Letter 450: I believe both things: that you copied them out, and that you consider my trifles a treasure.
I believe both things: that you copied them out, and that you consider my trifles a treasure. You say you are grateful to me for having them; I am not entirely grateful to you for showing them around -- because I know you do show them.
But Fortune has given me one good thing -- your friendship -- while withholding the other: living in the same city as the friend I love. The goddess should not have begrudged me the second.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Βακχίῳ. (355/56)
Ἄμφω πείθομαι, καὶ ὡς ἐξεγράψω καὶ ὡς οἴει κτῆμα
τοὺς ἡμετέρους εἶναί σοι φληνάφους. σὺ μὲν οὖν χάριν φὴς
ἔχειν ἐμοὶ τοῦ ταῦτα λαβεῖν, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ λίαν ἔχω σοι χάριν
τοῦ ταῦτα δεικνύειν, οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι δεικνύεις.
ἡ Τύχη δὲ τὸ
μέν τί μοι δέδωκεν ἀγαθόν, τὴν σὴν φιλίαν, θάτερον δὲ οὐ
δέδωκε, τὸ συζῆν τῇ φίλῃ κεφαλῇ. χρῆν δὲ τὴν θεὸν μὴ φθο-
νῆσαι τοῦ δευτέρου.
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You are in possession of my work and free to return it slowly -- or keep it, if you wish.
Those who saw the honors you lavished on Artemis are the luckier ones.
The governor took part in your festival in the same way I did -- he missed nothing I had heard.
1. The good God Who ever mixes consolation with affliction has, even now in the midst of my pangs, granted me a certain amount of comfort in the letters which our right honourable father bishop Athanasius has received from you and sent on to me. For they contain evidence of sound faith and proof of your inviolable agreement and concord, showing ...
If you are planning to visit me, make your plans now — with the gods' help — and get moving.