Letter 381: Greece is the sweetest sight.

To Iamblichus. (358) Greece is the sweetest sight. You have shared in it. Egypt is no worse. You have enjoyed that too. What remains is to restore yourself to your homeland, and your homeland to yourself — which, even if you did not honor it before, having associated with Greeks you would now rightly admire. If, then, having resolved to pursue philosophy, you think you can obtain it from the Egyptians, let no account be made of gold, or fine land, or slaves, or a house — let your homeland be wherever fulfills that noble desire. But if that sea matters more to you than we do, let us at least hold onto what your father cultivated with hard work and passed down. I remind you of the places where we spent our time, the conversations we had, the studies we pursued, and the friends and relatives who now exact punishment from me for your absence — pressing me, tearing at me, and asking again and again: 'Where is the one who obeyed you in everything?' And I, unable to say either that you disobey me or that I have not summoned you, am forced to bow my head to the ground in silence.

Ἰαμβλίχῳ (358) Ἥδιστον ἡ Ἑλλὰς θέαμα. τούτου μετέσχες. οὐ χεῖρον ἡ Αἴγυπτος. καὶ τούτου προσαπολέλαυκας. λείπεται δὴ τῇ μὲν οἰκεία σαυτόν, σαυτῷ δὲ ἀποδοῦναι τὴν οἰκείαν, ἣν εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον ἐτίμας, Ἕλλησί γε συγγεγονὼς θαυμάζοις ἂν εἰκό- τως. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐγνωκὼς φιλοσοφεῖν ἡγῇ σοι τοῦτο ἂν γενέσθαι παρ’ Αἰγυπτίων, μηδεὶς ἴστω λόγος μήτε χρυσοῦ μήτε γῆς ἀρίστης μήτ’ ἀνδραπόδων μήτ’ οἰκίας, ἀλλ’ ἔστω πατρὶς ἡ τὸν καλὸν ἔρωτα πληροῦσα· εἰ δὲ μεῖζον ἡμῶν ἐκεῖνο τὸ πέλαγος, συνέχωμεν ἃ πατὴρ φιλοπόνως ἀσκήσας παρέδωκεν. ἀναμιμνήσκω δέ σε τόπων τε ἐν οἷς διετρίβο- μεν, καὶ λόγων οὓς ἐποιούμεθα, καὶ σπουδῶν αἷς ἐχρώμεθα, καὶ φίλων καὶ οἰκείων, οἱ νῦν τῆς σῆς ἀπουσίας παρ’ ἐμοῦ λαμβάνουσι δίκας ἐγκείμενοι καὶ σπαράττοντες καὶ πολλάκις ἐρωτῶντες· ποῦ δὲ ὁ πάντα σοι πειθόμενος; ἐγὼ δ᾿ οὔθ᾿ ὡς ἀπειθεῖς σοι λέγειν ἔχων οὔθ’ ὡς οὐ κέκληκά σε, κύπτων εἰς γῆν ἀναγκάζομαι σιγᾶν.