Procopius of Gaza, Letters

sending a letter, how the sea treated him, how the land accompanied him as he journeyed, if he enjoyed good fortune, if the place received him kindly. Of these things, then, you yourself said nothing, nor can we recount them, but for my part you have become more speechless than the fish themselves. But so that the affairs of friendship, having come to forgetfulness through silence, may not gradually slip away, I renew the matter again and become more benevolent to you. And you, by Philius, jest with us in your usual way and in a manner worthy of your grace. 30 ... but if anything grievous has happened, let this be given to the winds and to the fortune of human affairs, which, reveling in our lives, shifts things up and down and changes with a slight turn, wishing to see nothing stand still and motionless. And I think the suffering is terrible, but the sight is more terrible for those who saw it. A maiden not even known to all her own kin, in the sight of all, instead of to a bridal chamber, was being led to her tomb. And from this the hopes of her suitor were empty, and the marriage contract for her was torn up. Terrible, alas, are these things, and they ought not to have happened; yet it is not against us first that fortune wages war; she has already snatched many others from the midst of the bridal chamber, and has changed a bridal bed into a lament. Oh, how many who delighted in their hopes became a mere tale because of her. But she who conquers by her decree and at the same time wishes something and it comes to pass, let her be conquered by philosophy and judgment, and let there be some advantage for those dedicated to the Muses in knowing how to bear fortunes. For I for my part admire also the one who said wisely, "1But since the things we wish do not happen, let us wish for the things that do happen"2. She is gone, having left the earth and the evils of marriage and the birth-pangs of children, if ever they were to be. And I am silent about the dangers of child-rearing and the fear in good fortune lest one might ever lose what one has. But having become free from all the evils that accompany life, she has gone on a path that is truly a highway and which all must travel, since we have been born. 31 To Diodorus Now I know how much you wronged me before by being silent; for by the things with which you cheered me by writing, by these you now grieve me by being completely silent. For taking your letter into my hands, I was filled with an old happiness, thinking you were present in your letter, and I was moved to say something as if to one present. And some things I said, and others I seemed to hear you saying, and recovering with difficulty, I realized that those things were a dream and we had been deceived. Therefore write often, so that, lacking the sight of you, we may be cheered by dreams, since even a terrible lover, unfortunate in his beloved, sees a good dream and is changed. But I fear in saying these things that you, thinking them true, may be filled with pride and there may be silence again. Consider them false, then, and may I only