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knowing how to write such things; for an earnestness for profane letters has become for us a proof of having no care for divine learning. Therefore, I will be silent about those things, but I will begin my introduction to your learning from your own works. 11.2 There is a certain character in the teacher of your education who rejoices as an old man, having his own son and at the same time his son's son before his eyes after his long suffering; and the subject of his joy is the contest for the first place in virtue between Odysseus 11.3 and Telemachus. So what does the memory of the Cephallenians contribute to the purpose of my discourse? Because you, having taken me between you, both you and your all-wonderful father, just as they did Laertes, ambitiously contend with one another for the first place in honor and kindness towards me, he writing from Pontus, 11.4 and you from Cappadocia. What then shall I, an old man, say? I consider that day blessed on which I see such 11.5 a rivalry between a son and a father. May you therefore never cease fulfilling the just prayer of a good and wonderful father and surpassing your father's glory with good preeminences; thus I will be a gratifying judge to you both, allotting to you the first place against your father, and to your father 11.6 against you. But we will bear rugged Ithaca, made rugged not so much by its stones as by the characters of its inhabitants, in which there are many <the> suitors and devourers of the property of the one being wooed, who insult the bride by this very thing, by threatening the chaste one with marriage, acting worthily, I suppose, of some Melantho or another such woman, but nowhere is there one to bring them to their senses 11.7 with his bow. Do you see how much, like an old man, I have rambled on about things that do not concern us? But may pardon be ready for me on account of my gray hairs; for it is its characteristic, just as the eyes run and all the limbs grow heavy from the weakness of old age, 11.8 so also to be talkative in speech. But you, by welcoming us youthfully with your nimble and vigorous words, will renew my old age, restoring what is weary in my years by this good and fitting care of the old.

12. To the same

12.1 Not even the grace of spring is wont to shine forth all at once, but

the preludes of the season are a sunbeam gently warming the frozen earth, and a flower half-seen hidden in the clod, and breezes blowing upon the earth, so that the fertile and life-giving power from the air penetrates deep into it. It is also possible to see fresh grass and the return of birds, whom winter drove away, and many such things, which are signs of spring rather than spring itself; yet these things too are pleasant, because they are messengers of the most pleasant things. 12.2 What then does my discourse intend? Since the kindness in your letter has come to us as a forerunner of the treasures in you, it announces with a fine prelude what is expected by us from you, and we receive the grace in these things like some first-appearing flower of spring, and we pray to enjoy the whole season in you speedily. 12.3 For we have suffered much, know well, very much from the frost and bitterness of the local characters. And just as in small rooms ice is formed from the waters that flow in (for I will use an example from our own experience), and the dripping moisture, if it flows over what is already frozen, turns to stone around the ice and becomes an addition to its bulk, I see something of this kind <being> in the character of many who are native to this place; something is always being additionally devised and invented by them for bitterness, and another evil is frozen onto the one already wrought, and another to that one, and again another continuously meets it, and there is for them no limit to hatred and

15

εἰδότας τοιαῦτα γράφειν· ἡ γὰρ περὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν λόγους σπουδὴ τοῦ μηδεμίαν τῶν θείων μαθημάτων ἐπιμέλειαν ἔχειν ἀπόδειξις ἡμῖν γέγονεν. οὐκοῦν ἐκεῖνα μὲν σιωπήσομαι, ἐκ δὲ τῶν σῶν πρὸς τὴν λογιότητά σου προ11.2 οιμιάσομαι. πεποίηταί τις παρὰ τῷ διδασκάλῳ τῆς ὑμετέρας παιδεύσεως πρεσβυτικῶς εὐφραινόμενος, μετὰ τὴν χρονίαν αὐτοῦ κακοπάθειαν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔχων τὸν ἑαυτοῦ παῖδα καὶ τοῦ παιδὸς ἅμα τὸν παῖδα· ὑπόθεσις δὲ αὐτῷ τῆς εὐφροσύνης ἡ περὶ τῶν πρωτείων τῆς ἀρετῆς Ὀδυσσεῖ 11.3 πρὸς τὸν Τηλέμαχον μάχη. [εἰς] τί οὖν ἡ μνήμη τῶν Κεφαλλήνων πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν τοῦ λόγου συμβάλλεται; ὅτι με διαλαβόντες μέσον ὑμεῖς, σύ τε καὶ ὁ τὰ πάντα θαυμάσιος ὁ πατὴρ ὁ σός, ὥσπερ τὸν Λαέρτην ἐκεῖνοι, φιλοτίμως πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τιμῇ τε καὶ φιλοφροσύνῃ περὶ τῶν πρωτείων διαγωνίζεσθε, ὁ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ Πόντου, 11.4 σὺ δὲ ἀπὸ Καππαδοκίας τοῖς γράμμασι βάλλοντες. τί οὖν ὁ γέρων ἐγώ; μακαριστὴν τίθεμαι τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ βλέπω τοι11.5 αύτην παιδὶ πρὸς πατέρα τὴν ἅμιλλαν. μή ποτε οὖν παύσαιο χρηστοῦ καὶ θαυμαστοῦ πατρὸς εὐχὴν δικαίαν ἀποπληρῶν καὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς προτερήμασι τὴν πατρικὴν δόξαν ὑπερβαλλόμενος· οὕτω παρ' ἀμφοτέροις ὑμῖν ἔσομαι κεχαρισμένος κριτής, σοὶ μὲν τὰ πρωτεῖα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα νέμων, τῷ πατρὶ δὲ 11.6 πρὸς σέ. ἡμεῖς δὲ οἴσομεν τὴν τραχεῖαν Ἰθάκην, οὐ λίθοις τοσοῦτον ὅσον τοῖς ἤθεσι τῶν οἰκητόρων τραχυνομένην, ἐν ᾗ πολλοὶ <οἱ> μνηστῆρες καὶ τῶν κτημάτων τῆς μνηστευομένης βρωτῆρες, οἱ καὶ αὐτῷ τούτῳ τὴν νύμφην ὑβρίζοντες, τῷ ἐπαπειλεῖν τὸν γάμον τῇ σωφρονούσῃ, Μελανθοῦς, οἶμαι, τινὸς ἢ ἄλλης τοιαύτης ἀξίως πράττοντες, οὐδαμοῦ δὲ ὁ σωφρονίζων 11.7 τῷ τόξῳ. ὁρᾷς ὅσον πρεσβυτικῶς ἐπὶ τὰ μηδὲν προσήκοντα ἡμῖν παρεληρήσαμεν; ἀλλά μοι πρόχειρος ἔστω διὰ τὴν πολιὰν ἡ συγγνώμη· ἴδιον γὰρ αὐτῆς, ὥσπερ τὸ κορυζοῦσθαι τὰ ὄμματα καὶ τὰ μέλη πάντα ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ γήρως ἀτονίας 11.8 βαρύνεσθαι, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἀδολεσχεῖν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ. σὺ δὲ ἡμᾶς τοῖς τροχαλοῖς τε καὶ διεγηγερμένοις τῶν λόγων νεανικῶς δεξιούμενος ἀνανεώσῃ τὸ γῆρας, τῇ καλῇ καὶ πρεπούσῃ γηροκομίᾳ ταύτῃ τὸ κεκμηκὸς τῆς ἡλικίας ἐπανορθούμενος.

