Letter 88

From: Libanius, rhetorician in Antioch To: Parnasius Date: ~359 AD Context: A playful rebuke of a friend who pretends to be a bad correspondent. I won't put up with the self-portrait you've drawn -- it doesn't resemble the real you at all. You're imitating those people who own very little and scheme to give less in order to get more from the rich. But your flow of letters is no smaller than mine -- and you say mine is greater! So don't list yourself among the paupers when you have an equal fortune. If you receive as many letters as you send, consider yourself perfectly fairly treated.

To Parnasius. (359) I will not accept your analogy, for it does not suit your circumstances. You invoke the example of men who possess little and contrive to give less in order to receive more from the wealthy. But you yourself have a stream of letters no smaller than mine — mine being, as you claim, the more abundant. Do not, then, when you possess an equal fortune, enroll yourself among the poor. If you receive as many letters as you send, consider yourself in no way wronged.

Παρνασίῳ. (359) Οὐκ ἀνέξομαι τῆς εἰκόνος· οὐ γὰρ ἔοικε τοῖς σοῖς. μέ- μνησαι μὲν γὰρ μικρὰ δή τινα κεκτημένων καὶ διαμηχανωμέ- νων, ὅπως ἐλάττω δόντες πλείω λάβοιεν παρὰ τῶν πλουσίων· ἔστι δὲ σοὶ ῥεύματα ἐπιστολῶν οὐκ ἐλάττω γε ἤπερ ἡμῖν, οἷς εἶναι πλείω λέγεις. μὴ τοίνυν ἴσην κεκτημένος οὐσίαν εἰς τοὺς πένητας γράφε σαυτόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐὰν ὁπόσα πέμπεις λαμβά- νῃς, μηδὲν ἀδικεῖσθαι νόμιζε.