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To Kyriakos. It is not possible to know worthily how much gratitude children owe their fathers, unless one is himself a father of children. For then, from the affection he has for his children, he will certainly know what kind of parents his were to him. Except those who are dedicated to the Muses and discern the truth by reason before experience. Hence it befits you to be such a one toward your parents, who perhaps contribute more goodwill than others. Wherefore they have also moved me to this present letter, asking from you a paternal reward: that you not bring shame upon them, by becoming such a person as they wish and may God bring to fulfillment. For then even death is easier for them, knowing what kind of successor for their family they have left behind. 143 To the brothers Zacharias and Philip. He who has received this letter for you is the son of father Agathos, a man who honors good things and is known in all just matters. And coming to me, the young man demonstrated both strength of nature and most unwearying zeal. And now he has been sent forth by the emperor, wishing to undertake the study of law, so that he might advance as an orator, bearing the state in his body and putting forth arguments with his tongue. It is not right, then, to commit his arrival to you to silence, since you who consider those perfected by me as nearly your own children will show no ordinary goodwill toward this man. 144 To Orion. Experience knows how to test good friends more when they are absent. For the test of goodwill is not to honor those present; for sometimes a person might do this, just as on the stage one wearing the mask of good men plays a part which is not his nature. But if someone, though separated by place, proceeds as one in zeal and is united in mind, this is that one who knows how to preserve the law of friendship. Such have you come forth to us, surpassing with the excellence of the latter things what came before. And if children are images of their fathers, then it is fitting that fame also carries me aloft, making a small father seem greater through a good son, and accompanying him everywhere through the cities, as you said. But may you cherish virtue for me, showing that you have this same zeal and nature for the laws that you had with me for letters. 145 To Eudaemon. I did not think it right to send on his way to you in silence the most eloquent Hierius, appointed among us as a teacher of the Italian tongue and adorned more by his good character than by his learning. For it would be a fine thing to always enjoy your company in person; but, as they say, the second best voyage is to converse with the absent through letters. Truly fortunate, however, are those for whom you administer justice, hanging as it were upon your voice as from some tripod, and seeing a truly new sight: Justice herself returned to them, whom the preceding time had obscured. And it is superfluous to say that you will do well in what he, who also brings the letter to you, needs from you. For to whom discourse is life, how will he not honor the fathers of discourse when he sees them? Let him come back, then, announcing what we pray to hear: that you surpass your fame in experience, and that you give greater things than the recipients desire. 146 To Nephalius. You lament your poverty amid an abundance of money, while I despise money and the rich, though afflicted by a wondrous poverty. Thus, it is the mind that makes one poor or rich, not money wandering here and there from fortune. Therefore, cease lamenting to us with a small mind, considering nothing great unless it contributes to virtue. For whatever is not of this kind is both alien and draws one toward deceit. Hence those who know how to be wise, having shaken these things off like some drunkenness and nonsense, leaving the earth to the earth, traverse the heavens with an uplifted mind, having swum through sensations and matter and the place of error as through some harsh sea. 147 To Musaeus. I have received the book, which has become more longed for by me, because, having been taken up in your hands, it has perhaps drawn some musical quality to itself, so that I think its user henceforth perceives a keener intellect, no less than Socrates, when he sat down beside the Ilissus, where there was both a shrine of the Nymphs and a haunt of Pan. But would that you would take the other books and work such things on them, so that I, approaching each in turn