hear you speaking. And the one who brings the letter, who is your cousin and kinsman by marriage, if one must speak of the future, having looked upon him with kindly eyes, and if need be, having offered him a supporting tongue, seem to give the whole of the favor to me. 32 To Diodorus How much kindness the good Zacharias enjoyed from you, he himself often relates and we have heard, and your letter also showed it. But less than the truth, so that, I think, you may seem to know how to do good things rather than to speak of them. Which is not from the inability of the speaker, but a modest shame concealing its own virtue. And your zeal for us I proclaim to all even before it happens, and nothing strange meets us; for what we hope for happens, and though the hope is always great, experience does not refute it. I, then, am willing to say even more; but you somehow think I am jesting, and I will be silent; for so great is your modesty, that you think even one who truly praises is jesting. But I neither in jest depart from the truth, nor in speaking truth from jest, when my discourse is indeed with those who love me. So be confident in my praises; for you are not at all among the rejected in my eyes. 33 To Dorotheus You were, it seems, a clever one at making small things great and at giving a muse to whomever you wish, and with praises not such as I can speak, but such as it is fitting to be. But also by the things in which, asking for my words, you utter something Attic and relaxed with the Graces, you persuade me that you would never willingly be

ἐπιστέλλοντα, ὁποῖον αὐτὸν ἦγεν ἡ θάλαττα, ὅπως ἡ γῆ τοῦτον ὁδοιποροῦντα παρέπεμ πεν, εἰ χρηστῆς ἀπέλαυε τύχης, εἰ τὸ χωρίον αὐτὸν εὐμενῶς ὑπεδέχετο. τούτων οὖν αὐτὸς ἔφης οὐδέν, οὐδ' ἡμεῖς ἔχομεν διηγήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ τοὐμὸν μέρος αὐτῶν ἰχθύων γέγονας ἀφωνότερος. ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ τὰ τῆς φιλίας τῇ σιγῇ πρὸς λήθην ἐλθόντα κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπορρέῃ, ἀνανεοῦμαι πάλιν τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ γίνομαί σοι φιλανθρωπότερος. καὶ σύ, πρὸς Φιλίου, παῖζε πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὰ συνήθη καὶ τῆς σῆς χάριτος ἄξια. 30 ... εἰ δέ τι γέγονε τῶν ἀνιώντων, αὔραις τοῦτο δεδόσθω καὶ τῇ τύχῃ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων, ἥτις ἐντρυφῶσα τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἄνω καὶ κάτω μεταθεῖ καὶ βραχείᾳ ῥοπῇ μεταβάλλεται, μηδὲν ἐθέλουσα βλέπειν ἑστηκὸς καὶ ἀκίνητον. καὶ δεινὸν μὲν οἶμαι τὸ πάθος, δεινότερον δὲ τοῖς ἰδοῦσι τὸ θέαμα. κόρη μηδὲ τοῖς οἰκείοις ἅπασιν ἐγνωσμένη ἐν πάντων ὄψεσιν ἀντὶ παστάδος ἀγομένη πρὸς τάφον. καὶ κεναὶ μὲν ἐντεῦθεν μνηστῆρος ἐλπίδες, συγγραφὴ δὲ γαμήλιος ἐπ' αὐτῇ διερρήγνυτο. δεινὰ μὲν οἴμοι ταῦτα, καὶ οὐκ ὤφελε γενέσθαι· πλὴν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῶν πρώτων ἡ τύχη στρατεύεται, πολ λὰς ἤδη που καὶ ἄλλας ἐκ μέσης ἥρπασε τῆς παστάδος, καὶ νυμφικὸν θάλα μον εἰς θρῆνον μετέβαλεν. ὢ πόσοι ταῖς ἐλπίσι τρυφῶντες μῦθος διὰ ταύτην ἐγένοντο. ἀλλ' ἥ γε τῇ ψήφῳ νικᾷ καὶ ἅμα τι θέλει καὶ γίνεται νικάσθω