Letter 522: I love myself, and that is why I love you, and I freely admit it.

To Hierax. I love myself, and that is why I love you, and I freely admit it. Anyone who knows you and does not love you seems to me to hate himself. As for the Cyzicenes [people of Cyzicus, a city in Asia Minor], I applaud their initial impulse but criticize the reversal. Looking to the swan was noble; making room for the jackdaw was not. It is exactly like Aristophanes' line: "Theognis instead of Aeschylus" [i.e., trading a great artist for a mediocre one]. No letter of the kind you describe has arrived. But if one does come, you will see your friend. As for your wife, whom I congratulate for having your devotion -- her business has been taken care of, since the boy found another advocate.

Ἱέρακι. (356) Φιλῶ γὰρ ἐμαυτὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σὲ φιλῶ καὶ φιλεῖν ὁμολογῶ, ὡς ὅστις σε εἰδὼς οὐ φιλεῖ, δοκεῖ μοι μισεῖν αὑτόν. Κυζικηνῶν δὲ τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐπαινέσας μέμφομαι τὴν μεταβολήν. τὸ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸν κύκνον ἰδεῖν καλόν, τὸ δὲ τῷ κολοιῷ δοῦναι χώραν οὐ καλόν, ἀλλ’ ἀτεχνῶς τὸ Ἀριστοφάνους· ὁ Θέογνις ἀντ’ Αἰσχύλου. γράμματα δὲ πρὸς οἷα οἷα φῄς οὐχ ἧκεν, εἰ δ’ ἔλθοι, τὸν φίλον ὄψει, τῇ γυναικὶ δέ, ἥν, ὅτι αὐτῆς ἐπιμελῇ, μακαρίζω. πέπρακται γὰρ ὧν ἔχρῃζε τοῦ παιδὸς εὑρόντος ἕτερον σύμμαχον.