Letter 490

To Aristaenetus. (356 AD) Even before, my fellow citizens did not disbelieve me when I spoke of you as you deserved. But those of my countrymen who have met you became my witnesses before the whole city and lent still greater credibility to my words — that excellent Antiochus, the admirable Apellion, and everyone who, passing through your region, had the good fortune to come to know your character. As a result, in the gatherings of the marketplace, you are the main topic of conversation, and some who are not usually moved to travel are now eager to visit your part of the world — not to see the place itself, but to see you in it, you enchanter. That was the very word Antiochus brought back, having been quite thoroughly bewitched by you. I commend you for having finally left your wife's tomb. But they say you are no more cheerful than when you sat beside it — that you left the place but cling to your grief, and your face looks positively old. Yours comes from sorrow; mine from illness. I have been sick ever since I returned, and the trouble will not end until I stop longing for my homeland [Antioch, from which he had been displaced]. I am surprised you were annoyed at being asked for a letter, when you know my character well enough to know that I cannot praise Helen in place of Penelope. As it is, now that you do write, even this time you have written little when you could have written more — though something is better than nothing. I shall try not to be a poor correspondent once summer frees me from my students, a season in which one might find something better to say.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (356) Οὐδὲ πρότερον μὲν ἐν τοῖς πολίταις ἠπιστούμην περὶ σοῦ λέγων ἃ περὶ σοῦ λέγειν ἄξιον ἦν· οἱ δὲ συγγενόμενοι τῶν ἐμῶν πολιτῶν μάρτυρές μοι γενόμενοι πρὸς ἅπασαν τὴν πόλιν πλείω τὴν πίστιν ἐνέθηκαν, Ἀντίοχος ἐκεῖνος ὁ χρηστός, Ἀπελλίων ὁ βέλτιστος, πάντες ὅσοι δι’ ὑμῶν ἰόντες ἔλαβον παρὰ τῆς Τύχης τὸ γνῶναι τὴν σὴν ψυχήν. ὥστ’ ἐν τοῖς ἐπ’ ἀγορᾶς συλλόγοις τὸ πολὺ τῶν λόγων σὺ ποιεῖς καί τινες ἤδη τῶν οὐκ εἰωθότων κινεῖσθαι σπεύδουσιν ἰδεῖν τὸν ὑμέ- τερον τόπον, οὐχ ὅπως ἐκεῖνον ἴδοιεν, ἀλλ’ ὅπως ἐν ἐκείνω σὲ τὸν γόητα. τουτὶ γὰρ ἐκόμισεν Ἀντίοχος τοὔνομα μάλα δὴ κατασχεθεὶς ὑπὸ σοῦ. σὺ δ’ ὅτι μὲν ἀπηλλάγης ποτὲ τοῦ τάφου τῆς γυναικός, ἐπαινῶ· φασὶ δέ σε μηδὲν γεγονέναι φαιδρότερον ἡ ὅτε παρεκάθου τῷ τάφῳ ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν τόπον ἀφεῖναι τῆς δὲ ἀθυμίας ἔχεσθαι καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον πάνυ δεικνύναι γέροντος. σοὶ μὲν οὖν ἐκ λύπης, ἐμοὶ δὲ τοῦτο παρὰ τοῦ νοσεῖν. νοσῶ δέ, ἐξ οὗπερ ἧκον, καὶ οὐδὲ παύσεταί γε τὸ κακόν, πρὶν ἂν παύσωμαι τῆς πατρίδος ἐρῶν. θαυμάζω δὲ ὅπως ἠχθέσθης τὰ γράμματα ἀπαιτούμενος εἰδὼς τὸν ἡμέ- τερον τρόποι ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν ἀντὶ τῆς Πηνελόπης τὴν Ἑλένην ἐπαινεῖν. νῦν δέ, ἐπειδὴ διδάσκεις, μικρὰ μὲν καὶ νῦν γέ- γραφας ἐνὸν πλείω, τοῦ δὲ μηδενὸς τοῦτο πλέον. πειρασόμεθα δὲ μὴ γενέσθαι κακοὶ τοῦ θέρους ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν μειρακίων ἐλευθεροῦντος, ἐν ᾧ τι καὶ βέλτιον ἄν τις φθέγξαιτο.