Letter 10: The art of snaring pigeons is as follows. When the men who devote themselves to this craft have caught one, they tame it, and make it feed with them. Then they smear its wings with sweet oil, and let it go and join the rest outside.
To a widow
The art of catching pigeons works like this: when the men who practice this craft have caught one, they tame it and make it feed with them. Then they rub its wings with sweet oil and let it go to rejoin the flock outside. The scent of that oil draws the free birds to the owner's house, for all the rest are attracted by the fragrance and come to settle there.
Why do I begin my letter this way? Because I have taken your son Dionysius — formerly Diomedes — and anointed the wings of his soul with the sweet oil of God, and I am sending him back to you so that you may take flight with him and make your way to the nest he has built under my roof. If I live to see this happen — you, my honored friend, carried up to our higher life — I will need many people worthy of God to pay Him all the honor that is His due.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Πρὸς ἐλευθέραν]
Τέχνη τίς ἐστι περιστερῶν θηρευτικὴ τοιαύτη. ὅταν μιᾶς ἐγκρατεῖς γένωνται οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα σπουδάζοντες, χειροήθη τε ταύτην καὶ ὁμόσιτον ἑαυτοῖς ἀπεργάσωνται· τότε μύρῳ τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτῆς χρίσαντες ἐῶσι συναγελασθῆναι ταῖς ἔξωθεν. ἡ δὲ τοῦ μύρου ἐκείνου εὐωδία τὴν αὐτόνομον ἐκείνην ἀγέλην κτῆμα ποιεῖται τῷ κεκτημένῳ τὴν τιθασσόν· πρὸς γὰρ τὰς εὐπνοίας καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ συνεφέπονταί τε καὶ εἰσοικίζονται.
Τί δὲ βουλόμενος ἐντεῦθεν ἄρχομαι τοῦ γράμματος; ὅτι λαβὼν τὸν υἱὸν Διονύσιον, τόν ποτε Διομήδην, καὶ τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ πτέρυγας διαχρίσας, ἐξέπεμψα πρὸς τὴν σὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν, ὥστε καὶ σὲ αὐτὴν συναναπτῆναι αὐτῷ καὶ καταλαβεῖν τὴν καλιὰν ἣν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐπήξατο ὁ προειρημένος. ἐὰν οὖν ταῦτα ἴδοιμι ἐπὶ τῆς ἐμῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὴν σὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν πρὸς τὸν ὑψηλὸν βίον μεταθεμένην, πολλῶν προσώπων ἀξίων τοῦ Θεοῦ δεηθήσομαι τὴν κεχρεωστημένην τιμὴν ἀποπληρῶσαι αὐτῷ.
Related Letters
I was grieved to find on reading your ladyship's letter that you are involved in the same difficulties. What is to be done to men who show such a shifty character, saying now one thing now another and never abiding in the same pledges? If, after the promises made in my presence, and in that of the ex-prefect, he now tries to shorten the time of ...
What Boeotians have you been keeping company with, that you've lost your skill in rhetoric?
If I were to fail to write to any one else I might possibly with justice incur the charge of carelessness or forgetfulness. But it is not possible to forget you, when your name is in all men's mouths. But I cannot be careless about one who is perhaps more distinguished than any one else in the empire.
We have raised up a governor for you, and our pride rests not merely on the fact that he is our fellow citizen, but...
My duties are not yet finished, and the city's demands are not yet satisfied.