματα. τοῖς θνητοῖς τὰ θνητὰ καταλείψωμεν· μεγάλαις γὰρ κηλῖσιν ἐνθάδε τὸ βασιλικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς καταστίζεται. ἐγὼ τὴν γένεσιν ἢ τὸν θάνατον μᾶλλον δακρύσαιμι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δακρύων ἀρχή, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀνιώντων κατάλυσις. ἄγνοια περιδεεῖς ἡμᾶς ἀπεργάζεται, καὶ θάνατον εὐλαβούμεθα οὐχ ὅτι κακόν, ἀλλ' ὅτι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἠγνόηται· οὗ γάρ τις τὴν γνῶσιν ἀφῄρηται, τούτου κατηγορεῖ προχειρότατα. μὴ γένοιο τοίνυν τῇ Νιόβῃ ἐφάμιλλος, ἵνα μή που δόξῃς καὐτὸς λίθῳ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἀμείβεσθαι.

26 Κεκροπὶς ∆εξικράτει Τὴν Μαγνῆτιν λίθον ἐρᾶν τοῦ σιδήρου φασί, καὶ τοσοῦτον ζῆν ἱστοροῦσι τὴν λίθον, ὅσον τῷ ἐρωμένῳ καὶ σύνεστιν. ὁπηνίκα γὰρ ἡ λίθος τοῦ ὁμοζύγου χωρίζεται, παραυτίκα νεκροῦται καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἐνέργειαν ἀποτίθεται. αἱ τοιαῦται προσπάθειαι, ∆εξίκρατες, καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις ἐγγίνονται. ἐγὼ δὲ τί ἂν πάθοιμι, φίλτατε, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπολιμπανομένη τῆς σῆς ἐνδημίας; οἶμαι καὶ τὸ φράσαι τοῦ παθεῖν χαλεπώτερον. οὕτω λυπήσαιμι τοὺς λυπήσαντας καὶ βέλος γενοίμην τοῖς ἐρῶσι· σπινθὴρ γὰρ ἀφροδίσιος αἰθάλης καὶ φλογὸς φλογωδέστερος.

27 Θερίστρων Σπείρωνι Ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴτνην, τὸ Σικελικὸν ὄρος, ἀπαίρομεν εἰπόντες χαίρειν τῇ Ἀττικῇ. οὔποτε γὰρ δυστυχεστέραν γῆν πρὸς ἐπίδοσιν καρπῶν ἑωράκαμεν· ἀντὶ πυρῶν μυρρίνας, ἀντὶ κριθῶν κιττὸν ἡμῖν ἀπεκύησεν. ἡ δὲ σιπύη κενή, καὶ ἡ ἅλως λιμοῦ μοι πεπλήρωται. διά τοι τοῦτο τῶν πρώτων μοι μὴ ἐκφυέντων σπερμάτων οὐκ ἂν αὖθις τῇ ἀγνώμονι καταβάλοιμι. οὐ δύναται γεωργὸς καὶ λιμὸν καὶ στρατιώτην ἔχειν πολέμιον, οὔτε δὲ πλωτῆρες οἷοί τέ εἰσι πνεύμασιν ἅμα καὶ κεραυνοῖς ἀντιμάχεσθαι.

28 Ἡρακλείδης Ἀντισθένει Οὔπω μοι τῆς ὀργῆς ὑφῆκας, Ἀντίσθενες, ἀλλ' ἔτι χαλεπαίνεις ἡμῖν, καὶ κρύπτεις τὴν ἀνίαν προσηνῶν ῥημάτων προσχήματι, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐν αἰθάλῃ σπινθῆρα πυρὸς ταμιεύοντες. ἐκκάθαραι λοιπὸν τῆς καρδίας τὴν λύπην· τοῦτο γὰρ οἱ ἡμέτεροι λόγοι πρεσβεύονται. εἰ δὲ μή, καὶ θαλάττης ἀπηνέστερος ἔσῃ· κατευνάζει γὰρ ἐκείνη τὸ ἄγριον καὶ παρέχεται τοῖς πλωτῆρσιν ὄψιν φιλάνθρωπον, ὁπηνίκα τῷ ἐλαίῳ φιλοφρονοῦνται ἄγαν τοῖς κύμασι χαλεπαίνουσαν.

29 Λαχάνων Πηγάνωνι Ἧκέ μοι πρὸς τοὔλαιον αὔριον· ἐκδημήσαιμι γὰρ τοῦ ἄστεος καὶ δαιτυμὼν ἔσομαι, φίλτατε. Νύμφαις γὰρ καὶ τῷ Πανὶ τοῦ ποιμνίου τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἀναθήσαιμι. εὐνοοῦσι γὰρ ἡμῖν ὀψέ ποτε οἱ θεοί· τὰ κισσύβια πεπλήρωταί μοι τοῦ γάλακτος, αἱ ἄρνες εὐγόνως τετόκασι, περισκιρτῶσιν αἱ αἶγες ἐπὶ ταῖς εὐτυχίαις ὥσπερ γηθόμεναι. πεπαύμεθα πενίᾳ μαχόμενοι, δυσνουθετήτῳ θηρίῳ καὶ δυσκόλῳ· δίκην ἕλκους τοῖς κεκτημένοις ἐμπλέκεται καὶ φιλοσύνηθές ἐστι κακόν, ῥαθυμοποιόν, κατηφές, πρὸς λύπην ἀπαρηγόρητον, πρὸς ἀνίαν ὀξύρροπον, ἄγρυπνον, φιλομέριμνον, ἐπίμοχθον, κακῶν ἐφευρετικόν, ἄδοξον, εὐκαταφρόνητον, ἀνεπίφθονον. οὐ γάρ τις ἐθέλει τηλικούτῳ κακῷ συναντᾶν, οὐδὲ εἰ τὴν Ὀρέστου μανίαν κατακριθείη νοσεῖν. ῥίψαντες οὖν τὰ τῆς πενίας τῇ πενίᾳ ἐφ' ἑτέραν μεταστησώμεθα λῆξιν, μετὰ τῆς τύχης ἀμείψαντες καὶ τὸ φρόνημα. 30 Ῥοδίνη Καλλιόπῃ Ἐπὶ τῶν ἐραστῶν διασύρεις καὶ σκώπτεις ἡμᾶς τὸ καὶ τό, κεχαυνῶσθαί μοι τὸ σύντονον καὶ σφριγῶν τοῦ σώματος διαπαίζουσα. σὺ δὲ τὴν σὴν πανουργίαν κεκρύφθαι δοκεῖς· ἀτελεσφόρητα γὰρ τὰ κυοφορούμενα ἀποπατεῖς ἡ παμμίαρος, καὶ τὰς ἀμβλώσεις ἢ τοὺς τοκετοὺς αἱρετωτέρας πεποίησαι, δριμυτέροις φαρμάκοις τὰ ζωογονούμενα ἐν τῇ σῇ γαστρὶ περιπνίγουσα, καὶ τῆς Κολχικῆς Μηδείας ἀπηνεστέρους ἀπεργάζῃ τοὺς φόνους. παιδοκτόνον ἐκείνην ἐδίδασκεν ἀγνωμονῶν ὁ ὁμόζυγος τὴν εὐνέτιν καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων τὴν σύμμαχον· σὺ δὲ διὰ τὴν τοῦ κάλλους εὐπρέπειαν μυρίας συμφορὰς ἀπεργάζῃ, πορνίδιον. παῦσαι δῆτα καὶ τὴν σὴν