Letter LXIV.494    Of about the same date as the preceding.

To Hesychius.495    cf. Letter lxii.

From the beginning I have had many points in common with your excellency, your love of letters, everywhere reported by all who have experienced it, and our old friendship with the admirable Terentius.  But since that most excellent man, who is to me all that friendship could require, my worthy brother Elpidius, has met me, and told me all your good qualities, (and who more capable than he at once to perceive a man’s virtue and to describe it?) he has kindled in me such a desire to see you, that I pray that you may one day visit me in my old home, that I may enjoy your good qualities, not merely by hearing of them, but by actual experience.

ΗΣΥΧΙῼ

[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 θαυμάσιον 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, δυνατώτατος δέ, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, καὶ ἀρετὴν ἀνθρώπου καταμαθεῖν 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.