Letter 550: When you said you could not write me a treatise on kidney disease because you had not heard a precise enough account...

To Olympius. (357) Saying that you could not produce a book for me on the kidneys because you had not heard everything precisely about the disease, you made your letter into another book, namely about the need to compose books concerning such matters only upon a precise hearing of them. But as for me, this very thing too benefited me, that I reported to you about the affliction. For I had no sooner sent my letter to you than the thing that distressed me was reconciled toward me, as many things of Asclepius' have turned out. But that wise sophist of yours flared up in a fever, not even respecting the man who had made the peace. And whether the Lydian, seeking the goods of Cyrus, will throw away what he has, I do not know; but how he annulled the agreements, I shall tell. Having traveled to Phoenicia, he wished to remain there, but I, dragging him, was bringing him back, and I wished him to be honest. Yet, having come with Phoenicians who know how to commit outrage, he played the drunken bully through them. And when we did not endure it, seeing that a young man of mine, worthy because of the blows, had fallen into anger from those blows, he seized the opportunity, and having persuaded himself, or rather having been persuaded by that man, that he would obtain no small portion of the flock, he bade farewell to the fine Olympius, and with handshakes he thought fit to gain his profit. So, having sent to Eubulus, I asked, what is the meaning of this? And he said that these were the deeds of a man who has sense and who loves himself. Now the people of Oenoe know the ravine, and he will not gain much at all; but it would be reasonable for you to hate the man who broke the treaty, for two reasons: both his contempt for the gods, and because he insulted that earnest concern of yours. As for Letoius, having often praised him to us, you have now received an opportunity to do him good, and I think you will not be ashamed to benefit the foremost man of our city, both for the sake of his family and his education and his character.

Ὀλυμπίῳ. (357) Λέγων οὐκ ἔχειν ποιεῖν μοι περὶ τοῦ νεφροὶ βιβλίον διὰ τὸ μὴ πάντα ἀκριβῶς ἀΚοῦσαι τὰ περὶ τὴν νόσον ἕτερον ἐποίησας τὴν ἐπιστολὴν βιβλίον περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἐπ’ ἀκριβεῖ τῶν τοιούτων ἀκοῇ τὰ βιβλία ποιεῖν. ἐμὲ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὤνησε τὸ προσαγγεῖλαί σοι περὶ τοῦ πάθους. οὐ γὰρ ἔφθην ἐπιστείλας σοι καὶ διηλλάγη πρὸς ἐμὲ τὸ λυποῦν, οἷα πολλὰ γέγονεν Ἀσκληπιοῦ. ὁ δὲ σοφὸς ἐκεῖνος ἀνεπυρίασε σοφιστὴς οὐδὲ τὸν πράξαντα τὴν εἰρήνην αἰδεσθείς. καὶ εἰ μὲν τὰ Κύρου ζητῶν ὁ Λυδὸς ἀποβαλεῖ τὰ ὄντα, οὐκ ὄιδα· τὰς δὲ συνθήκας ὅπως ἀνεῖλεν, ἐρῶ. πορευθεὶς εἰς Φοινί- κην ἐβούλετο μένειν, ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν ἕλκων ἐπανῆγον καὶ ἐβου- λόμην εἶναι χρηστόν. ἐλθὼν δὲ μετὰ Φοινίκων ὑβρίζειν εἰ- δότων ἐπαρῴνει δι’ ἐκείνων. ὡς δ’ οὐκ ἠνέγκαμεν, ἰδὼν νέον τῶν ἐμῶν ἄξιον πληγῶν ἀπὸ πληγῶν εἰς ὀργὴν πεσόντα τὸν καιρὸν ἁρπάσας καὶ πείσας αὑτὸν ἢ πεισθείς γε ὑπ’ ἐκείνου μοῖραν ἕξειν τῆς ἀγέλης οὐ μικρὰν ἐρρῶσθαι φράσας Ὀλυμ- πίῳ τῷ καλῷ καὶ δεξιαῖς ἠξίου κερδαίνειν. πέμψας οὖν ὡς Εὔβουλον ἠρώτων, τί ταῦτα; ὁ δὲ νοῦν ἔχοντος ἔφασκε ταῦτ’ εἶναι καὶ φιλοῦντος αὑτό ἴσασι μὲν οὖν Οἰναῖοι τὴν χαράδραν, καὶ οὐ πάνυ γε κερδανεῖ· σὲ δ’ ἂν εἰκὸς εἴη τὸν παρασπονδήσαντα δυοῖν ἕνεκα μισεῖν, τῆς τε τῶν θεῶν ὑπερ- οψίας καὶ ὅτι σοῦ τὴν σπουδὴν ἐκείνην ὕβρισε. Λητόιον δὲ πολλάκις πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπαινέσας νῦν εὖ ποιῆσαι καιρὸν παρείληφας, οἶμαι δέ, οὐκ αἰσχυνῇ τῆς πόλεως ἡμῖν τὸν πρῶ- τὸν εὐεργετῶν γένους τε ἕνεκα καὶ παιδείας καὶ τρόπων.