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both. Give a hand to the one in need, both by advising what is fitting and by helping. 24.6 As there is nothing you could philosophize better than now fighting alongside the just man, in addition to also doing us good, your admirers, and if you allow me to say so, your friends. 25. TO AMPHILOCHIUS 25.1 We did not ask for loaves from you, because we did not even ask for water from the inhabitants of Ostracine. But if we ask for vegetables from a man of Ozizala, of which there is an abundance with you, but a great scarcity with us, it is nothing surprising nor outside the usual custom. 25.2 Deign, therefore, to send us very many and very fine vegetables, or at least as many as possible (since even small things are great to the poor), especially since we are also receiving the great Basil; of whom you should not wish, just as you experienced him philosophizing when sated, so to experience him being hungry and annoyed. 26. TO THE SAME 26.1 How stingily the vegetables have come to us from you; for what else but golden vegetables? And yet all your wealth is gardens and rivers and groves and parks, and your land is vegetable-bearing, as others' are gold-bearing, and you graze on meadow leaves. 26.2 But your grain is the mythical blessed land; and your bread, as it is said, is the 20bread of angels20, so welcome and unbelievable. 26.3 Either, then, share these things with us more generously, or we will threaten nothing else; but we will hold back the grain, and we will know if cicadas are truly nourished by dew alone. 27. TO THE SAME 27.1 You are joking. But I know the danger of a hungry man of Ozizala, especially when you have harvested. 27.2 Of whom this one thing alone is praiseworthy, that even if they perish from hunger, yet they are fragrant and receive a splendid burial. How? They are pelted with many and various flowers. 28. TO THE SAME 28.1 Having visited the mountain cities, which border on Pamphylia, we fished there for a sea-Glaucus in the mountains, not dragging the fish from the deep with linen nets, but catching the prey with the dragnet of friends' love. 28.2 And once Glaucus had learned to go on foot, we have sent him forth as a letter-carrier to your goodness, whom you must welcome kindly and deem worthy of that hospitality praised in the Scriptures, with vegetables. 29. TO SOPHRONIUS 29.1 You see what our affairs are like and how a certain cycle of human events runs its course; now these things, now those flourishing and fading, and for us there is neither a fixed state of doing well, nor of being unfortunate, as they say, but it is most quickly changing and shifting, so that one should rather trust breezes and letters on water than human prosperity. 29.2 For what reason? In my opinion, so that observing the instability and unevenness in these things, we may rather run to God and to the future, and take some care of ourselves also, caring little for shadows and dreams. 