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Epistulae

TO EUSTATHIUS THE PHILOSOPHER

1.1 I, who was already worn out by the insults from fortune, from which some obstacle always arose to prevent my being with you, you have wonderfully recalled and comforted with your letter. For somehow I was already turning over in my own mind whether what is commonly rumored by the many is true: that there is some necessity and fate which directs both the small and great affairs of our lives, and we humans are masters of nothing; or, if not this, that some fortune in any case drives human life. And you will have much pardon for these thoughts, when you learn the causes by which I was led to them. I left Athens on account of the fame of your philosophy, looking down upon the things there. And I passed by the city on the Hellespont as no Odysseus passed by the songs of the Sirens. And I admired Asia, but I was hastening toward the mother city of its beauties. But when I reached my homeland and, having sought you, the great benefit, in it, I did not find you, from that point on the many and various occasions for unexpected hindrances have arisen for me. For either it was necessary to be sick and because of this to be left behind, or to be unable to depart with you as you journeyed to the east, and then at last, having reached Syria with countless toils, not to be able to be with the philosopher who had departed for Egypt. Therefore it was necessary to go to Egypt again, a long and painful road, and not even there to have what I was seeking. But I was so ill-fated that I either had to journey to Persia and proceed as far as possible into the land of the barbarians (for you went there too, so great was the contentiousness of the divinity), or to sit right there in Alexandria, which is indeed what happened. For it seems to me, if I had not given up, following like some beast a proffered branch, that you would have been led even beyond Nysa of India, and would have wandered over even that, if there is any furthest region of our inhabited world. And why must I say much? But finally, now, while you are staying in the same country, it has not been possible to be with you, being kept away by long illnesses; which, if they do not become more moderate for the rest of the time, we will not even be with your learnedness during the winter. Are these not the works of fate, as you yourself might say? Are these not of necessity? Have these not, almost, even surpassed the myths of the poets about Tantalus? But, as I was saying, I have been made lighter by your letter and am no longer of the same opinion. And I say that one must be thankful to God when He gives good things, but not be discontented when He withholds them. And so for us too, if He should grant that we be with you, we will consider this both the best and the most pleasant thing. But if He should postpone it, we will bear the loss gently. For He surely manages our affairs better in every way than we ourselves could foresee.

2. TO GREGORY, COMPANION

2.1 I recognized your letter, just as men recognize their friends' children from the resemblance they show to their parents. For to say that the character of the place is not of great importance in creating in your soul an impulse for life with us, before you have learned something about our way and manner of life, was truly your thought and that of your soul, which considers all things here as nothing compared to the blessedness laid up for us in the promises. But as for what I myself do in this remote place, night and day, I am ashamed to write. For I left the pastimes in the city as occasions for countless evils, but I have not yet been able to leave myself.

