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. I received a letter from you that was quite brief, although, since you wanted to inform me of the state in which affairs stood, it ought to have been a longer dispatch. The one, in turn, that came before this one, arriving from Macedonia, contained an accusation, namely that I was not writing to you. And it was plain to me that some anger made this small matter into so great a thing. For in that letter you were prosecuting, but in the second you were already demanding satisfaction. Yet how the whole affair stood, hear. I, at first, thinking that you were hurrying to Italy, was sending letters there. Proclus <was> the one carrying them. A little later I learned <that you> were at Athens, and I was intending to send to Athens, but you were dispatching from Macedonia. Again from Athens you write. What could anyone do in the face of so many wings? But, O you who have caused much despondency and have endured much, let go of writing and appear in person yourself, considering this to be the voice of your estates, which are still beautiful, but which, with you absent for a long time, will perhaps hear something else as well.

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 &#x003C;δὲ&#x003E; α ὁ κομίζων. μικρὸν ὕστερον ἔμαθόν &#x003C;σε&#x003E; 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.