Letter 340: All that mud, that bitter cold I endured at the time, and every hardship seemed light while I was looking at your...

To Strategius. (357/58) To me that abundant mud and the cold, which was no mild thing at the time, and the things that seem hard all became light when I beheld your face, and yet, after I had gone away, I caused trouble to the physicians, having come to such a pitch of distress, with my body racked with pain. But nonetheless I was happier in the pretext of my sufferings than if I had stayed in my bed in good health, abandoning the course most honored by me. At that time, then, a young man stood beside me—for you remember—being about to say something on his own behalf, but by a rainstorm he was hindered from obtaining the things he needed, while you were hindered from coming to his aid; and it was a fine thing, and no less than the favor itself, that it also became clear about you that you were grieved at having been hindered. Since, therefore, you have found a cure—to hear through letters what could not be heard through the voice—help with what is just a young man who is both a lover of words and one bereft of his parents.

Στρατηγίῳ. (357/58) Ἐμοὶ καὶ πηλὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ πολὺς καὶ ψῦχος οὐ μέτριον τότε συμβὰν καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα χαλεπὰ κοῦφα τὴν σὴν ὁρῶντι μορφήν, καίτοι γε ἀπελθὼν πόνον παρέσχον τοῖς ἰατροῖς εἰς τοσοῦτον ἥκων κακῶν κεντουμένου μοι τοῦ σώματος. ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἡδίων ἦν τῇ προφάσει τῶν ἀλγημάτων ἢ εἰ μένων ἐπὶ τῆς εὐνῆς ὑγίαινον ἐκλιπὼν τὸν ἐντιμότατον ἐμοὶ δρόμον. τότε οὖν ὡς νέος μέν μοι παρειστήκει, μέμνησαι γάρ, λέξειν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ τι μέλλων, ὄμβρῳ δὲ ὁ μὲν τυχεῖν ὧν ἔχρῃζε διε- κωλύθη, σὺ δὲ ἀμῦναι, καλὸν δὲ ἦν σου καὶ τῆς χάριτος οὐχ ἧττον καὶ τὸ γενέσθαι σε δῆλον, ὡς ἄχθοιο τῷ κεκωλῦσθαι. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐξεῦρες ἴασιν ἀκοῦσαι διὰ γραμμάτων ἃ διὰ φω- νῆς οὐκ ἦν, βοήθει τὰ δίκαια νέῳ λόγων τε ἐραστῇ καὶ γο- νέων ἐστερημένῳ.