Letter 361: This letter should have been praise for what you have done for Honoratus, but instead it arrives still carrying a...

To Spectatus. (~358 AD) This letter should have been praise for what you have done for Honoratus, but instead it arrives still carrying a request. That much is tolerable — but I fear the next letter after this one will imitate it. And yet, why have you not done what you promised? Is it because lying is admirable? Surely you would never praise falsehood. Is it because your power falls short of the favor we ask? And yet you laughed while Cyrinus pressed his case without relenting, and you made it clear that such trifling matters you could grant even in your sleep. We are still waiting for you to give willingly to one who asks and to stop pushing away one who insists. The only remaining explanation is that you neglect those who love you. But when you say that about your own mother, then you may say it against us too. Come now — you who do whatever you wish, yet practice making excuses for what you deliberately pass over — consider the young man's excellence of character; be ashamed before the daily entreaties of Cyrinus, a man whom even a god would respect on sight; consider that I too am something of a father to my student; and know that your mother wishes this, as does our uncle — I would add the whole city besides. Reflect on all this, and worry not about what you will say to us, but about what you will do to please us.

Σπεκτάτῳ. (358) Ταύτην ἔδει τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔπαινον εἶναι τῶν εἰς Ὁνω- ράτον ὑπὸ σοῦ πεπραγμένων, ἡ δὲ ἔρχεται παράκλησιν ἔτι φέρουσα. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν δὴ μέτριον, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἄξιον δεῖσαι μὴ καὶ ἡ μετὰ ταύτην ταύτην μιμήσηται. καίτοι τί μαθὼν οὐκ ἐπιτελεῖς ἅ γε ὑπέσχου; πότερον ὡς τὸ ψεύδεσθαι καλόν; οὐ σόν γε τὸ ἐπαινέσαι ψεῦδος. ἀλλ’ ὡς ἐλάττων σοι δύναμις ἧς αἰτοῦμεν χάριτος; καὶ μὴν ἐγέλας οὐδὲν σπουδῆς ἀνιέντος τοῦ Κυρίνου καὶ παρεδήλους ὡς τά γε τηλικαῦτα κἂν καθεύ- δῶν χαρίζοιο. ἔτι τοίνυν δοῦναί σε ἔσμεν ἑτοίμως χαριζό- μενον δεομένῳ καὶ διωθούμενον ἀναγκάζοντα. λείπεται οὖν ὡς μὴ φιλούντων ἀμελεῖν. ἀλλ’ ὅταν τοῦτο περὶ τῆς μητρὸς εἵπης, καὶ καθ’ ἡμῶν ἐξέσται σοι. ἀλλ’ ὦ πράττων μὲν ὅσα ἐθέλεις, ἃ δ’ ἑκὼν ὑπερβαίνεις, περὶ τούτων ἀπολογίας μελετῶν, ἐννοήσας μὲν τοῦ νέου τὴν τῶν τρόπων ἀρετήν, αἰσχυνθεὶς δὲ τὰς Κυρίνου δεήσεις ἃς ἐποιεῖτο καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀνὴρ ὃν καὶ θεὸς ἂν αῖδεσθείη φανέντα, νομίσας δὲ καὶ ἐμὲ πατέρα τινὰ τοῦ μαθητοῦ καὶ ταῦτα βούλεσθαι μὲν τὴν σὴν μητέρα, βούλεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον θεῖον, προσθείην δ’ ἂν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν, ταῦτα ἐνθυμηθεὶς μὴ φροντίσῃς ὅ τι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐρεῖς, ἀλλ’ ὅ τι πράξας χαριῇ.