Letter 551: People find it puzzling that you never shy away from doing things on my behalf, yet will not add a letter -- the...

To Barbatio. (357) It seems a riddle to people that, while you avoid not a single one of the labors undertaken on our behalf, yet letters, a thing so very easy, you do not add to those labors. But I, with those whom it is possible to deceive, declare that toward these men I do indeed receive letters as well; whereas by those at whose hands I should be refuted, were I to pretend, I say that it is your part to act, but mine to write; and I think I say nothing forceful. And even before this present injury I bore it but poorly, from the moment I perceived that Clematius had arrived and yet even so I was unable to receive a letter, nor could I easily say how grieved I was. For that man, the moment he saw you, said that you would do this for me, and he lied: if he forgot, there are grounds for hope; but if he omitted nothing, well, I will not say anything harsh. Letoius is among those who hold the same opinion concerning you as I do; for indeed he would wish you to fare well, and whoever praises you is a friend to this man. This man joins in prayers for you, and the city joins in prayers for him—the city which, having never at any time grieved it in the slightest, he has often gladdened from his ancestral substance. So then, intending in this matter to honor the common interest that is ours, send the man back rejoicing.

Βαρβατίωνι. (357) Αἴνιγμα δοκεῖ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸ τῶν μὲν ἔργων σε τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν μηδὲ ἓν φεύγειν, γράμματα δέ, πρᾶγμα οὕτω ῥᾷστον, μὴ προστιθέναι τοῖς ἔργοις. ἐγὼ δὲ οὓς μὲν ἔνεστιν ἐξαπατᾶν, πρὸς μὲν τούτους φημὶ καὶ γράμματα λαμβάνειν· ὑφ’ ὧν δ’ ἂν ἐλεγχοίμην, εἰ προσποιοίμην, λέγω σοὶ μὲν προσ- ήκειν πράττειν, ἐμαυτῷ δὲ γράφειν· λέγειν δὲ οὐδὲν ἰσχυρὸν δοκῶ. φέρων δὲ οὐδὲ πρὸ τοῦ ταυτηνὶ τὴν ζημίαν μετρίως, ἀφ’ οὗ Κλημάτιον μὲν ᾐσθόμην ἀφῖχθαι, λαβεῖν δὲ οὐδ’ οὕτως ἐδυνήθην ἐπιστολήν, οὐδ’ ἂν εἴποιμι ῥᾳδίως ὡς ἠνιά- θην. ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος εὐθὺς ἰδών σε τοῦτό μοι πρά- ξειν ἔφη καὶ ἐψεύσατο· εἰ μὲν ἐκλαθόμενος, εἰσὶν ἐλπίδες· εἰ δ’ οὐδὲν παρείς, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐρῶ τι δυσχερές. Λητόιος δὲ τῶν ταὐτά μοι περὶ σὲ φρονούντων ἐστί· καὶ γὰρ εὖ πράττειν σε βούλοιτ’ ἂν καὶ ὅστις ἐπαινεῖ σε, τούτῳ φίλος. συνεύχεται δὲ σοὶ μὲν οὗτος, τούτῳ δὲ ἡ πόλις, ἣν οὐδὲν οὐδεπώποτε λυπήσας πολλάκις ἀπὸ τῆς πατρῴας οὐσίας εὔφρανεν. ὡς ἂν οὖν ἐν τούτῳ τὸ κοινὸν ἡμῖν τιμήσων χαίροντα ἀπόπεμπε τὸν ἄνδρα.