Letter 180: What have you done? You who committed only one fault -- but the one fault you should never have committed, even if...

To the same man. (360) What a thing you have done, you who erred in this one matter alone, the very thing in which it was not right to err, even if in all else you were doing wrong: Berinus has been overlooked and despised, Berinus, who is dearest of all men to me, and I would say that he is dearest to you as well, if indeed he is dear to me. And yet you kept promising to do everything, and you bade us be of good courage, and when we begged you often you called the business an insult; for you said that the favor shown to this man would be the prelude to your affairs in Phoenicia. But you are kind toward the others, and I do not blame you, for one must make full use of one's power to do good; yet toward my fellow-student, with whom great and justly held wealth was unwilling to remain (for such a man is he, or, if you prefer, with such a disposition does the mistress of wealth go about, like a bird passing from tree to tree) — concerning this man, then, whether Andronicus was not eager, I would not wish to say; but that he was eager, I am not able to say. This much at least it is possible to say, that he stands eager. For time does not go off carrying away the deed with it, but, if you wish, it is possible to grant the favor, even if belatedly. And I think it better to grant it belatedly than never to grant the favor at all.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (360) Οἶον ἔδρασας ὁ τοῦτο μόνον ἁμαρτών, ὃ μόνον οὐκ ἐχρῆν ἁμαρτεῖν, εἰ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἠδίκεις· Βηρῖνος παρῶπται καὶ καταπεφρόνηται, Βηρῖνος ὁ πάντων ἐμοὶ φίλτατος, φαίην δ’ ἄν, ὅτι καὶ σοὶ φίλτατος, εἴπερ ἐμοί. καίτοι πάντα ὑπ- ισχνοῦ ποιήσειν καὶ θαρρεῖν ἐκέλευες καὶ δεομένων πολλάκις ὕβριν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐκάλεις· ἔσεσθαι γὰρ τῶν περὶ Φοινίκην σοι προοίμιον τὴν πρὸς τοῦτον χάριν. ἀλλὰ σὺ περὶ μὲν τοὺς ἄλλους χρηστός, καὶ οὐκ ἐγκαλῶ, δεῖ γὰρ τῷ δύνασθαι πρὸς τὸ εὖ ποιεῖν καταχρῆσθαι, πρὸς δέ γε τὸν ἐμὸν συμφοιτητήν, ᾧ πλοῦτος πολὺς ὢν καὶ δίκαιος οὐκ ἠβουλήθη παραμεῖναι, τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, εἰ δὲ βούλει, τοιαύτῃ τῇ γνώμῃ ἡ τοῦ πλούτου κυρία περιέρχεται καθάπερ ὄρνις ἀπὸ δένδρου πρὸς δένδρον μεταχωρῶν — περὶ δὴ τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα Ἀνδρόνικος ὡς μὲν οὐκ ἐγένετο πρόθυμος, οὐκ ἂν βουλοίμην εἰπεῖν· ὡς δὲ ἐγένετο πρόθυμος, οὐκ ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοιμι. τοσοῦτόν γε μὴν ἔξεστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ἱστᾶι πρόθυμος. οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὴν πρᾶξιν οἴχεται ἀποφέρων ὁ χρόνος, ἀλλ’, ἢν ἐθέλῃς, ἔστι δοῦναι τὴν χάριν, εἰ καὶ βραδέως. ἄμεινον δὲ οἴμαι δοῦναι βραδέως ἢ Ἄι δοῦναι τὴν χάριν.