Letter 468

To Aristainetos. (355/56) That you did not receive the letter Clematios carried — I cannot believe it. But seeking the reason you sent nothing in reply, I cannot see one, unless your devotion to the tomb keeps you from everything else. And yet for that very reason you ought to have written, telling me of your wife's virtue, believing that a written tribute is part of the honor owed to her. This ornament would have been greater for her than what you now do. About this you will do whatever seems best to you. As for me, having feigned illness to get away from there, I am truly ill here — so that before I was distressed by a place, but now by life itself. For besides the trouble with my head, kidney disease besieges me, now attacking more violently, now more gently, but always causing some pain. Everything from everywhere is gathered for the cure, but the disease prevails, and the kidney is, as they say, a mortar hung over our head. Still, I try not to be silent. Meterius will report to you both these matters and those. He could set our city against his homeland and our friends here against his fellow citizens, yet is drawn back to Bithynia by you, leaving behind a remarkable longing among the Syrians. Do not let the old man be ignorant of this, nor let him be angry if he knows.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (355/56) Μὴ λαβεῖν μέν σε τὰ γράμματα ἃ Κλημάτιος ἐκόμιζεν οὐκ ἂν πεισθείην· τοῦ δὲ μηδὲν ἡμῖν ἀντεπιστεnαι τὴν αἰτίαν ζητῶν οὐχ ὁρῶ, πλὴν εἰ τὸ τῷ μνήματι προσκεῖσθαι πάντων σε τῶν ἄλλων ἀφίστησι. καίτοι καὶ κατ’ αὐτό γε τοῦτο χρῆν σε ἐπιστεῖλαι διδάσκοντά με τὴν τῆς γυναικὸς ἀρετὴν νομί- ζοντα μέρος εἶναι τῆς εἰς ἐκείνην τιμῆς τὸν λόγον. τῇ δὲ ἦν ἂν μείζων ὁ κόσμος οὗτος ὧν νῦν ποιεῖς. περὶ μὲν οὑν τούτου πράξεις ὅ τι ἄν σοι φαίνηται βέλτιον, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἃ πλα- σάμενοι νοσεῖν ἀνέστημεν ἐκεῖθεν, τῇδε νοσοῦμεν. ὥστε πρὸ τοῦ μὲν ἐδυσχεραίνομεν τόπον τινά, νῦν δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ ζῆν. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν κακῷ νεφρῖτις ἡμᾶς πο- λιορκεῖ νῦν μὲν σφοδρότερον ἐμβάλλουσα, νῦν δὲ ἡσυχαίτερον, πάντως δέ τι λυποῦσα. καὶ πάντα μὲν πανταχόθεν εἰς τὴν ἴασιν ἀγείρεται, κρατεῖ δὲ τὸ κακόν, καὶ ὁ νεφρὸς ἡμῖν ὅλμος, φασίν, ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς. ἀλλ’ ὅμως πειρώμεθα μὴ σιγᾶν. μη- νυτὴς δέ σοι καὶ τούτων κἀκείνων ἔσται Μητέριος, ὃς τῇ πατρίδι μὲν ἔχων ἀντιθεῖναι τὴν ἡμετέραν, τοῖς πολίταις δὲ τοὺς ἐνταῦθα φίλους ὑπὸ σοῦ πάλιν εἰς Βιθυνίαν ἕλκεται θαυμαστὸν αὑτοῦ πόθον ἐγκαταλιπὼν Σύροις. ἃ μήτ’ ἀγνοεῖν ἔα τὸν πρεσβύτην μήτ’ εἰδότα ὀργίλον εἶναι.