Letter 61: The joy is doubled when you can address friends through a mutual intimate — because then it is not only your written...

To Sopater. The joy is doubled when you can address friends through a mutual intimate — because then it is not only your written words that convey the image of your soul to the reader. That is exactly what I am doing now. I sent my children's custodian, Antiochus, to you, and I could not bear to let him go without a word of greeting. If you want news of me, he can give you the more personal kind. And if you care at all for your admirers — as I believe you do — prove it by never missing a chance to write while you still can.

To Sopater 5 It is an occasion to rejoice the more when one has the chance to address friends through an intimate friend. For then it is not only by what you write that you unite the image of your own soul with your readers. And this is what I myself am doing. For when I despatched the custodian of my children,1 Antiochus, to you, I could not bear to leave you without a word of greeting. So that if you want to have news of me, you can have from him information of a more intimate sort. And if you care at all for your admirers, as I believe you do care, you will prove it by never missing an opportunity while you are able to write. 5 This letter is rejected by Schwarz, Cumont and Geffcken; Schwarz on the slender evidence of style classes it with the apocryphal letters to Iamblichus; Cumont also places it in that series, and thinks that this Sopater is the friend of the elder Iamblichus executed by Constantine. 1 No forger would have referred to children of Julian's body; but the phrase may refer to his writings. Libanius, Epitaphius, says of Julian's letters .... See also To Iamblichus, p. 255.

[Πρός: Σωπάτρῳ] Ἔστι τις ἡδονῆς ἀφορμὴ πλείων, ὅταν ἐξῇ δι’ ἀνδρὸς οἰκείου τοὺς φίλους προσφωνεῖν· οὐ γὰρ μόνον οἷς γράφεις τὸ τῆς σεαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἴνδαλμα τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι ξυναρμόττῃ. ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ποιῶ. τὸν γὰρ τροφέα τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ παίδων Ἀντίοχον ὡς ὑμᾶς ἐκπέμπων, ἀπρόσρητόν σε καταλιπεῖν οὐκ ἠνεσχόμην· ὥστε, εἴ τι τῶν καθ’ ἡμᾶς ποθεῖς, ἔχοις ἂν οἰκειότερον παρ’ αὐτοῦ γνῶναι. εἰ δέ τι καὶ σοὶ μέλει τῶν σῶν ἐραστῶν, ὡς ἔγωγεὅτι μέλει πιστεύω, δείξεις ἕως ἂν ἐξῇ γράφειν μηδαμῶς ἐλλείπων.