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Epistulae

LETTERS OF THEOPHYLACT SCHOLASTICUS SIMOCATTA: MORAL, RUSTIC, HETAERIC

1 Critias to Plotinus

The musical cicada, when spring appears, begins its melody; but it is recognized as more songful in its singing and more talkative by nature at the hour of midday, as if intoxicated by the sun's rays. So the melodist chirps, making the tree its stage, the field its theater, and displays its music to travelers. So too are we eager to sing of your virtues; for they somehow warm and kindle our spirits to praise. For when we were long dead to a squalid life, you revived us to virtue by your writings. Thus may I, Critias, become a Plotinus; for Plotinus either philosophizes on earth outside the body, or philosophy, having taken a body, converses among men as a man.

2 Dorcon to Moschon

The commander of the sheep, my wonderful ram, is lost, and the flock is bereft of its pastoral leadership. We have suffered a very great evil, and I think Pan is angry with me; for we did not honor him with first-offerings from the beehives. Therefore I am going to the city to entreat the wrathful one, and I will recount his cruelty to the citizens, saying: "3for the sake of a honey-cake, Pan has destroyed the leader of my flock"3.

3 Theano to Eurydice

Your natural beauty has passed, and your elegance is close to wrinkles; but you attempt to falsify the truth, deceiving your lovers with artificial adornment. Obey time, little old woman; for meadows are not beautiful with flowers in autumn. Remember death also—for you have drawn near to it—and make it your practice to exercise self-control out of necessity. For you wrong both old age and youth; the one you have belied by your professions, the other you have corrupted by possessing it.

4 Euagoras to Antipater

The creator has set boundaries even for the sea's surge, and the ocean current is bridled by the shores, and some small sand is a borderland for the continent and the sea; for the sea is not permitted to wrong the neighboring land; but the raging current runs back upon itself, though it has threatened the dry land with a great assault. Therefore, Antipater, set boundaries to your lawgiving temper, not making your hand the servant of your anger. Indeed, to philosophize with one's hands and tongue is the highest mark of perfect virtue; but if you are not able to master this, then indulge your anger with insults, if you wish to be like barking dogs. For so even the angry sea shows its rage no further than by its foam and swell.

5 Aigeros to Platanus

We have bad neighbors, my friend, the cranes. They wage an undying war over our little plot of land. For they neither made a truce with our fathers, nor have they ended the war with us who came after them. And yet we have often honored them with the first-fruits of the harvest; but we have also given a portion of our land, like a sacred field to a god, to these ungrateful creatures. But the gifts, it seems, are not respected by them. Therefore we are all departing from here; for it is more profitable for us to farm rocks than to inhabit plains and hills, possessing such difficult neighbors.

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Epistulae

ΘΕΟΦΥΛΑΚΤΟΥ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΣΙΜΟΚΡΑΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ ΗΘΙΚΑΙ ΑΓΡΟΙΚΙΚΑΙ ΕΤΑΙΡΙΚΑΙ

1 Κριτίας Πλωτίνῳ

Τέττιξ ὁ μουσικὸς ἦρος φανέντος τῆς μελῳδίας ἀπάρχεται· ᾠδικώτερος δὲ τοῖς ᾄσμασι καὶ τὴν φύσιν λαλίστερος ὥρᾳ μεσημβρίας γνωρίζεται, ἀκτίνων ὥσπερ ἡλιακῶν μεθυσκόμενος. τερετίζει γοῦν ὁ μελῳδὸς βῆμα τὸ δένδρον ποιούμενος, θέατρον τὸν ἀγρόν, καὶ τοῖς ὁδίταις τὴν μουσικὴν ἐπιδείκνυται. ᾆσαι γοῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰς σὰς ἀρετὰς ἐπειγόμεθα· ἐκθάλπουσι γάρ πως καὶ ζωπυροῦσι πρὸς ἐγκώμιον τὰ ἡμέτερα. πάλαι γὰρ νεκρωθέντας ἡμᾶς τῷ ῥυπώδει βίῳ ἐκ τῶν σῶν γραμμάτων πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἀνεψύχωσας. οὕτω γενοίμην ὁ Κριτίας Πλωτῖνος· Πλωτῖνος γὰρ ἢ σώματος ἐκτὸς φιλοσοφεῖ ἐπὶ γῆς, ἢ φιλοσοφία σωματωθεῖσα μετὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀναστρέφεται.

