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and bearing Asclepius in his hand, and that indeed the graces of your tongue have soothed the austerity of medicine. As he was saying these things, I anticipated his praises before I heard them, recounting your accomplishments, and smiling I said to him, "1You are bringing an owl to Athens"2; but he was rather contentious, and thinking he was introducing something new, he found it had long been established with me, and then he fell silent with pleasure, saying he was thankful to the gods that he was fortunate to have such a teacher, about whom it is possible to say everything and to report nothing new. But bring and give your whole self to the young man, who if nothing else, at least knows how to remember his benefactors. 103 To Stephanus I was pleased to receive your letter, beholding through your writing you, whom I always delighted to hold in my memory, if indeed words are truly images of the soul. And if you will allow me to say so, I seemed to become greater than myself, considering how you count me in the chorus of friends and I am spoken of by you and you begin a correspondence which invites a similar response. But in the things for which you seemed to admire me, you were presenting yourself to be seen in your letter, recounting your own qualities through me as a medium. so that I smiled and said to myself: "1How true these words would be, by the gods, if they were said about the one who wrote them!"2 But as it is, you were describing without realizing it not what I am, but what I ought to be to obtain such praises. May many good things be yours both for your zeal and the gentleness of your character and your kind remembrance, and for the greatest thing, that even when not present you have remained the same. 104 To Antiochus How I have been disappointed in the great hope I had for you. For I thought that you, having with difficulty freed yourself from the stuff of medicine, would finally come to us, either to pursue philosophy according to your former promises, or even just to see us; but you wear us out, longing for the city of Alexander and clinging to it like the land of the Lotus-eaters. But as far as I am concerned, let the Macedonian's city prevail with its many charms, and may it be well with its Nile and sea. And if the Muses also dwell there, you have me praising it too. But what are these things compared to the tranquility here with us and your philosophy, for which we have often hoped? Therefore, shake off the rest as some sort of nonsense and imitate Odysseus, looking toward the true Ithaca, and let nothing hinder you, not the lotus, not Circe, not Calypso, but by as much as you hasten for greater prizes, by so much let us surpass the son of Laertes. 