φιλοσοφίᾳ καὶ γνώμῃ, καὶ ἔστω τι πλέον τοῖς ἀνακειμένοις ταῖς Μούσαις τὸ φέρειν εἰδέναι τὰς τύχας. θαυμάζω γὰρ ἔγωγε καὶ τὸν εἰρηκότα σοφῶς "1ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ μὴ γίνεται ἃ θέλομεν, θελήσωμεν τὰ γινόμενα"2. οἴχεται τὴν γῆν ἀπολιποῦσα καὶ γάμου κακὰ καὶ παίδων ὠδῖνας, εἴποτε καὶ ἐγένοντο. καὶ σιωπῶ τοὺς τῆς παιδοτροφίας κινδύνους καὶ τὸν ἐν εὐτυχίᾳ φόβον μή ποτε γένοιτο τῶν παρόντων διαμαρτεῖν. τῶν δὲ συντρόφων τῷ βίῳ κακῶν γενομένη πάντων ἐλεύθερος οἴχεται λεωφόρον ὄντως ὁδὸν καὶ ἣν ὁδεῦσαι δεῖ πάντας, ἐπειδὴ καὶ γεγόναμεν. 31 ∆ιοδώρωι Νῦν ἔγνων ὅσον ἠδίκεις πρότερον σιωπῶν· ἐξ ὧν γὰρ ηὔφρανας γράφων, ἐκ τούτων ὅλως σιγήσας λυπεῖς. τὴν γὰρ σὴν ἐπιστολὴν εἰς χεῖρας λαβὼν παλαιᾶς ἐνεπλήσθην εὐδαιμονίας, σὲ παρεῖναι δοκῶν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι, καί τι λέγειν ὡς παρόντι προήχθην. καὶ τὰ μὲν εἶπον, τὰ δὲ λέγοντος ἀκούειν ἐδόκουν, καὶ μόλις ἀνενεγκὼν ἔγνων ὡς ὄναρ ἦν ἐκεῖνα καὶ ἠπατήμεθα. οὐκοῦν γράφε πολλάκις, ἵνα τῆς θέας ἀποροῦντες ὀνείρασιν εὐφραινώμεθα, ἐπειδήπερ καὶ δεινὸς ἐραστὴς τῶν παιδικῶν ἀτυχῶν χρηστὸν ὄναρ εἶδε καὶ μεταβάλλεται. ἀλλὰ γὰρ δέδοικα ταυτὶ λέγων μὴ καὶ νομίσας ἀληθῆ φρονήματος ἐμπλησθῇς καὶ γένηται πάλιν σιγή. νόμιζε τοίνυν εἶναι ψευδῆ, καὶ μόνον λαλοῦντος ἀκούσαιμι. τὸν δὲ φέροντα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀνεψιὸν ὄντα καὶ κηδεστήν, εἴ γε δεῖ τὸ μέλλον εἰπεῖν, εὐμενέσιν ἰδὼν ὀφθαλμοῖς, κἂν δέῃ παρασχὼν αὐτῷ συμμαχοῦσαν τὴν γλῶτταν, ἐμοὶ τὸ πᾶν διδόναι δόκει τῆς χάριτος. 32 ∆ιοδώρωι Ὅσης ἀπέλαυσε παρ' ὑμῶν τῆς εὐποιίας ὁ καλὸς Ζαχαρίας, αὐτός τε διηγεῖται πολλάκις καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀκηκόαμεν, ἐδήλου δὲ καὶ τὰ ὑμέτερα γράμ ματα. πλὴν ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλάττονα, ὅπως ἄν, οἶμαι, δόξῃς τὰ χρηστὰ ποιεῖν εἰδέναι μᾶλλον ἢ λέγειν. ὅπερ οὐκ ἀπορία τοῦ λέγοντος, ἀλλὰ σώφρων αἰδὼς τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀρετὴν ἐπικρύπτουσα. τὴν δὲ σὴν εἰς ἡμᾶς σπουδὴν καὶ πρὶν γενέσθαι πᾶσι βοῶ, καὶ ξένον οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἀπαντᾷ· ἃ γὰρ ἂν ἐλπίσωμεν γίνεται, καὶ μεγάλης οὔσης ἀεὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος, οὐκ ἐλέγχει ταύτην ἡ πεῖρα. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν καὶ πλείω λέγειν ἐθέλω· σὺ δέ με παίζειν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἡγῇ, καὶ σιγήσομαι· τοσοῦτο γάρ σου τὸ μέτριον, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἀληθῶς ἐπαινοῦντα παίζειν ἡγῇ. ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτε παίζων τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξίσταμαι, οὔτε ἀληθεύων τοῦ παίζειν, ἡνίκα δή μοι πρὸς τοὺς φιλοῦντας ὁ λόγος. ὥστε θάρρει τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἐπαίνους· οὐδὲ γὰρ παντελῶς τῶν ἀπερριμμένων εἶ παρ' ἐμοί. 33 ∆ωροθέωι ∆εινὸς ἄρα τις ἦσθα τὰ σμικρὰ μεγάλα ποιεῖν καὶ οἷς ἂν ἐθέλῃς καὶ μοῦσαν διδόναι, καὶ τοῖς ἐπαίνοις οὐχ οἷος ἐγὼ λέγειν, ἀλλ' οἷον προσήκει γενέσθαι. ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ὧν μου τοὺς λόγους αἰτῶν Ἀττικόν τι φθέγγῃ καὶ ταῖς Χάρισιν ἀνειμένον, πείθεις ὡς μήποτε ἑκὼν εἶναι