Letter 114

To my Brother. Are you surprised that while living in a parched place like the country of the Phycuntes [the "Seaweed People"] you shiver and your blood turns to poison? It would have been more surprising if your body had held up. Come to me instead — we have clean water, good air, and room for you. An invitation like this should not need repeating.

Letter 114: An Invitation [1] To his Brother Are you astonished that while you are dwelling in a parched place like the country of the Phycuntes, note ["Seeweed country".] you should shiver and poison should enter your blood? There would have been more cause for wonder had your body proved stronger than the heat there. [2] Come to us, then, here. You could recover your health with God's help, once away from the infected air of the marshes, away from that salt, warm, and absolutely stagnate water, which one might call really dead. What charm can there be in lying down on the sand of the shore? That is the only pastime you have, for where could you wend your way? [3] Here you can go under the shadow of a tree. If you are tired of one, you can go to another, even from one grove to another. You can step across a rivulet. How delightful is the zephyr which stirs the branches gently; there are the varied notes of birds, the colors of the flowers, the shrubs of the meadow; here the works of the husbandman, there nature's gifts. All things are fragrant with perfume, the aromas of a healthy soil. I will not praise the nymphs' grotto. It would need a Theocritus. note [The author of several famous idyllic poems.] And there is something beyond all this.