105 To Stephanus When I saw your brother, I thought I had you yourself, and by the kinship of the sight I was drawn to you. So inclined to affection am I in every way, that if I see anything related to my beloveds, I consider this sufficient for the consolation of my longing. I also received my book, which ought to have been brought long ago, but I was not less pleased to receive it now than if it had come at first. While I was in need of it, I uttered every kind of cry and perhaps I seemed troublesome. But when I received it with difficulty, I remember that I received it, but no longer that it was with difficulty. So if you have thought me to be at all grieved or to have suffered some terrible thing, let the breezes carry this away. 106 To Stephanus It seems you see nothing but gold, it leads you on and makes you elated, and it has filled your mind with golden phantoms. For when I wrote to you about leisure, saying that opportunity does not give us everything, but measures out what necessity requires, and when I spoke of 'need,' I did not mean a lack of money, but that to which we are led by fortune, you rushed completely toward gold and seemed to sympathize with me in my supposed poverty, and you sought to offer consolation, setting philosophy against money, as if I were groaning because I do not luxuriate in the talents of Croesus. Thus it buzzes around your ears, and you seem to hear everyone speaking of gold. For what, by Zeus, led you to this folly? Or how could I make an excuse for not writing letters by pleading a lack of money, as if it were necessary for one who writes letters to be showered with much gold? And yet, if anything is, writing is both autonomous and free from the power of wealth. Thus your thoughts are convicted by your passion; for having inclined in this direction, it reshapes everything to this, and it has your hearing deceived along with it. And I am afraid that, even if I should say 'lyre' or name a 'horse,' you would again think you hear 'gold,' and

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καὶ χειρὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν περικείμενον, καὶ ὅτι δὴ τὸ τῆς ἰατρικῆς αὐστηρὸν αἱ τῆς ὑμετέρας γλώττης παρεμυθήσαντο χάριτες. ταῦτα λέγοντος προὐλάμβανον τοὺς ἐπαίνους ἐγὼ πρὶν ἀκοῦσαι τὰ σὰ διηγούμενος, καὶ "1γλαῦκα φέρεις Ἀθήναζε"2 πρὸς τοῦτον ἔλεγον μειδιῶν· ὁ δὲ φιλονεικότερος ἦν, καὶ δοκῶν τι καινὸν ἐπάγειν, πάλαι κείμενον εὕρισκε παρ' ἐμοί, καὶ μεθ' ἡδονῆς ἐσίγα λοιπόν, χάριν εἰπὼν ἔχειν τοῖς θεοῖς εἰ τοιοῦτον εὐτύχησε τὸν διδάσκαλον, περὶ οὗ καὶ πάντα λέγειν ἔστι καὶ καινὸν ἀπαγγέλλειν οὐδέν. ἀλλὰ σαυτὸν ὅλον φέρων ἐπίδος τῷ νέῳ, ὃς εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον, μεμνῆσθαι γοῦν οἶδε τῶν εὖ ποιούντων. 103 Στεφάνωι Ἥσθην δεξάμενος τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιστολήν, ὃν ἡδόμην ἀεὶ τῇ μνήμῃ λαβών, τοῦτον διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων θεώμενος, εἴ γε τῆς ψυχῆς ὄντως εἰκόνες οἱ λόγοι. καὶ εἴ μοι δίδως εἰπεῖν μείζων ἢ κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἐδόκουν γενέσθαι, σκοπῶν ὥς με φίλων ἐγκαταλέγεις χορῷ καὶ λόγος ἐμοῦ παρὰ σοὶ καὶ γραμμάτων ἄρχεις προκαλουμένων τὰ παραπλήσια. δι' ὧν δέ με θαυμάζειν ἐδόκεις, σαυτὸν ὁρᾶν παρεῖχες τοῖς γράμμασι, δι' ἐμοῦ μέσου τὰ σαυτοῦ διηγούμενος. ὥστε με μειδιῶντα λέγειν πρὸς ἐμαυτόν· "1ὡς ἀληθεῖς οἱ λόγοι, νὴ τοὺς θεούς, εἰ περὶ τοῦ γεγραφότος ἐλέγοντο."2 νυνὶ δὲ λέγων ἐλάνθανες οὐχ οἷος ἐγώ, ἀλλ' οἷον εἶναί με δεῖ τοιούτων ἐπαίνων τευξόμενον. πολλὰ δέ σοι κἀγαθὰ γένοιτο καὶ σπουδῆς ἕνεκα καὶ τρόπων πραότητος καὶ μνήμης εὐνοίας, καὶ τὸ δὴ μέγιστον, ὅτι καὶ μὴ παρὼν καθέστηκας παραπλήσιος. 