Letter 581
To Aristainetos. (357 AD)
I was embarrassed by what you wrote about the wild animals. It hardly seemed right that you couldn't do us this favor when we were in need — and that you treated our shortage as a joke. Indeed, someone said you weren't really short of them at all, using your joking as the proof.
The letter reached us through your uncle's hands — a man who himself has no idea how to joke, but who believes you do so at the right moment. But this is not the right moment, when the need is pressing.
As for your relative performing the same liturgy in Bithynia — that was your chance to show that you don't put family obligations behind those of friendship. But I think you seized on it as an excuse for laziness.
We have sent you some of what our mountain produces. And you — even if you are not ready to give a favor freely, at least show yourself decent enough to return one.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.