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But also share in our pain and our indignation, and grant a favor to the dead Caesarius. Yes, by friendship itself, yes, by your dearest ones and your hopes, which you should make propitious for yourself by showing yourself faithful and true to the departed; so that you may also grant this to the living and make them hopeful. 29.9 Do you think we are grieving about money? The matter of shame is more unbearable to us, if Caesarius alone of all men should seem to have had no friends, he who thought he had many. 29.10 Such, then, is the embassy and from such men, since our affairs are perhaps not a matter of indifference to you. What help you will give, and through what means and how, both the circumstances will suggest and your own intelligence will consider. 30.T TO PHILAGRIUS 30.1 I do not have Caesarius. For I will speak, even if the feeling is not philosophical; I cherish the things of Caesarius, and whatever token of Caesarius I see, I embrace and kiss it, and I seem, as it were, to see him and be with him and converse with him. 30.2 Such was my experience just now at the sight of your letters. For as soon as I read the address of the letter, that sweet thing and name to me, Philagrius, all at once the former delights came to my mind: the cities, the schools, the table, our poverty, the things of 20lovely youth20, as Homer says, whether games or serious pursuits, the toils of study, our common teachers, the height of our hopes, all the fine things one might mention of that time, in which I take special delight even in remembering them. 30.3 Therefore, that we may converse more with these things even through you, move your pen and do me the favor of writing. Certainly this is not a small thing for us, even if envy has snatched away the greatest thing from us, our companionship, having disposed our affairs grievously.

31.T TO THE SAME 31.1 What things are grievous to you, are so also to us. For common

we consider all things of our friends, whether they fare well or otherwise, which indeed is the definition of friendship. 31.2 And yet, if I must philosophize about these things and say what is fitting to you (as indeed I must and as the law of friendship suggests), I do not wish you, nor do I think it is right, being Philagrius and one exceptionally instructed in divine things, to suffer the same as the many, nor to collapse with your body, nor to lament your suffering as if it were incurable, 31.3 but to philosophize in your suffering, and to purify your mind now indeed especially, and to appear stronger than your bonds, and to consider the illness a training for what is profitable, that is, to despise the body and bodily things and everything that is transient and troubled and perishing, to become entirely of the portion above, 31.4 and to live for the future instead of the present, making this life a 20practice for death20—this is what Plato says—and releasing the soul from the 20body20, or 20tomb20, as he would say, as much as possible. 31.5 If you philosophize about these things, my excellent friend, and are so disposed, you yourself will profit most greatly and you will make us more at ease concerning you and you will teach many to philosophize in their sufferings. 31.6 And in addition, you will gain no small thing—if this matters to you at all—to be admired by all. 31.7 Of the tablets you asked for, I found one and sent it to you eagerly, I mean the one of Demosthenes; but the other I have lost; I do not have the one you want, the Iliad. 31.8 For do not disbelieve me, that I consider that I only enjoy these things and only possess them rightly, which you yourself might share and which you might use as your own. 32.T TO THE SAME 32.1 It is good that you philosophize in your sufferings and are becoming for many an example of fortitude in pain; and just as you used your body for every best purpose when you were healthy, so now too you use it well, since you are weak and are idle not idly, so to speak. 32.2 For you philosophize, and what they say Diogenes once said when he had a fever and was enduring it, this you yourself also show, a wrestling of soul and body. 32.3 This was fitting for my Philagrius, not to grow soft nor to bend before sufferings, but to despise the clay and to let the body

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ἀλλὰ καὶ συνάλγησον καὶ συναγανάκτησον καὶ δὸς χάριν νεκρῷ Καισαρίῳ. Ναὶ πρὸς τῆς φιλίας αὐτῆς, ναὶ πρὸς τῶν σῶν φιλτάτων καὶ τῶν ἐλπίδων, ἃς ποίησον σεαυτῷ δεξιὰς πιστὸς τῷ ἀπελθόντι φανεὶς καὶ γνήσιος· ἵνα καὶ τοῖς ζῶσι τοῦτο χαρίσῃ καὶ ποιήσῃς αὐτοὺς εὐέλπιδας. 29.9 Οἴει περὶ χρημάτων ἡμᾶς ἀλγεῖν; Τὸ τῆς αἰσχύνης ἡμῖν ἀφορητό τερον, εἰ δόξειε μόνος τῶν πάντων Καισάριος μὴ ἐσχηκέναι φίλους, ὁ δὴ καὶ πολλοὺς ἔχειν οἰόμενος. 29.10 Ἡ μὲν οὖν πρεσβεία τοιαύτη καὶ παρὰ τοιούτων, ἐπειδή σοι καὶ τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἴσως οὐ πάρεργον. Ἃ δὲ βοηθήσεις καὶ δι' ὧν καὶ ὅπως, τά τε πράγματα ὑποθήσεται καὶ ἡ σὴ διασκέψεται σύνεσις. 30.Τ ΦΙΛΑΓΡΙΩΙ 30.1 Καισάριον οὐκ ἔχω. Ἐρῶ γάρ, καὶ εἰ μὴ φιλόσοφον τὸ πάθος· στέργω τὰ Καισαρίου, καὶ ὅ τί ποτ' ἂν ἴδω Καισαρίου γνώρισμα περιπτύσσομαι καὶ ἀσπάζομαι, καὶ οἱονεὶ αὐτὸν ὁρᾶν δοκῶ καὶ συνεῖναι καὶ διαλέγεσθαι. 30.2 Οἷον ἔπαθον καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τοῖς σοῖς γράμμασιν. Ὁμοῦ τε γὰρ ἀνέγνων τὸ πρόγραμμα τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, τὸ γλυκύ μοι πρᾶγμα καὶ ὄνομα, τὸν Φιλάγριον, καὶ πάντα μ' ἀθρόως ὑπεισῆλθε τά ποτε τερπνά, αἱ πόλεις, αἱ διατριβαί, ἡ τράπεζα, ἡ πενία, τὰ τῆς 20ἐρατεινῆς ὁμηλικίης20, ὅ φησιν Ὅμηρος, ἢ παίγνια, ἢ σπουδάσματα, οἱ τῶν λόγων ἱδρῶτες, οἱ κοινοὶ παιδευταί, τὸ τῶν ἐλπίδων ὕψος, πάντα ὅσα ἂν εἴποι τις τῶν τηνικαῦτα καλῶν, οἷς ἐγὼ χαίρω διαφερόντως καὶ μεμνημένος. 30.3 Ἵν' οὖν ἔτι μᾶλλον ὁμιλῶμεν τούτοις καὶ διὰ σοῦ, κίνει τὴν γραφίδα καὶ χαρίζου τὸ ἐπιστέλλειν. Πάντως οὐδὲ τοῦθ' ἡμῖν μικρόν, εἰ καὶ τὸ μέγιστον ἥρπασεν ἡμῶν ὁ φθόνος, τὴν συνουσίαν, λυπηρῶς διαθεὶς τὰ ἡμέτερα.