104 Ἀντιόχωι Ὅσης ἐπὶ σοὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος διήμαρτον. ᾤμην γάρ σε μόλις ἰατρικῆς ὕλης ἀπηλλαγμένον πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἰέναι λοιπόν, εἴτε φιλοσοφήσοντα κατὰ τὰς πρὶν ὑποσχέσεις, εἴτε καὶ μόνον ὀψόμενον· σὺ δὲ κατατείνεις ἡμᾶς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου ποθῶν καὶ ὥσπερ Λωτοφάγων γῆς ἀντεχόμενος. ἀλλ' ἐμοῦ μὲν ἕνεκα νικάτω χάρισι πολλαῖς τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἡ πόλις, καὶ Νείλου καὶ θαλάττης ἐχέτω καλῶς. εἰ δὲ καὶ Μοῦσαι ταύτην οἰκοῦσιν, ἔχεις ἐπαινοῦντα κἀμέ. ἀλλὰ τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν παρ' ἡμῖν ἡσυχίαν καὶ τὴν σὴν φιλοσοφίαν, ἣν πολλάκις ἠλπίκαμεν; οὐκοῦν τἄλλα καθάπερ τινὰ φλυαρίαν ἀποσεισάμενος μιμοῦ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα πρὸς τὴν ὄντως Ἰθάκην ὁρῶν, καὶ μηδέν σε κωλυέτω, μὴ λωτὸς μὴ Κίρκη μὴ Καλυψώ, ἀλλ' ὅσῳ περὶ μειζόνων ἐπείγῃ τῶν ἄθλων, τοσούτῳ τὸν Λαέρτου νικήσωμεν. 105 Στεφάνωι Τὸν ὑμέτερον ἀδελφὸν θεασάμενος αὐτοὺς ὑμᾶς ἔχειν ἐδόκουν, καὶ τῷ συγγενεῖ τῆς θέας ἀνηγόμην πρὸς σέ. οὕτω τις ἐρωτικὸς πανταχόθεν ἐγώ, κἄν τι προσῆκον ἴδω τοῖς παιδικοῖς, ἀρκεῖν τοῦτο πρὸς παραμυθίαν ἡγοῦμαι τοῦ πάθους. ἐδεξάμην δὲ καὶ τὸ βιβλίον τοὐμόν, ὅπερ ἔδει μὲν ἐκ πολλοῦ κεκομίσθαι, οὐ δὲ νῦν τοῦτο λαβὼν χεῖρον διετέθην ἢ εἰ κατ' ἀρχάς. δεόμενος μὲν τούτου πάσας ἀφῆκα φωνὰς καὶ ὀχληρὸς ἴσως ἐδόκουν. ὡς δὲ μόλις ἀπέλαβον, ὅτι μὲν ἔλαβον. μέμνημαι, ὅτι δὲ μόλις οὐκέτι. ὥστε εἴ τί με λυπεῖσθαι νενόμικας ἤ τι πεπονθέναι δεινόν, τοῦτο δὴ καὶ φέροιεν αὖραι. 106 Στεφάνωι Οὐδὲν ὡς ἔοικεν ὅ τι μὴ χρυσίον ὁρᾷς, ἄγει δέ σε αὐτὸ καὶ ποιεῖ μετάρσιον, καὶ χρυσῶν εἰδώλων ἀνέπλησέ σου τὸν νοῦν. ἐμοῦ γάρ σοι περὶ σχολῆς γεγραφότος, ὡς οὐ πάντα δίδωσιν ἡμῖν ὁ καιρός, ἀλλ' ὅσα πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἀνάγκη μετρεῖ, καὶ χρείαν εἰπόντος οὐ τὴν τῶν χρημάτων ἔνδειαν, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ὃ παρὰ τῆς τύχης ἀγόμεθα, σὺ πρὸς τὸ χρυσίον ὅλος ὥρμησας καὶ συνάχθεσθαί μοι ἐδόκεις ἠπορημένῳ, καὶ παραμυθίαν ἐζήτεις, τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἀντιτάττων τοῖς χρήμασιν, ὡς ἐμοῦ δὴ στένοντος ὅτι μὴ τοῖς Κροίσου ταλάντοις ἁβρύνομαι. οὕτω περιβομβεῖ σου τὰ ὦτα, καὶ πάντων δοκεῖς χρυσίον λεγόντων ἀκούειν. τί γάρ σε, πρὸς ∆ιός, ἐπὶ ταύτην ἀπῆγε τὴν ἄνοιαν; ἢ πῶς ἂν ἀπελογούμην περὶ τοῦ μὴ γράφειν ἐπιστολὰς χρημάτων ἔνδειαν προβαλλόμενος, ὡς δέον πολλῷ καταρρεῖσθαι χρυσίῳ τὸν ἐπιστέλ λοντα; καὶ μὴν εἴπερ τι καὶ ἄλλο, τὸ γράφειν αὐτόνομόν τέ ἐστι καὶ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ πλούτου δυναστείας ἐλεύθερον. οὕτω σοι τὰ τῆς διανοίας ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους ἐλέγχεται· ῥέψασα γὰρ ἐνταῦθα πάντα πρὸς τοῦτο μεταποιεῖ, καὶ συναπατωμένην ἔχει τὴν ἀκοήν. καὶ δέδοικα μή, κἂν λύραν εἴπω κἂν ἵππον ὀνομάσω, πάλιν δόξῃς χρυσίον ἀκούειν, καὶ