Letter 460: "To one the god gave one thing, but denied another," someone said of a man who prayed for two things.
To Hierakios. (355/56 AD)
"To one the god gave one thing, but denied another," someone said of a man who prayed for two things. And so it is with you: one thing has been granted, the other not. Diophantos cares both for good conduct and for learning, and in each he is the sort of son to gladden a father. The other one should never have been born.
Do not let that one's vice damage this one's virtue, and do not attribute to both what does not belong to both. Know that the one is good — and the other refuses to be.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ἱερακίῳ. (355/56)
Τῷ δ᾿ ἔτερον μὲν ἔδωκε θεός, ἔτερον δ᾿ ἀνένευ-
σεν, ἔφη τις περί τινος εὐξαμένου δύο. καὶ δὴ καὶ σοὶ τὸ
μέν τι δέδοται, τὸ δὲ τῷ τῷ μὲν γὰρ Διοφάντῳ καὶ τοῦ σω-
φρονεῖν μέλει καὶ λόγων καὶ ἔστιν ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τοιοῦτος οἶος
εὐφρᾶναι πατέρα, τὸν δ’ ἕτερον ἔδει μηδὲ γενέσθαι.
μὴ
οὖν ἔστω τι βλάβος ἡ ’κείνου κακία τῇ τοῦδε ἀρετῇ μηδ’ ἀμ-
φοῖν ἡγοῦ τὰ μὴ ἀμφοῖν, ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τὸν μὲν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι,
τὸν δ’ οὐκ ἐθέλειν.
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