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of the flock, and may he grant you a shepherd according to his will, shepherding you with knowledge.

63.τ TO THE GOVERNOR OF NEOCAESAREA

63.1 “The wise man, though he dwell in a distant land, and though I never see him with my eyes, I judge a friend,” is a saying of Euripides the tragedian. Therefore, if, although a face-to-face meeting has not yet granted us knowledge of your great nature, we say that we are your friends and intimates, do not judge the statement to be flattery. For we had report, which acts as a sponsor of friendship, loudly proclaiming your qualities to all men; but since we also met with the most reverend Elpidius, we have come to know you so well and have been so utterly captivated by you, as if we had spent a long time together and had knowledge of your good qualities through long experience. For the man did not cease recounting to us each of the things about you: the magnificence of your soul, the loftiness of your spirit, the gentleness of your character, your experience in affairs, your soundness of judgment, the dignity of your life, your tempered cheerfulness, the power of your speech, and all the other things which he himself enumerated in his long conversation with us, but which it was not possible for us to write, lest we extend the letter beyond measure. How then was I not to love such a man? How could I control myself so as not to cry out and signify the passion of my soul? Accept, therefore, this address, O admirable man, offered to you out of true and guileless friendship; for our ways are far from slavish fawning. and count us in the list of your friends, revealing yourself in frequent letters and consoling us for your absence.

64.τ TO HESYCHIUS

64.1 Many were the things that from the beginning bound me to your honour: both our common love for learning, which is spoken of everywhere by those who have experienced it, and our long-standing friendship with that admirable man Terentinus. But when the most excellent Elpidius, who fulfills for us the name of every kind of intimacy, our most reverend brother, came to converse with us and recounted each of your good qualities, being most able, if any man is, both to discern a man's virtue and to represent it in speech, he so kindled in us our longing for you that we pray for you to visit our ancient hearth someday, so that we may enjoy your good qualities not by hearing alone, but also by experience.

65.τ TO ATARBIUS

65.1 And what end will there be to this silence, if I, for my part, claiming the prerogatives of age, should wait for you to make the first address to me, while your love should wish to persist longer in the injurious judgment of calumny? But nevertheless I, considering that in matters of friendship defeat has the power of victory, confess that I yield to you the ambition of seeming to have prevailed in your own judgment. I myself have come to write first, knowing that love bears all things, endures all things, does not seek its own; therefore it never fails. For he who submits to his neighbor in accordance with love is not humbled. So that you too, for the future at least, showing the first and greatest fruit of the Spirit, love,

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ποιμνίου, καὶ παράσχοιτο ὑμῖν ποιμένα κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ θέλημα, ποιμαίνοντα ὑμᾶς μετ' ἐπιστήμης.

63.τ ΗΓΕΜΟΝΙ ΝΕΟΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑΣ

63.1 Τὸν σοφὸν ἄνδρα, κἂν ἑκὰς ναίῃ χθονός, κἂν μήποτ' αὐτὸν ὄσσοις

προσίδω, κρίνω φίλον», Εὐρι πίδου ἐστὶ τοῦ τραγικοῦ λόγος. Ὥστε, εἰ, μήπω τῆς κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς ἡμῖν συντυχίας τὴν γνῶσίν σου τῆς μεγαλο φυΐας χαρισαμένης, φαμὲν εἶναι φίλοι σου καὶ συνήθεις. μὴ κολακείαν εἶναι τὸν λόγον κρίνῃς. Εἴχομεν γὰρ φήμην πρόξενον τῆς φιλίας μεγαλοφώνως τὰ σὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις συμβοῶσαν· ἀφ' οὗ μέντοι καὶ τῷ αἰδεσιμωτάτῳ Ἐλπιδίῳ συνετύχομεν, τοσοῦτόν σε ἐγνωρίσαμεν καὶ οὕτω κατ' ἄκρας ἑαλώκαμέν σου, ὡσανεὶ πολὺν χρόνον συγγεγονότες καὶ διὰ μακρᾶς τῆς πείρας τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν τὴν γνῶσιν ἔχοντες. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπαύσατο ὁ ἀνὴρ ἕκαστα ἡμῖν τῶν περὶ σὲ διηγούμενος· τὸ μεγαλοπρεπὲς τῆς ψυχῆς, τοῦ φρονήμα τος τὸ ἀνάστημα, τῶν τρόπων τὴν ἡμερότητα, ἐμπειρίαν πραγμάτων, σύνεσιν γνώμης, σεμνότητα βίου, φαιδρότητα κεκραμένην, λόγου δύναμιν, τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα αὐτὸς μὲν διὰ πολλῆς τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁμιλίας ἀπηριθμήσατο, ἡμῖν δὲ γράφειν οὐκ ἦν δυνατόν, ἵνα μὴ ἔξω τοῦ μέτρου τὴν ἐπι στολὴν προαγάγωμεν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἔμελλον ἀγαπᾶν τὸν τοιοῦτον; Πῶς γοῦν ἠδυνάμην ἐμαυτοῦ κρατῆσαι πρὸς τὸ μὴ οὐχὶ καὶ ἐκβοῶν τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐμαυτοῦ πάθος διαση μαίνειν; ∆έχου τοίνυν τὴν προσηγορίαν, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ἐκ φιλίας ἀληθινῆς καὶ ἀδόλου σοι προσαγομένην· πόρρω γὰρ θωπείας δουλοπρεποῦς τὰ ἡμέτερα· καὶ ἔχε ἡμᾶς τῷ κατα λόγῳ τῶν σεαυτοῦ φίλων ἐναριθμίους, γράμμασι συνεχέσι σαυτόν τε δεικνὺς καὶ παραμυθούμενος τὴν ἀπόλειψιν.

