Letter 307: Do not think my silence means I have forgotten you.

To Anatolius. (355) Most fortunate of men, Hyperechius will look upon Seleucia, having before his eyes the best of men to behold there; but we, it seems, have become slaves to our profession, or else we too would certainly have gone to that same place—not because a harbor draws us, nor because of those things by which they say the city has been enlarged, but because you and your manners persuade us to hasten there. For it remains, since you flee, that we pursue you. And yet how is it not a dreadful thing that you came from Italy out of love for us, but now seek those with whom you may keep company in our stead, and allot more to your fields or to certain other places than to the city adorned by you? But Apollo will return once more to Delphi; and having granted to Maximus the help that comes from letters, grant to his child the favor of giving him his letters quickly. For this man desires labors more than others desire to avoid laboring. Admiring, then, his conviction toward his father, shorten for him by a little the distance of his separation.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (355) Κάλλιστα ἀνθρώπων Ὑπερέχιος ὄψεται Σελεύκειαν τὸν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἄριστον ἐπ’ αὐτῆς ἔχων ὁρᾶν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄρα δοῦ- λοὶ γεγόναμεν ὑπὸ τῆς τέχνης ἢ πάντως ἂν τὴν αὐτὴν ἐθἐο- μεν οὐ λιμένος ἡμᾶς ἕλκοντος οὐδ’ οἷς φασιν ηὐξῆσθαι τὴν πόλιν, ἀλλὰ σοῦ καὶ τῶν σῶν τρόπων ἀναπειθόντων τρέχειν. λείπεται γάρ, ἐπειδὴ σὺ φεύγεις, ἡμᾶς διώκειν. καίτοι πῶς οὐ δεινὸν ἐκ μὲν Ἰταλίας ἐλθεῖν τῷ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἔρωτι, ζητεῖν δὲ οἷς ἀνθ’ ἡμῶν συνέσῃ καὶ πλέον νέμειν ἀγροῖς ἤ τισιν ἑτέροις τόποις τῆς ὑπὸ σοῦ πόλεως κεκοσμημένης; ἀλλ’ δ μὲν Ἀπόλλων πάλιν εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀφίξεται, Μαξίμῳ δὲ χαρι- σάμενος τὴν ἐκ τῶν γραμμάτων βοήθειαν τῷ κείνου παιδὶ χάρισαι τὸ ταχέως δοῦναι τὰ γράμματα. πλέον γὰρ οὗτος ἐπι- θυμεῖ πόνων ἢ τοῦ μὴ πονεῖν ἕτεροι. θαυμάσας οὖν αὐτοῦ τὸ πεπεῖσθαι τῷ πατρὶ σύστειλον εἰς μικρὸν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀπό· στάσιν.