Letter 356: I received a very short letter from you, though if you wanted to tell me how things stand, you should have written...

To Iamblichus. (358 AD) I received a very short letter from you, though if you wanted to tell me how things stand, you should have written at greater length. And the one before it, which came from Macedonia, contained a reproach that I was not writing to you. It was clear to me that some irritation made this latest one so brief. In the earlier letter you prosecuted me; in the second you exacted the penalty. But hear how the whole thing went. At first, thinking you were heading for Italy, I sent letters there — Proclus was the carrier. A little later I learned you were in Athens and was planning to send there, but then you wrote from Macedonia. Then again you write from Athens. What is anyone to do with someone who has so many wings? But you who have suffered so much discouragement and endured so much hardship — give up writing letters and appear in person. Consider this the voice of your own estates, which are still fine for now, but with you absent so long may soon have a different tale to tell.

Ἰαμβλίχῳ. (358) Ἔλαβόν σου πάνυ βραχεῖαν ἐπιστολήν, καίτοι βουλο- μένῳ με διδάσκειν ἐν ᾧ τὰ πράγματα ἕστηκεν ἦν μακροτέραν ἐπιστέλλειν. ἡ δ’ αὖ πρὸ ταύτης ἐκ Μακεδονίας ἥκουσα κατη- γορίαν εἶχεν ὡς οὐ γράφοιμί σοι. καὶ ἦν μοι δῆλον ὅτι τὴν μικρὰν ταύτην ὀργή τις ἐποίει τοσαύτην. ἐδίωκες μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνῃ, τὴν δίκην δὲ ἀπῄτεις ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ. τὸ πᾶν δὲ ὅπως ἔσχεν, ἄκουσον. ἐγώ σε τὸ πρῶτον ἡγούμενος εἰς Ἰταλίαν τρέχειν ἔπεμπον ἐκεῖσε γράμματα. Πρόκλος <δὲ> α ὁ κομίζων. μικρὸν ὕστερον ἔμαθόν <σε> α Ἀθήνησιν εἶναι διενοούμην πέμπειν Ἀθήναζε, σὺ δὲ ἐκ Μακεδονίας ἐπέστελ- λες. πάλιν Ἀθήνηθεν γράφεις. τί τις ἂν ποιήσειε πρὸς τοσαῦ- τα πτερά; ἀλλ’, ὦ πολλὰ μὲν ἀθυμήσας, πολλὰ δὲ ὑπο- μείνας, ἀφεὶς τὸ ἐπιστέλλειν αὐτὸς φάνηθι νομίσας ταύτην εἶναι τὴν φωνὴν τῶν σῶν ἀγρῶν τῶν ἔτι μὲν καλῶν, σοῦ δὲ ἀπόντος χρόνον μακρὸν ἴσως ἀκουσομένων τι καὶ ἄλλο.