Letter 452: I have not written to you for a long time.

I have not written to you for a long time. When I searched for an excuse, I found one that would not merely resolve this charge but, I think, would prevail even if I had done you some greater wrong. For I am sending you a letter by the hand of the finest of orators, the gentlest of men, and the most scrupulous of governors. These qualities and more the people of the Hellespont saw in Eusebius. You will soon see them for yourselves. Allow me to predict that the profit will flow from your end back to us. It is up to you to show yourself as you are, since you will be speaking to attentive ears, and a soul worthy of serious engagement will appear -- one that knows how to discern and what to disregard.

Ἀμβροσίῳ. (355/56) Πολύν σοι χρόνον οὐκ ἐπιστείλας εἶτα ἀπολογίαν ζητῶν εὗρον οὐ τουτὶ μόνον ἱκανὸν λῦσαι τὸ ἔγκλημα, ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, κἂν εἰ τί σε δυσχερέστερον ἐτύγχανον εἰργασμένος, ἐκράτησεν ἂν τουτὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐκείνου τοῦ χαλεποῦ. γράμματα γὰρ δή σοι πέμπομεν διὰ τοῦ κρατίστου μὲν ῥητόρων, πρᾳοτάτου δὲ ἀνθρώπων, ἀκριβεστάτου δὲ ἀρχόντων. ταυτὶ γὰρ καὶ ἔτι πλείω τούτων εἶδον μὲν οἱ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον οἰκοῦντες ἐν Εὐσεβίῳ. γνώσεσθε δὲ ὑμεῖς. δὸς δέ μοι προειπεῖν ὡς παρ’ ὑμῶν δεῦρο βαδιεῖται τὸ κέρδος. σὸν δὴ δεικνύναι σαυτόν, ὡς εἰς καθαρά γε ὦτα τοὺς λόγους ἀφήσεις καὶ ψυχὴ φανεῖται ἀξία σπουδῆς ἐπισταμένη γε διορᾶν καὶ οἶς οὐ προσεκτέον.