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he has further promised to love. 132 To Dorotheus. How much you grieved me by your departure I would not have anticipated, if I had not had experience as my teacher. For from the time you left and departed from us, I have not ceased wandering with you in my thought and charting harbors and the sea within myself. And "1Hear me, Poseidon, earth-shaker"2 many times saying, I asked him to grant you a favorable sea, and I would count the days of your voyage on my fingers, and so I was wholly with you, that often when trying to call someone, I unthinkingly addressed him as Dorotheus. And he would laugh, but I was annoyed at making the mistake. But you perhaps were unaware of how much affection you had deposited with us. And often seeing someone approaching from a distance, by the gods, I thought I saw you, my eyes being easily deceived according to the wish of my mind. I have barely been freed from the delusion, having received a letter from you and having soothed my longing. 133 To Diodorus. I have received your beautiful figs, and better, I think, than the Attic ones, on account of which they say the great war was stirred up, when the king attacked, casting land upon the sea and cutting a mountain into the sea; I have also received slippers, and very beautiful ones. However, "1but dog-bramble and anemones are not to be compared with roses"2; for a long raisin, tempering its innate sweetness with a moderate tartness, is it not superior to any Attic figs or any cakes, for which you are always stretching out your tongue? But I have also sent sparrows in brine, a consolation for a gluttonous stomach. Are not my gifts much better? Any gourmand judge, I think, would say so. But perhaps you will mention the slippers that are to come. I for my part am gaping for them; but when you send them ... but I do not wish to say what sort of things I will try to jest about. 134 To Stephanus. Your brilliance is proclaimed by all those things that know how to recognize good men. But as is the testimony of those who have experienced it, the report is surpassed by the deeds and seems to fall short of the reality. Having always regarded with the greatest wonder your zeal on my behalf, I do so now not least, when it persuaded such a great man to set out for my sake on the shortest length of journey, since even if he had used bare letters, I would not have been able to contradict his command. So heavy a burden has he placed on me, revering his arrival and the virtue of his whole life and all that his reputation, preceding him and confirmed by experience, proclaims, that I all but followed him in the clothes I was wearing, without even saying goodbye to my household. But a certain thought barely restrained me as I was setting out, the reflection that one must not despise the fatherland in which I first saw the sun, and that it is a fine thing to observe one's duties to it rather than possess much gold, and to neglect so many guests present on my account. 