Letter 206: I know you are overwhelmed with business -- the kind that admits no postponement and offers no rest.

To Euphemius. (358) What is one to make of this? Is it folly, bad fortune, or the solution to a riddle? That famous Antoninus, who gave up his patrimony to those who claimed to be in need -- or rather gave up nothing to them, for there was nothing -- has been forced to take up the grain supply again. And you endured writing this to me without reflecting that you are fighting against your own case? And so he flees, deprived of even the sight of his mother -- for that was the only advantage he had at home, since in all other respects his homeland was no better than a foreign land. We go around looking for an Oedipus to free us from our perplexity. But in fact we need no Oedipus, nor even Tiresias. We erred -- we erred by not applying to the man who twists such matters, who releases one and binds another. For his power is supreme. But since I have been foolish, I now supplicate a man through you. And yet this is a greater thing than when Ajax went forth on his embassy of reconciliation. But let him yield and not contend. In any case, even if he does not do this service for his friends, he will oblige them in many other ways -- for he has the power.

Εὐφημίῳ (358) Τί τοῦτο νομίσαι χρή; πότερον ἀλογίαν ἢ δυστυχίαν ἢ πέρας αἰνίγματος; Ἀντωνῖνος ἐκεῖνος ὁ τῶν πατρῴων τοῖς ὡς εὐπορεῖ λέγουσιν ἀποστάς, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ μηδενὸς αὐτοῖς ἀπο- στάς, οὐ γὰρ ἦν οὐδέν, αὖθις ἠνάγκασται σιτηγεῖν. καὶ σὺ ταῦτα γράψαι ὑπέμεινας οὐκ ἐνθυμηθεὶς ὅτι τοῖς σαυτοῦ μάχῃ; τοιγαροῦν ὁ μὲν φεύγει τοῦ τὴν μητέρα ὁρᾶν ἐστε- ρημένος, τουτὶ γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ πλέον οἴκοι μόνον, ὡς τά γε ἄλλα οὐδὲν ἀμείνων ἡ πατρὶς τῆς ἀλλοτρίας, Οἰδίπουν δὲ περιιόν τες ζητοῦμεν, ὅστις ἡμᾶς τῆς ἀπορίας ἀπαλλάξει. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐδὲν Οἰδίπου δεῖ τοῖς παροῦσιν οὐδέ γε Τειρεσίου. ἀλλ’ ἡμάρ- τομεν ἡμεῖς, ἡμάρτομεν οὐ δεηθέντες τοῦ τὰ τοιαῦτα στρέφον- τος, ὃς τὸν μὲν ἔλυσε, τὸν δὲ ἐνέδησε. τοῦ γὰρ κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον. ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ ἀασάμην, ἄνθρωπον ἱκε- τεύω διὰ σοῦ. καίτοι τοῦτο μεῖζον ἢ ὁ τότε πορευόμενος Αἴας ἐπὶ τὰς διαλλαγάς. ἀλλ’ εἰξάτω καὶ μὴ φιλονεικείτω. πάν- τως, κἂν μὴ τοῦτο τοῖς αὑτοῦ φίλοις ὑπουργήσῃ, πολλαχόθεν ἄλλοθεν χαριεῖται· πάρεστι γάρ.