17

12.1 You used to write us a little, but now not even a little, and it seems that your brevity, as time goes on, is becoming complete speechlessness. Return, therefore, to your habit, so that we will no longer blame you for being laconic with us in your letters, but even short letters, being symbols of your great affection, we will count as worth much. Only write to us.

13.t TO OLYMPIUS

13.1 Just as each of the other seasonal things appears in its proper season, in spring, the flowers, in summer, the ears of corn, and in autumn, the apple, so words are the fruit of winter.

14.t TO GREGORY HIS FRIEND

14.1 When my brother Gregory wrote to me that he had long wanted to meet with us, and added that this very thing was also your decision, I, being partly more reluctant to believe because I have often been deceived, and partly being distracted by business, was not able to wait. For I must now set out for Pontus, where perhaps one day, God willing, we will cease from our wandering. For scarcely having despaired of the vain hopes which I once had in you, or rather of dreams, if I must speak more truly (for I praise the one who said that hopes are the dreams of waking men), I departed for Pontus in search of a way of life. And there God showed me a place exactly suited to my disposition, so that I see in reality the very sort of place that we often used to imagine together in our minds, in idleness and play.

14.2 For there is a high mountain covered with thick wood, watered on its north side by cool and transparent streams. At its foot is spread a level plain, constantly enriched by the moisture from the mountain. A wood that has grown up spontaneously around it, with trees of various and all kinds, serves it almost as a fence, so that in comparison even the island of Calypso is small, which Homer seems to have admired above all for its beauty. Indeed, it is not far short of being an island, on account of its being enclosed on all sides by barriers. For on two sides deep ravines break away around it; and on another side a river flowing down from a cliff is itself a continuous and impassable wall; and the mountain, extending from the other side and joined to the ravines by crescent-shaped bends, walls off the accessible parts of the area below. There is one entrance to it, of which we are the masters. Furthermore, another ridge supports the dwelling, holding up a high promontory on its summit, so that this plain is spread out below our eyes and it is possible from the height to look down upon the river flowing around, affording, it seems to me, no less a delight than that which they who look from Amphipolis experience regarding the Strymon. For that river, forming a pool with its slow current, is almost deprived of being a river by its stillness; but this one, flowing the most swiftly of all the rivers I know, is roughened a little by the neighboring rock, by which it is thrown back and curls into a deep eddy; affording a most pleasant sight to me and every spectator and a most sufficient supply to the local inhabitants, nurturing an untold number of fish in its eddies. What need to speak of the exhalations from the earth or the breezes from the river? Another might marvel at the abundance of flowers or of songbirds, but I have no leisure to pay attention to these. But the greatest thing we can say of the place is that, being suited for bearing all kinds of fruit because of the excellence of its situation, the sweetest of all for me

17

12.1 Ἔγραφες ἡμῖν πρότερον μὲν ὀλίγα, νῦν δὲ οὐδ' ὀλίγα, καὶ ἔοικεν ἡ

βραχυλογία προϊοῦσα τῷ χρόνῳ παντελὴς γίνεσθαι ἀφωνία. Ἐπάνελθε τοίνυν ἐπὶ τὸ ἔθος, ὡς οὐκ ἔτι σοι μεμψόμεθα λακωνίζοντι πρὸς ἡμᾶς διὰ γραμμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μικρὰ γράμματα, σύμβολα ὄντα τῆς μεγάλης σου διαθέσεως, πολλοῦ ἄξια ποιησόμεθα. Μόνον ἐπίστελλε ἡμῖν.

13.τ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΩ

13.1 Ὥσπερ τῶν ἄλλων ὡρίμων ἕκαστον ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ ὥρᾳ ἀπαντᾷ, ἐν ἦρι μὲν

τὰ ἄνθη, ἐν θέρει δὲ οἱ ἀστάχυες, τῷ δὲ μετοπώρῳ τὸ μῆλον, οὕτω χειμῶνος καρπός εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι.