2 ∆όρκων Μόσχωνι Ὁ ταξίαρχος τῶν προβάτων, ὁ θαυμαστός μοι κριὸς ἀπόλωλε, καὶ ποιμαντικῆς ἡγεμονίας χηρεύει τὰ θρέμματα. κακόν τι πεπόνθαμεν μέγιστον, καί τί μοι δοκῶ χαλεπαίνειν τὸν Πᾶνα· οὐ γὰρ τῶν σίμβλων αὐτὸν ἀπαρχαῖς ἐτιμήσαμεν. διὸ πρὸς ἄστυ χωρῶ τὸν ὀργίλον πρεσβευσόμενος, καὶ τοῖς πολίταις τὴν ἀπήνειαν διηγήσομαι φήσας· "3διὰ μελιτοῦτταν ὁ Πὰν τοῦ ποιμνίου μοι τὸν ἡγεμόνα διώλεσεν"3.

3 Θεανὼ Εὐρυδίκῃ Ὁ φυσικός σοι κόσμος παρῴχηκε, καὶ ῥυτίδων ἐγγὺς ἡ εὐπρέπεια· σὺ δὲ παραχαράττειν ἐπιχειρεῖς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπιπλάστῳ κόσμῳ τοὺς ἐραστὰς φενακίζουσα. πειθάρχει τῷ χρόνῳ, γραΐδιον· οὐ γὰρ εὐπρεπεῖς οἱ λειμῶνες ἐν μετοπώρῳ τοῖς ἄνθεσι. μέμνησο καὶ θανάτου-τούτῳ γὰρ ἐγειτνίασας-καὶ σωφροσύνην ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀσκεῖν ἐπιτήδευε. καὶ γῆρας γὰρ ἀδικεῖς καὶ νεότητα· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐπαγγελλομένη διέψευσαι, τὸ δὲ κεκτημένη ἐνόθευσας.

4 Εὐαγόρας Ἀντιπάτρῳ Ὅρους ὁ δημιουργὸς καὶ τῷ θαλαττίῳ διετάξατο κλύδωνι, καὶ τοῖς αἰγιαλοῖς τὸ πελάγιον κεχαλίνωται ῥεῖθρον, καὶ ψάμμος τίς ἐστι μικρὰ ἠπείρῳ καὶ τῇ θαλάττῃ μεταίχμιον· οὐ γὰρ ἀδικεῖν ἡ θάλαττα τὴν γείτονα γῆν συγκεχώρηται· παλινδρομεῖ δὲ πρὸς ἑαυτὸ τὸ ῥεῖθρον μαινόμενον μεγάλην ἀπειλῆσαν τῇ χέρσῳ τὴν ἔφοδον. ὅρους τοιγαροῦν, ὦ Ἀντίπατρε, τῷ σῷ νομοθέτει θυμῷ ὑπηρέτιν τὴν χεῖρα τῆς ὀργῆς μὴ ποιούμενος. τὸ μὲν οὖν συμφιλοσοφεῖν ταῖς χερσὶ καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἐντελοῦς ἀρετῆς ὅρος ἀκρότατος· εἰ δὲ μὴ ταύτης κρατεῖν οἷός τε εἶ, ὕβρεσι τὸν θυμὸν ψυχαγώγει, εἰ κυσὶν ὑλακτοῦσιν ἐοικέναι βεβούλησαι. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ χαλεπαίνουσα θάλαττα ἀφροῦ περαιτέρω καὶ σάλου τὰ τῆς ὀργῆς οὐκ ἐνδείκνυται.

5 Αἴγειρος Πλατάνῳ Κακὰς γείτονας, ὦ φίλος, τὰς γεράνους κεκτήμεθα. πόλεμον ἀθάνατον περὶ τὸ γήδιον ἔχουσιν. οὔτε γὰρ τοῖς πατράσι τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐσπείσαντο, οὔτε τοῖς μετ' ἐκείνους ἡμῖν τὸν πόλεμον διελύσαντο. καίτοι ἀπαρχαῖς τοῦ θερισμοῦ πολλάκις αὐτὰς ἐτιμήσαμεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ μοῖραν τοῦ γηδίου τινά, ὥσπερ ὀργάδα θεῷ, ταῖς ἀχαρίστοις δεδώκαμεν. ἀλλ' οὐκ αἰδέσιμα τὰ δῶρα παρ' ἐκείναις, ὡς ἔοικε. τοιγαροῦν ἅπαντες τῶν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπαίρομεν· πέτρας γὰρ ἡμῖν γεωργεῖν συμφερώτερον ἢ πεδία καὶ γηλόφους οἰκεῖν χαλεπὰς κεκτημένους τὰς γείτονας.