135 To Petrus. The good Epiphanius, bringing with him the greatest goodwill from your letter, was thus introduced to me, and he showed every intellectual zeal, exhibiting none of the things that youth brings, but giving his whole self to his studies and persevering in his practice. This indeed seems to be proof that the accusation was fabricated and that what was long rumored is somehow false. For those things belong to the idle and to a mind carried by irrational leisure to things it ought not. But one who obeys Isocrates and spends "1the leisure of life in the love of listening to speeches"2, does not give the slanderer cause to say that he is accusing him with reason. For even if he himself is silent, he has his life as a sufficient defense. And may it be that the young man's hope in this regard be not further disappointed. 136 To Zacharias and Philippus, brothers. The admirable Timothy, the bearer of this letter, is for the present the beginning of our writing to one another, and being the son of a respectable and very quiet father, he carries his sire in himself, showing the nobility of his manners in his face; for he blushes readily, whether someone praises him or merely wishes to look at him. This man, for some reason or other, has come to the imperial city, and he requires your influence, in whatever matters you are able, providing assistance that brings no trouble. And in doing this you will be gratifying good men, than which there is nothing greater for those who have resolved to honor virtue. 137 To Zacharias and Philippus, brothers. The present year, it seems,

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φιλήσειν ἔτι κατεπήγγελται. 132 ∆ωροθέωι Ὅσον ἐλύπεις ἀπαίρων οὐκ ἂν ἤλπισα προλαβών, εἰ μὴ τὴν πεῖραν ἔσχον διδάσκαλον. ἐξ οὗ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ᾤχου καταλιπών, οὐκ ἐπαυσάμην μετὰ σοῦ τῇ διανοίᾳ περινοστῶν καὶ λιμένας καὶ θάλατταν διαγράφων ἐν ἑαυτῷ. καὶ "1κλῦθι, Ποσείδαον γαιήοχε"2 πολλάκις εἰπὼν ἠξίουν εὐμενῆ σοι παρέχειν τὴν θάλατταν, καὶ τοῦ πλοῦ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τῶν δακτύλων ἐτίθουν, καὶ οὕτως ὅλος ἐτύγχανον παρὰ σοί, ὡς καὶ καλέσαι τινὰ πειραθεὶς ἔλαθον πολλάκις ∆ωρόθεον προσειπών. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐγέλα, ἐγὼ δὲ διαμαρτάνων ἠχθόμην. σὺ δὲ ἴσως, ἠγνόεις ὁπόσον ἡμῖν ἐναπέθου φίλτρον. πολλάκις δὲ προσιόντα τινὰ πόρρωθεν θεασάμενος, σέ, μὰ τοὺς θεούς, ἐδόκουν ὁρᾶν, πρὸς τὸ τῆς διανοίας βούλημα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ῥᾳδίως ἀπατωμένων. τῆς δὲ πλάνης μόλις ἀπήλ λαγμαι, γράμματα δεξάμενος παρὰ σοῦ καὶ θεραπεύσας τὸν ἔρωτα. 