Letter 75: Zeus, how can this be right?

To Iamblichus. Zeus, how can this be right? That I should spend my time in the middle of Thrace, wintering in these wretched grain-pits, while from the charming Iamblichus in the East, letters come to me like swallows — and yet I cannot go to him, nor he to me? Who would tolerate this unless he were some Thracian as brutish as Tereus [the mythological king of Thrace who committed terrible crimes]? "Lord Zeus, rescue the Greeks from Thrace and make clear weather, and grant us to see with our eyes!" [adapted from Homer, Iliad 17.645]. Your letters are the only light in this darkness. They reach me from afar and I devour them. Write more. Write always. They are my lifeline.

To the Same Ο Zeus, how can it be right that I should spend my time in the middle of Thrace and winter in the grain-pits 2 here, while from charming Iamblichus, as though from a sort of spring in the East, letters come to me like swallows and I cannot yet go to him nor can he come to me? Who would be willing to put up with this unless he were some Thracian and as bad as Tereus? 3 "Lord Zeus do thou rescue the Achaeans from Thrace and make clear weather an grant us to see with our eyes"1 our own Hermes some day, and salute his shrine and embrace his statue as they tell us Odysseus did when after his wandering he beheld Ithaca.2 Nay, but he was still asleep when the Phaeacians unloaded him from their ship like a piece of freight and went their way; but as for me sleep can never lay hold on me till it be my lot to see you that are the benefactor of the whole world. And yet you say in jest that I and my friend Sopater have transported the whole East into Thrace. Yet, if I must speak the truth, Cimmerian gloom abides with me so long as Iamblichus is not here. And you demand one of two things, that I should go to you or that you yourself should come to me. To my mind one of these alternatives is both desirable and expedient, I mean that I should go to you and benefit by the blessings that you bestow, while the other surpasses all my prayers. But since this is impossible for you and inexpedient, do you remain at home and prosper and preserve the tranquillity that you enjoy, while I will endure with a brave spirit whatever God may send.3 For we are told that it is the proof of a good man to keep hoping for the best, to do his duty and follow his fate and the will of God. 2 The phrase is borrowed from Demosthenes, On the Chersonese 45.  3 Tereus was king of Thrace. 1 Julian paraphrases Iliad 17. 645. 2 Odyssey 13. 354. 3 Cf. Oration 8. 243d for the same phrase, derived from Demosthenes, On the Crown 97.

[Πρός: τῷ αὐτῷ] Ὦ Ζεῦ, πῶς ἔχει καλῶς ἡμᾶς μὲν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ διάγειν μέσῃ καὶ τοῖς ἐνταῦθα σιροῖς ἐγχειμάζειν, παρ’ Ἰαμβλίχου δὲ τοῦ καλοῦ καθάπερ ἑῴου τινὸς ἔαρος ἡμῖν τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἀντὶ χελιδόνων πέμπεσθαι, καὶ μήτε ἡμῖν εἶναι μηδέπω παρ’ αὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν μήτ’ αὐτῷ παρ’ ἡμᾶς ἥκειν ἐξεῖναι; τίς ἂν ἑκὼν εἶναι ταῦτα δέξαιτο, ἐὰν μὴ Θρᾴξ τις ᾖ καὶ Τηρέως ἀντάξιος; Ζεῦ ἄνα, ἀλλὰ σὺ ῥῦσαι ἀπὸ Θρῄκηθεν Ἀχαιούς· ποίησον δ’ αἴθρην, δὸς δ’ ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἰδέσθαι ποτὲ τὸν ἡμέτερον Ἑρμῆν καὶ τά τε ἀνάκτορα αὐτοῦ προσειπεῖν καὶ τοῖς ἕδεσιν ἐμφῦναι, καθάπερ τὸν Οδυσσέα φασίν, ὅτε ἐκ τῆς ἄλης τὴν Ἰθάκην εἶδεν. ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνον μὲν οἱ Φαίακες ἔτι καθεύδοντα ὥσπερ τι φορτίον ἐκθέμενοι τῆς νεὼς ᾤχοντο· ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐδὲ ὕπνος αἱρεῖ, μέχρις ἂν σέ, τὸ μέγα τῆς οἰκουμένης ὄφελος, ἰδεῖν ἐγγένηται. καίτοι σὺ μὲν τὴν ἑῴαν ὅλην ἐμέ τε καὶ τὸν ἑταῖρον Σώπατρον εἰς τὴν Θρᾴκην μετενηνοχέναι προσπαίζεις· ἡμῖν δέ, εἰ χρὴ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἕως ἂν Ἰάμβλιχος μὴ παρῇ, Κιμμερίων ἀχλὺς συνοικεῖ. καὶ σὺ μὲν δυοῖν θάτερον αἰτεῖς, ἢ ἡμᾶς παρὰ σὲ ἥκειν ἢ αὐτόν σε παρ’ ἡμᾶς. ἡμῖν δὲ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον εὐκταῖόν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ σύμφορον, αὐτοὺς ἐπανελθεῖν ὡς σὲ καὶ τῶν παρὰ σοὶ καλῶν ἀπολαῦσαι· τὸ δὲ ἕτερον εὐχῆς μὲν ἁπάσης κρεῖττον. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀδύνατόν σοί γε καὶ ἀξύμφορόν ἐστι, σὺ μὲν οἴκοι μένειν καὶ χαίρειν καὶ τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἣν ἔχεις σώζειν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅ, τι ἂν θεὸς διδῷ γενναίως οἴσομεν. ἀνδρῶν γὰρ ἀγαθῶν εἶναί φασι τὸ μὲν εὔελπι κεκτῆσθαι καὶ τὰ δέοντα πράττειν, ἕπεσθαι δὲ τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις τοῦ δαίμονος.