29.3 But from where has this speech come to us? For I do not philosophize these things rashly, nor do I embellish them in vain. 29.4 Your Caesarius was once one of the not undistinguished, and if I am not deceived as a brother, even of the very distinguished, known for his education, and in goodness above the many, brilliant in the abundance of his friends, among whom he himself thought, and persuaded us, that you and your noble family were first among the first for him. 29.5 These things, then, are of old, and you will add more from yourself as funeral honors for him, favoring the departed one a little more, as all we humans naturally do. 29.6 But as for now, —and see that you do not pass over my words without a tear, or having wept, to a good and useful end,— he lies dead, friendless, desolate, pitied, deemed worthy of a little myrrh (if even that), and of small last garments (far too much of these). 29.7 But his enemies have fallen upon him, as I learn, and from one place and another some are plundering his possessions with great license, and others are about to. O the insensibility, O the cruelty; and there is no one to prevent it, but the most philanthropic one grants this favor only, he invokes the laws; and if I must speak concisely, we have become a drama, we who were once thought fortunate. 29.8 Let these things not seem tolerable to you;

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ἀμφότερα. ∆ὸς χεῖρα τῷ δεομένῳ καὶ παραινέσας τὰ εἰκότα καὶ βοηθήσας. 24.6 Ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι φιλοσοφήσαις ἄμεινον ἢ νῦν τῷ δικαίῳ συναγωνισάμενος, πρὸς τῷ καὶ ἡμᾶς εὖ ποιεῖν τοὺς σοὺς ἐπαινέτας, εἰ δὲ δίδως εἰπεῖν, καὶ φίλους. 25.Τ ΑΜΦΙΛΟΧΙΩΙ 25.1 Ἄρτους μὲν οὐκ ᾐτήσαμεν παρὰ σοῦ, ὅτι μηδ' ὕδωρ παρὰ τῶν Ὀστρακίνην οἰκούντων. Λάχανα δ' εἰ αἰτοῦμεν παρ' ἀνδρὸς Ὀζιζαλέως, ὧν ἀφθονία μὲν παρ' ὑμῖν, παρὰ δ' ἡμῖν πολλὴ σπάνις, θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν οὐδ' ἔξω τῆς συνηθείας. 25.2 Καταξίωσον οὖν λάχανα ἡμῖν ἀποστεῖλαι πλεῖστα καὶ κάλλιστα, ἢ ὅσα γε δυνατὸν (ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ μικρὰ μεγάλα τοῖς πένησιν), ἐπειδὴ μάλιστα καὶ τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον δεξιούμεθα· οὗ μὴ βουληθῇς, ὥσπερ ἐπειράθης κεκορεσμένου φιλοσοφοῦντος, οὕτω πειραθῆναι πεινῶντος καὶ δυσχεραίνοντος. 26.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 26.1 Ὡς μικρολόγως ἡμῖν ἥκει τὰ λάχανα παρ' ὑμῶν· καὶ τί γὰρ ἄλλο ἢ χρυσολάχανα; Καίτοι γ' ὁ πᾶς πλοῦτος ὑμῖν κῆποι καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ ἄλση καὶ παράδεισοι, καὶ λαχανηφόρος ὑμῖν ἡ χώρα, ὡς χρυσοφόρος ἄλλοις, καὶ λειμώνια φύλλα νέμεσθε. 26.2 Ὁ δὲ σῖτος ὑμῖν, ἡ μυθικὴ μακαρία· καὶ ὁ ἄρτος, ὃ δὴ λέγεται, 20ἄρτος ἀγγέλων20, οὕτως ἄσπαστός τε καὶ ἄπιστος. 26.3 Ἢ τοίνυν μεταδίδοτε τούτων ἡμῖν ἀφθονώτερον, ἢ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἀπειλήσομεν· τὸν δὲ σῖτον ἐφέξομεν, καὶ εἰσόμεθα εἰ ὄντως δρόσῳ μόνῃ τρέφονται τέττιγες. 