31.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 31.1 Ἃ μέν ἐστί σοι λυπηρά, πάντως καὶ ἡμῖν. Κοινὰ γὰρ

πάντα ποιούμεθα τὰ τῶν φίλων, εὖ τε καὶ ὡς ἑτέρως ἔχοντα, ὅσπερ δὴ καὶ φιλίας ὅρος ἐστί. 31.2 Καίτοι καὶ περὶ τούτων εἴ τι δεῖ φιλοσοφῆσαι καὶ τὰ εἰκότα δια λεχθῆναί σοι (ὥσπερ οὖν δεῖ καὶ ὁ τῆς φιλίας ὑποτίθεται νόμος), οὐ βούλομαί σε, οὐδέ γε καλῶς ἔχειν ὑπολαμβάνω, Φιλάγριον ὄντα καὶ τὰ θεῖα διαφερόντως πεπαιδευμένον, ταὐτὸν πάσχειν τοῖς πολλοῖς, οὐδὲ συγκαταπίπτειν τῷ σώματι, οὐδ' ὡς ἀνήκεστον τὴν κακοπάθειαν ὀδύρεσθαι, 31.3 ἀλλ' ἐμφιλοσοφεῖν τῷ πάθει, καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν νῦν δὴ καὶ μάλιστα ἐκκαθαίρεσθαι, καὶ κρείττω φαίνεσθαι τῶν δεσμῶν, καὶ ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν νόσον παιδαγωγίαν πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον, τοῦτο δ' ἐστί, περιφρονοῦντα τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ πᾶν τὸ ῥέον καὶ ταραχῶδες καὶ ἀπολ λύμενον, ὅλον τῆς ἄνω γενέσθαι μοίρας, 31.4 καὶ ζῆν ἀντὶ τοῦ παρόντος τῷ μέλλοντι, 20θανάτου μελέτην20 -τοῦτο ὅ φησι Πλάτων-τὸν τῇδε βίον ποιούμενον καὶ λύοντα τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ εἴτε 20σώματος20, εἴτε 20σήματος20, κατ' ἐκεῖνον εἰπεῖν, ὅση δύναμις. 31.5 Ἂν ταῦτα φιλο σοφῇς, ὦ ἄριστε, καὶ οὕτως ἔχῃς, αὐτός τ' ὀνήσῃ τὰ μέγιστα καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ σοὶ ῥᾴους ποιήσεις καὶ πολλοὺς διδάξεις ἐμφιλοσοφεῖν τοῖς πάθεσι. 31.6 Καὶ πρός γε, οὐ μικρὸν κερδανεῖς-εἴ τί σοι καὶ τούτου μέλει-τὸ παρὰ πάντων θαυμάζεσθαι. 31.7 Τῶν δὲ πυκτίων ὧν ᾔτησας, τὸ μὲν εὗρον καὶ ἔπεμψά σοι προθύμως, τὸ ∆ημοσθενικὸν λέγω· τὸ δ' ἐζημιώθην· οὐκ ἔχω οἵου σὺ χρῄζεις, τὴν Ἰλιάδα. 31.8 Μὴ γάρ μοι διαπιστήσῃς, ὅτι μόνον τούτων ἀπολαύειν νομίζω καὶ μόνα κεκτῆσθαι καλῶς, ὧν ἂν αὐτὸς μετάσχοις καὶ οἷς ἂν ὡς σεαυτοῦ χρήσαιο. 32.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 32.1 Εὖ γ' ὅτι φιλοσοφεῖς ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι καὶ γίνῃ πολλοῖς ὑπόδειγμα τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς καρτερίας· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ παντὶ βελτίστῳ κατεχρῶ τῷ σώματι, ἡνίκα ὑγιεινῶς εἶχες, οὕτω καὶ νῦν τούτῳ χρῇ καλῶς, ἐπειδή γ' ἀσθενῶς ἔχεις καὶ ἀργεῖς οὐκ ἀργῶς, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω. 32.2 Φιλοσο φεῖς γάρ, καὶ ὅ φασι ∆ιογένην εἰρηκέναι ποτὲ πυρέττοντα καὶ διακαρτεροῦντα, τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς παρέχεις ὁρᾶν, ψυχῆς πάλην καὶ σώματος. 32.3 Τοῦτο ἔπρεπε τῷ ἐμῷ Φιλαγρίῳ, μὴ μαλακίζεσθαι μηδὲ κάμπτεσθαι πρὸς τὰ πάθη, ἀλλὰ περιφρονεῖν τὸν πηλὸν καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἐᾶν