Letter 422: What a fine thing is about to begin -- something that deserves to be old rather than new: now Spectatus will be a...

What a fine thing is about to begin -- something that deserves to be old rather than new: now Spectatus will be a guest-friend of Aristainetus. Before this you barely knew each other, but soon the loss of time will be apparent, and as you come to admire each other, you will blame the wasted years. What this man has heard about you is of such a kind that he comes already in love with you. And what you will find in him is such that you will not bear his departure. Let the beginning of this friendship mark the end of the grief you nurture over your wife. He will not perform the feat of Heracles [who brought Alcestis back from the dead] -- and I suspect not even Heracles really did that; the story of Alcestis rising is a myth. But whatever power a mortal man has to offer consolation, he will spare nothing.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (355) Οἶον πρᾶγμα νῦν λήψεται τὴν ἀρχὴν δίκαιον ὂν ἀρ- χαῖον εἶναι· νῦν Σπεκτάτος Ἀρισταινέτῳ ξένος ἔσται. πρὸ τοῦδε οὐ σφόδρα, ταχὺ δὲ ὑμῖν ἐκ τοῦ κέρδους ἡ ζημία φαί νεται καὶ θαυμάζοντες ἀλλήλους τὸν προειμένον αἰτιάσεσθε χρόνον. ἃ μὲν οὖν οὗτος ἤκουσε περὶ σοῦ, τοιαῦτά ἐστιν, ὥστε ἐρῶν ἔρχεται· ἃ δὲ εὑρήσεις ἐν τούτῳ σύ, τοιαῦτά ἐστιν, ὤστ’ ἀπιόντος οὐκ οἴσεις. ἄξιον δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα φιλίας πέρας σοι γενέσθαι τῆς λύπης, ἣν ἐπὶ τῇ γυναικὶ τρέφεις. τὸ μὲν γὰρ Ἡρακλέους οὐ ποιήσει — οἴμαι δέ, οὐδ’ Ἡρακλῆς ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ’ ἡ Ἄλκηοτις ἀνιοῦσα μῦθός έστιν — ὅση δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ δύναμις, εἰς παραμυθίαν οὐδὲν ἐλλείψει.