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Κυριακῶι Ὅσον οἱ παῖδες τοῖς πατράσιν ὀφείλουσι χάριτας οὐκ ἔστιν εἰδέναι πρὸς ἀξίαν, εἰ μή τις καὶ αὐτὸς παίδων ὑπάρχει πατήρ. τότε γὰρ ἐξ ἧς ἔχει πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας στοργῆς εἴσεται πάντως ὁποῖοι πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑπῆρξαν οἱ φύσαν τες. πλὴν ὅσοι ταῖς Μούσαις ἀνάκεινται καὶ πρὸ τῆς πείρας λόγῳ τἀληθῆ διακρίνουσιν. ὅθεν σε τοιοῦτον περὶ τοὺς τεκόντας προσήκει γενέσθαι, οἳ τάχα τῶν ἄλλων πλέον εἰς εὔνοιαν συνεισφέρουσι. διό με καὶ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ἐπιστολὴν κεκινήκασι, μισθὸν αἰτοῦντές σε πατρικὸν τὸ μὴ καταισχῦναί σε, τοιοῦτον γενόμενον οἷον αὐτοί τε βούλονται καὶ θεὸς εἰς πέρας ἐνέγκοι. τότε γὰρ αὐτοῖς καὶ θάνατος ῥᾴων, ἐπισταμένοις οἷον διά δοχον τοῦ γένους ἀπέλιπον. 143 Ζαχαρίαι καὶ Φιλίππωι ἀδελφοῖσ Ὁ ταύτην πρὸς ὑμᾶς λαβὼν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν πατρὸς Ἀγαθοῦ πέφυκε, τοῦ τὰ χρηστὰ τιμῶντος καὶ ἐν πᾶσι δικαίοις γνωριζομένου. εἰς ἐμοῦ δὲ φοιτήσας ὁ νέος φύσεώς τε ῥώμην ἐπεδείξατο καὶ προθυμίαν ἀοκνοτάτην. καὶ νῦν πρὸς βασιλέως ἀνήχθη, προσλαβεῖν τοὺς νόμους βουλόμενος, ὅπως προέλθῃ ῥήτωρ, τὴν πολιτείαν φέρων τῷ σώματι καὶ τῇ γλώττῃ τοὺς λόγους προ βεβλημένος. οὐ δὴ δίκαιον τὴν τούτου πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἄφιξιν παραδοῦναι σιγῇ, οἳ τοὺς παρ' ἐμοῦ τετελεσμένους ἴσα ποῦ καὶ παῖδας νομίζοντες καὶ εἰς τοῦ τον εὔνοιαν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἐνδείξεσθε. 144 Ὠρίωνι Τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς τῶν φίλων ἀπόντας μᾶλλον ἐλέγχειν οἶδεν ἡ πεῖρα. κρίσις γὰρ εὐνοίας οὐ τὰ παρόντα τιμᾶν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔσθ' ὅτε ποιήσειεν ἄν τις, καθάπερ ἐπὶ σκηνῆς ὁ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸ πρόσωπον περικείμενος ὃ μὴ πέφυκεν ὑποκρίνεται. εἰ δέ τις τῷ τόπῳ διεστὼς εἰς ἓν χωρεῖ τῇ σπουδῇ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ συνάπτεται, οὗτος ἐκεῖνος ὁ φιλίας νόμον περιστέλλειν εἰδώς. τοιοῦτος ἡμῖν προῆλθες, ἀρετῇ τῶν δευτέρων τὰ φθάσαντα παρελθών. εἰ δὲ καὶ πατέρων εἰκόνες οἱ παῖδες, εἰκότως ἄρα με καὶ φήμη κομίζει μετάρσιον διὰ παιδὸς ἀγαθοῦ σμικρὸν πατέρα μείζω ποιοῦσα δοκεῖν καὶ πανταχοῦ, καθάπερ ἔφης, ταῖς πόλεσι παραπέμπουσα. ἀλλά μοι περιέποις τὴν ἀρετήν, ἣν παρ' ἐμοὶ τῶν λόγων, ταύτην ἔχειν περὶ τοὺς νόμους σπουδὴν καὶ φύσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενος. 145 Εὐδαίμονι Τὸν λογιώτατον Ἱέριον τὸν τῆς Ἰταλῶν παρ' ἡμῖν προβεβλημένον φωνῆς καὶ τρόποις ἀγαθοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ παιδείᾳ κοσμούμενον οὐκ ᾠήθην δεῖν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἰόντα παραπέμψαι σιγῇ. καλὸν μὲν γὰρ ἂν παρόντων ὑμῶν ἀπο λαύειν ἀεί· δεύτερος δέ φασι πλοῦς τοῖς ἀποῦσι διὰ γραμμάτων προσομιλεῖν. πλὴν εὐδαίμονες ὄντως οἷς διέπεις τὰ δίκαια, καθάπερ τινὸς τρίποδος τῆς σῆς ἐξηρτημένοι φωνῆς καὶ καινὸν ὄντως θέαμα τὴν ∆ίκην αὐτοῖς ἐπανελ θοῦσαν ὁρῶντες, ἣν προλαβὼν ὁ χρόνος ἠμαύρωσε. περιττὸν δὲ λέγειν ὡς εὖ ποιήσεις ἐν οἷς ὑμῶν δεῖται καὶ τὸν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὑμῖν κομισάμενον. ᾧ γὰρ βίος οἱ λόγοι, πῶς οὐ τιμήσει τοὺς τῶν λόγων πατέρας ἰδών; ἡκέτω τοίνυν ἀγγέλλων ἅπερ ἀκούειν εὐχόμεθα, ὡς νικᾷς τῇ πείρᾳ τὴν φήμην, καὶ μείζω δίδως ἤπερ οἱ λαμβάνοντες βούλονται. 146 Νηφαλίωι Σὺ μὲν ἐν πλήθει χρημάτων τὴν ἀπορίαν θρηνεῖς, ἐγὼ δὲ τὰ χρήματα καὶ τοὺς πλουτοῦντας περιφρονῶ, καίτοι πενίᾳ θαυμαστῇ συνεχόμενος. οὕτως ἄρα τὸ πένεσθαι καὶ πλουτεῖν ἡ γνώμη ποιεῖ, οὐ χρήματα παρὰ τῆς τύχης τῇδε κἀκεῖσε πλανώμενα. τοιγαροῦν παῦσαι μικροψύχως ἡμῖν ὀδυρόμενος, μηδὲν μέγα νομίζων, πλὴν εἰ μή τι φέροι πρὸς ἀρετήν. ὅ τι γὰρ μὴ τοιοῦτον, ἀλλότριόν τέ ἐστι καὶ πρὸς ἀπάτην ἐφέλκεται. ὅθεν οἱ φρονεῖν εἰδότες ὥσπερ τινὰ μέθην καὶ φλυαρίαν ταῦτα ἀποσεισάμενοι, τὴν γῆν καταλιπόντες τῇ γῇ, μεταρσίῳ γνώμῃ περιπολοῦσι τὸν οὐρανόν, τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ τὴν ὕλην καὶ τὸ τῆς πλάνης χωρίον ὥσπερ τινὰ χαλεπὴν διανηξάμενοι θάλατταν. 147 Μουσαίωι ∆έδεγμαι τὴν βίβλον, ποθεινοτέραν μοι γενομένην, ὅτι ταῖς ὑμετέραις ἀνα ληφθεῖσα χερσὶ τάχα τι καὶ μουσικὸν ἐπεσπάσατο, ὡς τὸν κεχρημένον λοι πὸν ὀξυτέρας οἶμαι τῆς διανοίας αἰσθάνεσθαι, οὐχ ἧττον ἢ Σωκράτης, ἡνίκα δὴ παρὰ τὸν Ἰλισσὸν ἐκαθέζετο, ἔνθα καὶ Νυμφῶν ἱερὸν καὶ Πανὸς ἐνδιαίτημα. ἀλλ' εἴθε μὴν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας βίβλους λαβὼν τοιαύτας ἐργάσαιο, ὥστε με κατὰ μέρος ἑκάστῃ προσβάλλοντα