Letter CCLXXXII.1505    Placed in the episcopate.

To a bishop.

You blame me for not inviting you; and, when invited, you do not attend.  That your former excuse was an empty one is clear from your conduct on the second occasion.  For had you been invited before, in all probability you would never have come.

Act not again unadvisedly, but obey this present invitation; since you know that its repetition strengthens an indictment, and that a second lends credibility to a previous accusation.

I exhort you always to bear with me; or even if you cannot, at any rate it is your duty not to neglect the Martyrs, to join in whose commemoration you are invited.  Render therefore your service to us both; or if you will not consent to this, at any rate to the more worthy.

ΠΡΟΣ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΝ

[1] Μὴ καλούμενος ἐγκαλεῖς καὶ καλούμενος οὐχ ὑπακούεις. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν δευτέρων δῆλος εἶ καὶ τῇ προτέρᾳ σκήψει μάτην χρησάμενος. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἧκες, ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων, οὐδὲ τότε κληθείς. Ἐπάκουσον οὖν καλοῦσι νῦν καὶ μὴ γένῃ πάλιν ἀγνώμων εἰδὼς ὡς ἐγκλήματι προστιθέμενον ἔγκλημα βεβαιοῖ καὶ πιστοτέραν ἐργάζεται τοῦ προτέρου τὴν κατηγορίαν τὸ δεύτερον. Ἀεὶ δέ σε καὶ ἡμῶν ἀνέχεσθαι παρακαλῶ: εἰ δὲ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, ἀλλ' οὐ τῶν μαρτύρων ἀμελῆσαι δίκαιον, ὧν ταῖς μνείαις κοινωνήσων καλῇ. Δὸς οὖν πρῶτον μὲν ἀμφοτέροις, εἰ δὲ τοῦτό σοι μὴ δοκεῖ, τοῖς γοῦν τιμιωτέροις τὴν χάριν.