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Epistulae

ΕΥΣΤΑΘΙΩ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΩ

1.1 Ἀπειρηκότα με ἤδη πρὸς τὰς παρὰ τῆς τύχης ἐπη ρείας, παρ' ἧς ἀεί τι πρὸς τὸ μὴ συγγενέσθαι σοι ἐμπόδιον γέγονε, θαυμαστῶς πως ἀνεκαλέσω καὶ παρεμυθήσω τοῖς γράμμασι. Καὶ γάρ πως ἤδη καὶ κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἔστρεφον μή ποτε ἀληθές ἐστι τὸ παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν θρυλούμενον, ὅτι ἀνάγκη τίς ἐστι καὶ εἱμαρμένη ἡ καὶ τὰ μικρὰ καὶ τὰ μείζω τῶν ἡμετέρων ἄγουσα, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐδενός ἐσμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι κύριοι· ἤ, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο, τύχη τις πάντως τὸν ἀνθρώπινον ἐλαύνει βίον. Καὶ τούτων πολλὴν συγγνώμην ἕξεις τῶν λογισμῶν, ἐπειδὰν τὰς αἰτίας ὑφ' ὧν εἰς αὐτοὺς προήχθην μάθῃς. Ἐγὼ κατέλιπον τὰς Ἀθήνας κατὰ φήμην τῆς σῆς φιλοσοφίας ὑπεριδὼν τῶν ἐκεῖ. Παρέδραμον δὲ τὴν ἐφ' Ἑλλησπόντῳ πόλιν ὡς οὐδεὶς Ὀδυσσεὺς Σειρήνων μέλη. Καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐθαύμασα μέν, πρὸς δὲ τὴν μητρόπολιν τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ καλῶν ἠπειγόμην. Ἐπεὶ δὲ κατέλαβον τὴν πατρίδα καὶ σὲ ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ μέγα ὄφελος ζητήσας οὐχ εὗρον, ἐντεῦθέν μοι λοιπὸν αἱ πολλαὶ καὶ ποικίλαι ἀφορ μαὶ τῶν ἀδοκήτων ἐπιγεγόνασι κωλυμάτων. Ἢ γὰρ ἀσθενεῖν πάντως ἔδει καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπολείπεσθαι, ἢ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑῴαν βαδίζοντι συναπαίρειν μὴ δύνασθαι, ὀψὲ δέ ποτε μυρίοις πόνοις τὴν Συρίαν καταλαβόντα οὐκ ἔχειν συνεῖναι τῷ φιλοσόφῳ πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους ἀπάραντι. Πάλιν οὖν ἔδει Αἴγυπτόνδε ἰέναι, δολιχὴν ὁδὸν ἀργαλέην τε, καὶ οὐδ' ἐνταῦθα τὸ σπουδαζόμενον ἔχειν. Ἀλλ' οὕτω δύσερως ἦν ὥστε ἢ τὴν ἐπὶ Πέρσας βαδίζειν ἔδει καὶ συμπροϊέναι εἰς ὅτι μήκιστον τῆς βαρβάρων (ἦλθες γὰρ κἀκεῖσε, τοσαύτη τις ἦν φιλονεικία τοῦ δαίμονος), ἢ αὐτοῦ καθῆσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ συνέβη. ∆οκῶ γάρ μοι, εἰ μὴ ὥσπερ τι θρέμμα θαλλῷ προδεικνυμένῳ ἑπόμενος ἀπηγόρευσα, ἐπέκεινα ἄν σε καὶ Νύσης τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ἐλθεῖν ἀγόμενον, καί, εἴ τι ἔσχατον τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης χωρίον, καὶ τοῦτο ἐπιπλανη θῆναι. Καὶ τί δεῖ τὰ πολλὰ λέγειν; Ἀλλὰ τὸ τελευταῖον νῦν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς χώρας διάγοντι συγγενέσθαι οὐκ ἐξεγέ νετο, μακραῖς ἀρρωστίαις ἐξειργομένῳ· αἵ, εἰ μὴ τοῦ γε λοιποῦ μετριώτεραι γένοιντο, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸν χειμῶνα τῇ λογιότητί σου συνεσόμεθα. Ταῦτα οὐχ εἱμαρμένης ἔργα, ὡς ἂν αὐτὸς εἴποις; Ταῦτα οὐκ ἀνάγκης; Ταῦτα οὐχί, μικροῦ δεῖν, καὶ τοὺς τῶν ποιητῶν ἐπὶ Ταντάλῳ μύθους ὑπερεβάλετο; Ἀλλ', ὅπερ ἔφην, ῥᾴων γέγονα τοῖς γράμ μασι καὶ οὐκέτι ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς εἰμι γνώμης. Φημὶ δὲ χρῆναι διδόντι μὲν τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῷ Θεῷ χάριν εἰδέναι, ταμιευομένῳ δὲ μὴ δυσχεραίνειν Καὶ δὴ οὖν καὶ ἡμῖν, εἰ μὲν παράσχοι τὸ συνεῖναί σοι, ταῦτ' ἄριστά τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ἥδιστα ἡγησόμεθα. Εἰ δὲ ἀναβάλοιτο, πράως οἴσομεν τὴν ζημίαν. Ἄμεινον γάρ που πάντως ἢ ὡς ἂν ἡμεῖς προϊ δοίμεθα διοικεῖ τὰ ἡμέτερα.

2.τ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΩ ΕΤΑΙΡΩ

2.1 Ἐπέγνων σου τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ὥσπερ οἳ τοὺς τῶν φίλων παῖδας ἐκ τῆς

ἐπιφαινομένης αὐτοῖς ὁμοιότητος πρὸς τοὺς τεκόντας ἐπιγινώσκουσι. Τὸ γὰρ μὴ μέγα εἶναι φῆσαι τὴν τοῦ τόπου κατασκευὴν πρὸς τὸ ἐμποιῆσαι ὁρμήν τινα τῇ ψυχῇ σου εἰς τὸν μεθ' ἡμῶν βίον, πρὶν ἂν περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τι μάθοις καὶ τῆς διαγωγῆς, σὸν ἦν ὄντως τὸ διανόημα καὶ τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς, τῆς πάντα τὰ τῇδε μηδὲν τιθεμένης πρὸς τὴν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις ἀποκειμένην ἡμῖν μακαριότητα. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἃ μὲν ποιῶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσχα τιᾶς ταύτης, νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας, γράφειν αἰσχύνομαι. Κατέλιπον μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἐν ἄστει διατριβὰς ὡς μυρίων κακῶν ἀφορμάς, ἐμαυτὸν δὲ οὔπω ἀπολιπεῖν ἠδυνήθην.