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Epistula (e cod. Esc. gr. 234)

You truly bear the Graces themselves upon your tongue, and you seem to me their very precinct, and a temple is established for you somewhere here and enchants the goddesses, a soul with a pure plectrum variously echoing through the tongue; wherefore they rejoice in it more than in seeing Naxos, which tradition holds to be the island of the Graces; there also Dionysus was conquered by Ariadne and was her partner. But the son of Semele has come into our discourse at a good moment; who, if he were not a god, how much accusation he would have enjoyed from us, for overlooking a man who is poor and from his very bedclothes dreams of his taxes, but is otherwise dedicated to the Muses and Graces. He had a small plot of land, O Dionysus, and held on to the hopes from it, waiting to receive this, which he seemed to give to the vines; why did you not come in abundance and show them laden with fruit? If only you had trodden the wine-presses, and danced a Bacchic dance, and no vat of new wine was empty; wherefore, being well-off with wealth, he would have danced for joy and been more musical. Do you wish to learn what Dionysus says to this? That "it is not possible to be rich in words and in money at the same time; wherefore," he says, "I took away the grape clusters, so that I might better train his tongue; since indeed the cicadas, fed only on dew, contain the Muses whole within themselves, and you would say upon hearing them that they were men and have become cicadas." Therefore it is fitting to be content with what you have, and if the tax-collectors bother you, just sing to them, and they will immediately forget about the money.

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Epistula (e cod. Esc. gr. 234)

Αὐτὰς ὄντως ἐπὶ τῆς γλώττης φέρεις τὰς Χάριτας, καί μοι δοκεῖς ὡς τέμενος αὐτῶν, καὶ νεὼς ἐνταῦθά που σοι καθίδρυται καὶ θέλγει τὰς θεάς, ψυχὴ καθαρῷ πλήκτρῳ ποικίλως ὑπηχοῦσα τῇ γλώττῃ· ὅθεν χαίρουσι ταύτῃ μᾶλλον ἢ Νάξον ὁρῶσαι, ἣν καὶ νῆσον εἶναι Χαρίτων λόγος κατέχει· ἔνθα καὶ ∆ιόνυσος τῆς Ἀριάδνης ἡττήθη καὶ σύνοικος ἦν. Ἀλλ' εἰς καλὸν ἡμῖν ὁ Σεμέλης ἐπῆλθε τῷ λόγῳ· ὅς, εἰ μὴ θεὸς ἦν, ὅσης ἂν ἡμῖν τῆς κατηγορίας ἀπέλαυσεν, ἄνδρα παριδὼν πένητα μὲν κἀκ τῶν στρωμάτων αὐτῶν ὀνειροπολοῦντα τοὺς φόρους, Μούσαις δ' ἄλλως ἀνειμένον καὶ Χάρισιν. Εἰς μικρὸν εἶχε τὸ γῄδιον, ὦ ∆ιόνυσε, καὶ ταῖς ἐντεῦθεν ἐπανεῖχεν ἐλπίσι, τοῦτο μένων λαβεῖν, ὃ ταῖς ἀμπέλοις ἐδόκει διδόναι· τί μὴ πολὺς ἐπελθὼν βριθούσας αὐτὰς ἀπέδειξε τῷ καρπῷ; εἴθε καὶ ληνῶν ἐπέβης, καὶ βακχικὸν ἐπεχόρευσας, καὶ οὐδὲν τοῦ γλεύκους ὑπῆρχε κενόν· ὅθεν ἔχων πλούτου καλῶς, ἐχόρευσεν ἂν ὑφ' ἡδονῆς καὶ μουσικώτερος ἦν. Βούλει μαθεῖν καὶ ὅ τι πρὸς ταῦτά φησιν ὁ ∆ιόνυσος; ὡς "οὐκ ἔστιν λόγων ἅμα καὶ χρημάτων πλουτεῖν· ὅθεν" φησὶν "ὑπεξείων δὲ τοὺς βότρυς, ὅπως αὐτῷ μᾶλλον ἐπασκήσω τὴν γλῶτταν· ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ τέττιγες μόνῃ τῇ δρόσῳ τρεφόμενοι ὅλας ἐν αὐτοῖς χωροῦσι τὰς Μούσας, καὶ εἴποις ἂν ἀκούων ὡς ἄνθρωποί τε ἦσαν καὶ γεγόνασι τέττιγες". Οὐκοῦν στέργειν τοῖς παροῦσιν εἰκός, κἂν οἱ πράκτορες ἐνοχλῶσιν, ᾆδε μόνον αὐτοῖς, καὶ τῶν χρημάτων εὐθὺς ἐπιλήσονται.