64.τ ΗΣΥΧΙΩ

64.1 Ἐμὲ πολλὰ μὲν ἦν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὰ συνάπτοντά σου τῇ τιμιότητι· ὅ τε

περὶ Λόγους κοινὸς ἔρως, πολλαχοῦ παρὰ τῶν πεπειραμένων περιφερόμενος, ἥ τε πρὸς τὸν θαυμά σιον ἄνδρα Τερεντῖνον ἡμῖν ἐκ παλαιοῦ φιλία. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ πάντα ἄριστος καὶ πάσης ἡμῖν οἰκειότητος ὄνομα ἐκπληρῶν, ὁ αἰδεσιμώτατος ἀδελφὸς Ἐλπίδιος, εἰς λόγους ἀφίκετο καὶ ἕκαστα τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν διηγήσατο, δυνατώ τατος δέ, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, καὶ ἀρετὴν ἀνθρώπου καταμα θεῖν καὶ παραστῆσαι ταύτην τῷ λόγῳ, τοσοῦτον ἡμῖν τὸν ἐπὶ σοὶ πόθον ἐξέκαυσεν ὥστε εὔχεσθαι ἡμᾶς ἐπιστῆναί σέ ποτε τῇ παλαιᾷ ἑστίᾳ ἡμῶν, ἵνα μὴ ἀκοῇ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πείρᾳ τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν ἀπολαύσωμεν.

65.τ ΑΤΑΡΒΙΩ

65.1 Καὶ τί πέρας ἔσται τῆς σιωπῆς, εἰ ἐγὼ μὲν τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἡλικίας πρεσβεῖα

ἀπαιτῶν ἀναμένοιμι παρὰ σοῦ γενέσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν μοι τῆς προσφωνήσεως, ἡ δὲ σὴ ἀγάπη ἐπὶ πλεῖον βούλοιτο τῇ βλαβερᾷ κρίσει τῆς συκοφαντίας ἐγκαρ τερεῖν; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐγώ, τὴν ἐν τοῖς φιλικοῖς ἧτταν νίκης ἔχειν δύναμιν ἡγησάμενος, ὁμολογῶ σοι μὲν παραχωρεῖν τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν περιγεγενῆσθαι τῆς οἰκείας κρίσεως φιλοτι μίας. Αὐτὸς δὲ πρῶτος ἐπὶ τὸ γράφειν ἦλθον εἰδὼς ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη πάντα στέγει, πάντα ὑπομένει, οὐδαμοῦ ζητεῖ τὸ ἑαυ τῆς· διὸ οὔτε ἐκπίπτει ποτέ. Ἀταπείνωτος γὰρ ὁ κατὰ ἀγά πην τῷ πλησίον ὑποτασσόμενος. Ὅπως οὖν καὶ αὐτός, πρὸς γοῦν τὸ ἑξῆς τὸν πρῶτον καὶ μέγιστον καρπὸν τοῦ Πνεύ ματος ἐπιδεικνύμενος τὴν ἀγάπην,