Letter 503: I am surprised that you sent no letter through Clearchus, nor when Iphicles came from you to us.
To Themistius.
I am surprised that you sent no letter through Clearchus, nor when Iphicles came from you to us.
If this was simply laziness, then there is always hope for a letter -- you will make the effort eventually. But if it stems from some other cause, something unpleasant, then tell me, so I do not annoy you by writing. A man who would not welcome sending a letter would not welcome receiving one either.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Θεμιστίῳ. (356/57)
Θαυμάζω τὸ μήτε διὰ Κλεάρχου σε γράψαι τι μήθ’
ἡνίκα παρ’ ὑμῶν Ἰφικλῆς ὡς ἡμᾶς ἤρχετο.
εἰ μὲν οὖν
ῥᾳθυμίᾳ τοῦτ’ ἐγένετο, καὶ γράμματα ἐλπίζειν ἀεὶ ἔστι, προ-
θυμήσῃ γάρ ποτε· εἰ δ’ ἀπ’ ἄλλης αἰτίας ἐχούσης τι δυσχε-
ρές, δήλωσον, ὡς μή σε ἐνοχλοίην τῷ γράφειν. ὁ γὰρ οὐκ ἂν
ἡδέως ἐπιστείλας οὐδ’ ἄν ἡδέως λάβοι.
Related Letters
Do you not think I would give anything to have delivered that speech with you in the audience?
I may be meddling when I urge a father to care for a son he has decided to neglect.
I have sent my brother to supplicate the god who dwells near you on my behalf.
Fortune did not plan well for you, but you, I think, have planned well for yourself.
How am I to dispute with you in writing? How can I lay hold of you satisfactorily, with all your simplicity? Tell me; who ever falls a third time into the same nets?