12.τ τῷ αὐτῷ

12.1 Οὐδὲ τοῦ ἔαρος ἡ χάρις διαλάμπειν κατὰ τὸ ἀθρόον πέφυκεν, ἀλλὰ

προοίμια τῆς ὥρας γίνεται ἀκτίς τε προσηνῶς τὸ πεπηγὸς τῆς γῆς ἐπιθάλπουσα καὶ ἄνθος ἡμιφανῶς τῇ βώλῳ ὑποκρυπτόμενον καὶ αὖραι τὴν γῆν ἐπιπνέουσαι, ὡς διὰ βάθους τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος γόνιμόν τε καὶ ζώφυτον εἰς αὐτὴν διαδύεσθαι. ἔστι καὶ νεοθαλῆ πόαν θεάσασθαι καὶ ὀρνίθων ἐπάνοδον, οὓς ὁ χειμὼν ἀπεξένωσε, καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα, ἃ σημεῖα μᾶλλόν ἐστι τοῦ ἔαρος, οὐκ αὐτὸ τὸ ἔαρ· πλὴν ἀλλ' ἡδέα καὶ ταῦτα, διότι καὶ τῶν ἡδίστων 12.2 μηνύματα γίνεται. τί οὖν ὁ λόγος μοι βούλεται; ἐπειδὴ πρόδρομος τῶν ἐν σοὶ θησαυρῶν ἡ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων σου φιλοφροσύνη πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐλθοῦσα, καλῷ προοιμίῳ τὸ παρὰ σοῦ προσδοκώμενον ἡμῖν εὐαγγελίζεται, καὶ τὴν ἐν τούτοις χάριν δεχόμεθα ὥς τι πρωτοφανὲς ἄνθος τοῦ ἔαρος, καὶ ὅλης ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς ὥρας ἐν σοὶ διὰ τάχους εὐχόμεθα. 12.3 σφόδρα γάρ, εὖ ἴσθι, σφόδρα τῷ κρυμῷ καὶ τῇ πικρίᾳ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἠθῶν πεπονήκαμεν. καὶ ὥσπερ τοῖς δωματίοις ἐκ τῶν ἐπεισρεόντων ὑδάτων ὑποτρέφεται κρύσταλλος (χρήσομαι γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων τῷ ὑποδείγματι), καὶ ἡ καταρρέουσα νοτίς, εἰ τῷ πεπηγότι ἐπιπολάσειε, λιθοῦται περὶ τὸν κρύσταλλον καὶ προσθήκη τοῦ ὄγκου γίνεται, τοιοῦτόν τι βλέπω <ἐνὸν> τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐπιχωριαζόντων τὸ ἦθος· ἀεί τι προσεπινοεῖται παρ' αὐτῶν εἰς πικρίαν καὶ ἐφευρίσκεται, καὶ τῷ προκατειργασμένῳ ἕτερον κακὸν ἐπιπήγνυται, κἀκείνῳ ἄλλο, καὶ πάλιν ἕτερον καὶ τούτῳ συνεχῶς ὑπαντᾷ, καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς ὅρος τοῦ μίσους καὶ