27.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 27.1 Παίζεις. Ἐγὼ δ' οἶδα τὸν κίνδυνον Ὀζιζαλέως πεινῶντος, ὅταν μάλιστα γεωργήσητε. 27.2 Ὧν ἓν τοῦτο μόνον ἐπαινετόν, ὅτι κἂν λιμῷ φθαρῶσιν, ἀλλ' εὐωδοῦσι καὶ λαμπρᾶς τυγχάνουσι τῆς ταφῆς. Πῶς; πολλοῖς βάλλονται καὶ ποικίλοις τοῖς ἄνθεσιν. 28.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 28.1 Τὰς ὀρείους μέν, ὁμόρους δὲ τῇ Παμφυλίᾳ πόλεις ἐπισκεψάμενοι, Γλαῦκον ἐκεῖ θαλάττιον ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἠλιεύσαμεν, οὐ λίνου δικτύοις τοῦ βυθοῦ τὸν ἰχθὺν ἐξελκύσαντες, ἀλλ' ἀγάπῃ φίλων τὸ θήραμα σαγηνεύ σαντες. 28.2 Ἅπαξ δὲ τὸν Γλαῦκον πεζεύειν μαθόντα, γραμματηφόρον προσαπεστάλκαμεν πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγαθότητα, ὃν φιλοφρόνως ξενισάτω καὶ τῷ παρὰ ταῖς Γραφαῖς εὐδοκιμοῦντι ξενισμῷ μετὰ λαχάνων καταξιωσάτω. 29.Τ ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙΩΙ 29.1 Ὁρᾷς οἷα τὰ ἡμέτερα καὶ ὅπως κύκλος τις τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων περιτρέχει πραγμάτων· νῦν μὲν τῶν, νῦν δὲ τῶν ἀνθούντων καὶ ἀπανθούντων, καὶ οὔτε τοῦ εὖ πράττειν ἑστῶτος ἡμῖν, οὔτε τοῦ δυστυχεῖν, ὃ δὴ λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ τάχιστα μετακινουμένου καὶ μεταπίπτοντος, ὡς αὔραις εἶναι μᾶλλον πιστεύειν καὶ γράμμασι καθ' ὕδατος ἢ ἀνθρώπων εὐετηρίᾳ. 29.2 Τίνος ἕνεκεν; ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, ἵνα τὸ ἐν τούτοις ἄστατον καὶ ἀνώμαλον θεωροῦντες, μᾶλλόν τι προστρέχωμεν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ μέλλοντι, καί τινα ποιώμεθα καὶ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, βραχέα τῶν σκιῶν καὶ τῶν ὀνειράτων φροντίζοντες. 29.3 Ἀλλὰ πόθεν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος; Οὐ γὰρ εἰκῇ ταῦτα φιλοσοφῶ, οὐδὲ διακενῆς καλλωπίζομαι. 29.4 Ἦν ποτε τῶν οὐκ ἀφανῶν καὶ ὁ σὸς Καισάριος, εἰ δὲ μὴ ὡς ἀδελφὸς ἀπατῶμαι, καὶ τῶν λίαν ἐπιφανῶν, γνώριμος μὲν ἐπὶ παιδεύσει, καλοκἀγαθίᾳ δ' ὑπὲρ τοὺς πολλούς, λαμπρὸς δὲ φίλων περιουσίᾳ, ὧν πρῶτον ἐν πρώτοις σέ τε καὶ τὴν σὴν εὐγένειαν ὑπάρχειν αὐτῷ αὐτός τ' ἐφρόνει καὶ ἡμᾶς ἔπειθε. 29.5 Τὰ μὲν δὴ παλαιὰ ταῦτα, καὶ τὰ πλείω παρὰ σεαυτοῦ προσθήσεις τιμῶν αὐτὸν ἐπιτάφια, καὶ ὃ φύσει πάντες ἔχομεν ἄνθρωποι μᾶλλόν τι τῷ ἀπελθόντι χαριζόμενος. 29.6 Τὰ δὲ νῦν, -καὶ ὅπως μοι μὴ παραδράμῃς ἀδακρυτὶ τὸν λόγον ἢ δακρύσαις γ' εἰς καλὸν καὶ χρήσιμον, -ὁ μὲν κεῖται νεκρός, ἄφιλος, ἔρημος, ἐλεούμενος, σμύρνης ὀλίγης ἠξιωμένος (εἴ γε καὶ τοῦτο), καὶ μικρῶν ἐνδυμάτων τῶν τελευταίων (πολύ γ' ὅτι τούτων). 29.7 Ἐπιπεπτώκασι δ' οἱ ἐχθροί, ὥς γε πυνθάνομαι, καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλοθεν τὰ ἐκείνου κατὰ πολλὴν ἐξουσίαν οἱ μὲν διαρπάζουσιν, οἱ δὲ μέλλουσιν. Ὢ τῆς ἀναλγησίας, ὢ τῆς ὠμότητος· καὶ ὁ κωλύσων οὐδείς, ἀλλ' ὅ γε φιλανθρωπότατος τοῦτο χαρίζεται μόνον, ἀνακαλεῖται τοὺς νόμους· καὶ εἰ δεῖ συντόμως εἰπεῖν, δρᾶμα γεγόναμεν, οἵ ποτε νομισθέντες εὐδαίμονες. 29.8 Ταῦτα μὴ ἀνεκτὰ φανήτω σοι·