Letter XXXVII.284    Of the same time as the preceding.

Without address.

I look with suspicion on the multiplication of letters.  Against my will, and because I cannot resist the importunity of petitioners, I am compelled to speak.  I write because I can think of no other means of relieving myself than by assenting to the supplications of those who are always asking letters from me.  I am really afraid lest, since many are carrying letters off, one of the many be reckoned to be that brother.  I have, I own, many friends and relatives in my own country, and I am placed in loco parentis by the position285    By some supposed to be that of a bishop; but Maran, who dates the letter before the episcopate, thinks the use of the phrase is justified by our understanding the presbyterate to be meant.  Vide Prolegomena. which the Lord has given me.  Among them is this my foster brother, son of my nurse, and I pray that the house in which I was brought up may remain at its old assessment, so that the sojourn among us of your excellency, so beneficial to us all, may turn out no occasion of trouble to him.  Now too I am supported from the same house, because I have nothing of my own, but depend upon those who love me.  I do then entreat you to spare the house in which I was nursed as though you were keeping up the supply of support for me.  May God in return grant you His everlasting rest.  One thing however, and it is most true, I think your excellency ought to know, and that is that the greater number of the slaves were given him from the outset by us, as an equivalent for my sustenance, by the gift of my father and mother.  At the same time this was not to be regarded as an absolute gift; he was only to have the use for life, so that, if anything serious happen to him on their account, he is at liberty to send them back to me, and I shall thus in another way be responsible for rates and to collectors.

ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΥΠΕΡ ΣΥΝΤΡΟΦΟΥ

[1] Ὑφορῶμαι λοιπὸν τῶν ἐπιστολῶν τὸ πλῆθος. Βιαίως μὲν καὶ μὴ φέρων τὴν ἐπάχθειαν τῶν ἀπαιτούντων ἡμᾶς ἐκφωνεῖν ἀναγκάζομαι. Γράφω δ' οὖν ὅμως, ἄλλον ἀπαλλαγῆς τρόπον ἐπινοεῖν οὐκ ἔχων ἢ διδοὺς αὐτοῖς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἃς αἰτοῦσιν ἑκάστοτε παρ' ἡμῶν. Φοβοῦμαι τοίνυν μή, ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ προσκομίζουσι γράμματα, εἷς τῶν πολλῶν νομισθῇ καὶ ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ δεῖνα. Ἐγὼ γὰρ πολλοὺς φίλους καὶ συγγενεῖς ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς πατρίδος ὁμολογῶ, καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν πατρικὴν τάξιν τετάχθαι διὰ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦτο εἰς ὃ ἔταξεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Κύριος. Σύντροφον δὲ τῆς θρεψαμένης με υἱὸν τοῦτον ἔχω ἕνα, καὶ εὔχομαι τὸν οἶκον ἐν ᾧ ἀνετράφην ἐπὶ τῆς ὁμοίας καταστάσεως διαμεῖναι, ἵνα μή τι ἡ πάντας εὐεργετοῦσα ἐπιδημία τῆς σῆς κοσμιότητος ἀφορμὴ πρὸς λύπην τῷ ἀνδρὶ γένηται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ διατρέφομαι οἴκου, οὐδὲν ἔχων τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ, ἀρκούμενος δὲ τοῖς τῶν ἀγαπητῶν, παρακαλῶ οὕτω φείσασθαι τῆς οἰκίας ᾗ ἐνετράφην ὡς ἐμοὶ τῆς τροφῆς τὴν χορηγίαν διασώζοντα. Καί σε ὁ Θεὸς ἀντὶ τούτων τῆς αἰωνίου ἀναπαύσεως ἀξιώσειεν. Ἐκεῖνό γε μὴν πάντων ἀληθέστατον γινώσκειν σου τὴν κοσμιότητα βούλομαι, ὅτι τῶν ἀνδραπόδων τὰ πλεῖστα παρ' ἡμῶν ὑπῆρξεν αὐτῷ μισθὸς τῆς τροφῆς ἡμῶν, τῶν γονέων ἡμῶν παρασχομένων. Ὁ δὲ μισθὸς οὐ παντελής ἐστι δωρεά, ἀλλὰ χρῆσις διὰ βίου. Ὥστε, ἐάν τι βαρὺ περὶ αὐτὰ γένηται, ἔξεστιν αὐτῷ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀποπέμψαι, καὶ ἐσόμεθα ἡμεῖς δι' ἑτέρας ὁδοῦ ὑπεύθυνοι τελέσμασι καὶ ἀπαιτηταῖς πάλιν γινόμενοι.