133 ∆ιοδώρωι ∆έδεγμαί σου τὰς καλὰς ἰσχάδας καὶ κρείττους, οἶμαι, τῶν Ἀττικῶν, δι' ἅς φασιν ὁ μέγας κεκίνητο πόλεμος, ὅτε βασιλεὺς ἐπῄει γῆν ἐπεμβάλλων θαλάττῃ καὶ διατέμνων ὄρος εἰς θάλατταν· δέδεγμαι δὲ καὶ ὑποδήματα καὶ λίαν καλά. πλὴν "1ἀλλ' οὐ συμβλήτ' ἐστὶ κυνόσβατος οὐδ' ἀνεμῶναι πρὸς ῥόδα"2· ἀσταφὶς γὰρ μακρὰ καὶ συμμέτρῳ στύψει τὴν ἔμφυτον παραμυθου μένη γλυκύτητα ποίων μὲν ἰσχάδων Ἀττικῶν ποίων δὲ πλακούντων, ἐφ' οὓς ἀεὶ τὴν γλῶτταν προτείνεις, οὐ κρείττων καθέστηκε; πέπομφα δὲ καὶ στρουθοὺς ἐξ ἅλμης, ἀδηφάγου γαστρὸς παραμύθιον. ἆρ' οὐ κρείττω πολλῷ τὰ ἡμέτερα; πᾶς ἄν τις, οἶμαι, τένθης φήσειε δικαστής. πλὴν ἴσως τὰς μελλούσας βλαύτας ἐρεῖς. ἐγὼ δὲ κέχηνα μὲν πρὸς αὐτάς· ἐπειδὰν δὲ πέμψῃς ... ἀλλ' οὐ βούλομαι λέγειν οἷα δὴ καὶ σκώπτειν πειράσομαι. 134 Στεφάνωι Τὴν ὑμετέραν λαμπρότητα κηρύττει μὲν ὅσα τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς γνωρίζειν ἄνδρας ἐπίσταται. ὡς δὲ τῶν πειραθέντων ἡ μαρτυρία, νικᾶται τοῖς ἔργοις ὁ λόγος καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων κατόπιν εἶναι δοκεῖ. τὴν δὲ περὶ ἐμὲ σπουδὴν ἀεὶ μεγίστῳ παραδεδωκὼς θαύματι, νῦν οὐχ ἥκιστα τοῦτο ποιῶ, ὅτεπερ ἄνδρα μοι τοσοῦτον ἔπεισεν ἐπὶ μικρότατον μῆκος ὁδοῦ θεῖναι, ὡς εἰ καὶ ψιλοῖς ἐχρήσατο γράμμασιν, οὐκ ἂν ἔσχον ἀντιλέγειν κελεύοντι. οὕτω δέ μοι βαρὺ φορτίον ἐπέθηκεν αἰδουμένῳ τὴν ἄφιξιν καὶ τοῦ παντὸς βίου τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ ὅσα προλαβοῦσα κηρύττει φήμη βεβαιωθεῖσα τῇ πείρᾳ, ὥστε μικροῦ δεῖν ὡς εἶχον σχήματος εἱπόμην, μηδὲ τοῖς οἰκείοις χαίρειν εἰπών. ἀλλά μέ τις ἔννοια μόλις ἐπέσχεν ὁρμῶντα, λογιζόμενον τὸ μηδὲν ὑπερορᾶν πατρίδος ἐν ᾗ πρῶτον εἶδον τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ὡς καλὸν τὰ πρὸς ταύτην δίκαια φυλάττειν ἢ πολὺ κεκτῆσθαι χρυσίον, καὶ ξένους τοσούτους δι' ἐμὲ παρόντας ὑπεριδεῖν. 135 Πέτρωι Ὁ καλὸς Ἐπιφάνιος τοῖς ὑμετέροις γράμμασι πλείστην ἐπαγόμενος εὔνοιαν συνέστη μὲν οὕτως ἐμοί, σπουδὴν δὲ πᾶσαν ἐπεδείξατο λογικήν, μηδὲν τῶν ὅσα φέρει νεότης ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἀλλ' ὅλον αὐτὸν τοῖς λόγοις διδοὺς καὶ τῇ μελέτῃ προσκαρτερῶν. ὃ δὴ καὶ τεκμήριον εἶναι δοκεῖ τοῦ τὴν κατηγορίαν πεπλάσθαι καὶ ψευδὲς εἶναί που τὸ πάλαι θρυλούμενον. ἀργούντων γὰρ ἐκεῖνα καὶ διανοίας ἐξ ἀλόγου σχολῆς ἐφ' ἃ μὴ δεῖ φερομένης. Ἰσοκράτει δέ τις πειθόμενος καὶ καταναλίσκων "1τὴν τοῦ βίου σχολὴν εἰς τὴν τῶν λόγων φιληκοΐαν"2, οὐ δίδωσι τῷ συκοφάντῃ λόγον ὡς εἰκότως ἄρα κατηγορεῖ. κἂν γὰρ αὐτὸς σιγᾷ, τὸν βίον ἔχει πρὸς ἀπολογίαν ἀρκοῦντα. γένοιτο δὲ καὶ τὸν νέον μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τούτῳ μὴ διαμαρτάνειν ἐλπίδος. 136 Ζαχαρίαι καὶ Φιλίππωι ἀδελφοῖσ Ὁ θαυμαστὸς Τιμόθεος ὁ ταύτην φέρων τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τοῦ μὲν ἀλλήλοις γράφειν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐστὶν ἀρχή, πατρὸς δὲ τυγχάνων ἐπιεικοῦς καὶ λίαν ἀπράγμονος ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιφέρει τὸν φύσαντα, τὴν τῶν τρόπων εὐ γένειαν ἐπὶ τοῦ προσώπου δεικνύς· ἐρυθριᾷ γοῦν ἑτοίμως, κἄν τις αὐτὸν ἐπαινῇ κἂν ἀποβλέπειν μόνον ἐθέλῃ. οὗτος ὅτου δὴ χάριν τὴν βασιλίδα πόλιν κατείληφε, καὶ δεῖται τῆς ὑμετέρας ῥοπῆς, ἐν οἷς ἂν δύνησθε συμμαχίαν ἄλυπον χορηγούσης. τοῦτο δὲ ποιοῦντες ἀνδράσιν ἔσεσθε κεχαρισμένοι χρη στοῖς, οὗ μεῖζον οὐδὲν τοῖς τιμᾶν ἐγνωκόσι τὴν ἀρετήν. 137 Ζαχαρίαι καὶ Φιλίππωι ἀδελφοῖσ Τὸ παρὸν ὡς ἔοικεν ἔτος