14.τ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΩ ΕΤΑΙΡΩ

14.1 Ἐγὼ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μοι ἐπιστείλαντος Γρηγορίου πάλαι βούλεσθαι ἡμῖν συντυχεῖν, προσθέντος δὲ ὅτι καὶ σοὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δεδογμένον ἐστί, τὸ μέν τι καὶ διὰ τὸ πολλάκις ἀπατηθῆναι ὀκνηροτέρως ἔχων πρὸς τὸ πιστεύειν, τὸ δέ τι καὶ ὑπὸ ἀσχολιῶν περισπώμενος, ἐπιμεῖναι οὐκ ἠδυνή θην. ∆εῖ γάρ με ἤδη ἀπελαύνειν ἐπὶ τὸν Πόντον, ἐν ᾧ τάχα ποτέ, τοῦ Θεοῦ βουληθέντος, τῆς πλάνης λήξομεν. Μόλις γὰρ ἀπογνοὺς τῶν ματαίων ἐλπίδων ἃς ἐπὶ σοὶ εἶχόν ποτε, μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν ὀνείρων, εἰ δεῖ ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν (ἐπαινῶ γὰρ τὸν εἰπόντα τὰς ἐλπίδας εἶναι γρηγο ρούντων ἐνύπνια), κατὰ βίου ζήτησιν ἐπὶ τὸν Πόντον ἀπῆλθον. Ἔνθα δή μοι ὁ Θεὸς χωρίον ὑπέδειξεν ἀκριβῶς συμβαῖνον τῷ ἐμῷ τρόπῳ, ὥστε, οἷον πολλάκις εἰώθειμεν ἀργοῦντες ἅμα καὶ παίζοντες τῇ διανοίᾳ συμπλάττειν, τοιοῦτον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀληθείας καθορᾶν. 14.2 Ὄρος γάρ ἐστιν ὑψηλὸν βαθείᾳ ὕλῃ κεκαλυμμένον, ψυχροῖς ὕδασι καὶ διαφανέσιν εἰς τὸ κατ' ἄρκτον κατάρ ρυτον. Τούτου ταῖς ὑπωρείαις πεδίον ὕπτιον ὑπεστόρεσ ται, ταῖς ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους νοτίσι διηνεκῶς πιαινόμενον. Ὕλη δὲ τούτῳ αὐτομάτως περιφυεῖσα ποικίλων καὶ παντοδα πῶν δένδρων μικροῦ δεῖν ἀντὶ ἕρκους αὐτῷ γίνεται, ὡς μικρὰν εἶναι πρὸς τοῦτο καὶ τὴν Καλυψοῦς νῆσον, ἣν δὴ πασῶν πλέον Ὅμηρος εἰς κάλλος θαυμάσας φαίνεται. Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ πολὺ ἀποδεῖ τοῦ νῆσος εἶναι, ἕνεκά γε τοῦ παν ταχόθεν ἐρύμασι περιείργεσθαι. Φάραγγες μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ βαθεῖαι κατὰ δύο μέρη περιερρώγασι· κατὰ πλευρὰν δὲ ἀπὸ κρημνοῦ ὁ ποταμὸς ὑπορρέων τεῖχός ἐστι καὶ αὐτὸς διηνεκὲς καὶ δυσέμβατον· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἐπὶ θάτερα τεταμένον τὸ ὄρος, δι' ἀγκώνων μηνοειδῶν ταῖς φάραγξιν ἐπιζευγνύ μενον, τὰ βάσιμα τῆς ὑπωρείας ἀποτειχίζει. Μία δέ τις εἴσοδος ἐπ' αὐτῆς, ἧς ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν κύριοι. Τήν γε μὴν οἴκησιν αὐχήν τις ἕτερος ὑποδέχεται, ὑψηλόν τινα ἐπὶ τῆς ἄκρας ἀνέχων τένοντα, ὥστε τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο ὑφη πλῶσθαι ταῖς ὄψεσι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μετεώρου ἐξεῖναι καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν περιρρέοντα καθορᾶν, οὐκ ἐλάττονα τέρψιν, ἔμοιγε δοκεῖν, παρεχόμενον ἢ τοῖς ἐκ τῆς Ἀμφιπόλεως τὸν Στρύμονα καταμανθάνουσιν. Ὃ μὲν γὰρ σχολαίῳ τῷ ῥεύματι περιλιμνάζων, μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ τὸ ποταμὸς εἶναι ὑπὸ τῆς ἡσυχίας ἀφῄρηται· ὃ δὲ ὀξύτατα ὧν ἐγὼ οἶδα ποτα μῶν ῥέων, βραχύ τι τῇ γείτονι πέτρᾳ περιτραχύνεται, ὑφ' ἧς ἀναχεόμενος εἰς δίνην βαθεῖαν περιειλεῖται· ὄψιν τε ἡδί στην ἐμοὶ καὶ παντὶ θεατῇ παρεχόμενος καὶ χρείαν τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις αὐταρκεστάτην, ἰχθύων τε πλῆθος ἀμύθητον ταῖς δίναις ἐντρέφων. Τί δεῖ λέγειν τὰς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀναπνοὰς ἢ τὰς ἐκ τοῦ ποταμοῦ αὔρας; Τό γε μὴν τῶν ἀνθῶν πλῆθος ἢ τῶν ᾠδικῶν ὀρνίθων ἄλλος μὲν ἄν τις θαυμάσειεν, ἐμοὶ δὲ οὐ σχολὴ τούτοις προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν. Ὃ δὲ μέγιστον ἔχομεν εἰπεῖν τοῦ χωρίου, ὅτι, πρὸς πᾶσαν ὑπάρχον καρπῶν φορὰν ἐπιτήδειον δι' εὐκαιρίαν τῆς θέσεως, ἥδισ τον ἐμοὶ πάντων