Letter 678

To Diodotos. (361) I remember you, for I love you, and I write, for I wish to please you. That you love me, I know and rejoice. But that you are silent — this I reproach. So that we may agree on this point too: having been pleased to receive, gladden me by giving in return. --- To Akakios. (361/62) Again a letter has come to me from my dearest friend, bringing a double joy — first as a letter, and second because it reports a change for the better. What forced me to be silent before was that I had no way, in writing to you, either to ignore your illness or to mention it profitably — for a sick man would be harmed by such a thing. That you were ill, the sons of physicians reported. So it was impossible to address you as healthy — that would be deeply insulting, the mark of someone ignorant of his friend's fortune — nor to write to you as sick, for that would be harmful. What remained was to groan privately and to pray. That I did this continually, both the gods and my friends know. And indeed I was doing both on my own behalf as well. For I too was among those pressed by a similar affliction, which grew so severe in the summer that it forced me to buy hellebore. Now it has partly ceased, though I am not entirely free of it — but there are good hopes, now that the temples are open again. Titianus, as a good son, bore his father's misfortune alongside him, and as your son he has not abandoned his love of rhetoric. So he and I will try to bring the work of the past into the present time.

Διοδότῳ. (361) Μέμνημαί σου, φιλῶ γάρ, καὶ γράφω, χαρίζομαι γάρ. σὺ δ’ ὅτι μὲν φιλεῖς, οἶδά τε καὶ χαίρω· ὅτι δὲ σιγᾷς, τοῦτο ἐγκαλῶ· ἴν’ οὖν καὶ τῇδε συμβαίνωμεν. ἡσθεὶς τῷ λαβεῖν εὔφρανον τῷ δοῦναι. Ἀκακίῳ. (361/62) Πάλιν ἥκει μοι γράμματα παρὰ τοῦ φιλτάτου διπλῆν φέροντα τὴν εὐφροσύνην, τοῦτο μὲν ὡς ἐπιστολή, τοῦτο δ’ ὅτι μεταβολὴν ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω μηνύει. σιγᾶν δέ με τὸν πρότερον ἠνάγκαζε χρόνον τὸ μήτε ἔχειν λόγον ἐπιστέλλοντα πρὸς σὲ τοῦ πάθους ἀμνημονεῖν μήτε συμφέρειν μνημονεύειν πρὸς σὲ τοῦ πάθους· βλάπτεσθαι γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ τοιοῦδε τὸν ἀρ- ρωστοῦντα. ὡς δ’ ἠρρώστεις παῖδες ἔλεγον ἰατρῶν. οὔτ’ οὖν ὡς ὑγιαίνοντι διαλέγεσθαι ἐνῆν, πάνυ γὰρ ὑβριστικὸν καἰ οὐκ εἰδότος τὴν τοῦ ἑταίρου τύχην, οὔθ’ ὡς νοσοῦντι γράφειν, βλαβερὸν γάρ. ἐλείπετ’ οὖν ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ στένειν καὶ εὔχε- σθαι· ἃ ὅτι διετέλουν ποιῶν, ἴσασι καὶ οἱ θεοὶ καὶ οἱ φίλοι. καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ ταῦτα ἐποίουν ἀμφότερα. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἦν τῶν ὑφ’ ὁμοίου κακοῦ πιεζομένων, ὃ μέγα πάνυ γενόμενον τοῦ θέρους ἠνάγκασεν ἐλλέβορον ὠνεῖσθαι. νῦν δὲ δὴ τὸ μέν τι πέπαυται, τοῦ παντὸς δὲ οὐκ ἀπήλ- λαγμαι, χρησταὶ δὲ ἐλπίδες ἱερῶν ἀνεῳγμένων. Τιτιανὸς δὲ ὡς μὲν παῖς ἀγαθὸς δυστυχίαν πατρὶ συνδιήνεγκεν, ὡς δὲ σὸς υἱὸς τοῦ λόγων ἐρᾶν οὐκ ἀπέστη. πειρασόμεθα οὖν ἐγώ τε καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν παρόντα χρόνον καὶ τὰ τοῦ παρελθόν- τος ἀγαγεῖν.