Letter 562: I expected you to spend more time with us now that you have become your own master.

To Melinianus. I expected you to spend more time with us now that you have become your own master. Instead, it seems you are more inclined to stay where you are, now that you have become master of a great deal. And yet you have plenty of servants, including some capable enough to let you visit your friends without worrying about your property. But I think you only talked about knowing how to love -- you were not actually very good at it. The man who belongs to your household and married one of my female slaves: while you were here you never took him back, and now that he has returned to you, you are keeping him. Either you are holding him against his will, which is wrong, or you are not expelling him when he stays voluntarily, which is also wrong. But let that man not become the start of something unpleasant between us. My slaves are coming your way to buy timber. Show them how much better you are than your father -- using his resources but your own character.

Μελινιανῷ. (357) Ὤιμην σε νῦν μᾶλλον ἔσεσθαι σὺν ἡμῖν, ἐπειδὴ σαυτοῦ κατέστης κύριος· σὺ δ’ ἔοικας μᾶλλον αὐτόθι μένειν, ἐπειδὴ πολλῶν ἐγένου κύριος. καίτοι σοι καὶ πλῆθος οἰκετῶν κἀν τοῖς πολλοῖς εἰσί τινες, οἷς καὶ βουλομένῳ τοὺς φίλους ἰδεῖν ἦν περὶ τῶν ὄντων θαρρεῖν ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, τοῦ φιλεῖν μὲν εἶναι ἐπιστήμων ἔλεγες, ἦσθα δὲ οὐ πάνυ, ὃς καὶ τὸν ἄνθρω- πον, ὃς ὑμέτερος ὢν ἡμετέρᾳ συνῴκησε δούλῃ, παρὼν μὲν οὐκ ἀπέσπασας, ἐλθόντα δὲ κατέχεις, μᾶλλον δέ, εἴτ’ ἄκοντα κατέχεις, ἀδικεῖς, εἴθ’ ἑκόντα καθήμενον οὐκ ἐξελαύνεις, ἀδι- κεῖς. ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνος ἡμῖν μὴ γένοιτο δυσχεροῦς τινος ἀρχή. τοὺς δὲ παῖδας ἥκοντας, ὅπως ἐκεῖθεν ἄγοιεν ξύλα, ποίησον μαθεῖν, ὅσον σὺ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀμείνων τῇ δυνάμει μὲν ἐκεί- νου, τῷ σαυτοῦ δὲ χρησάμενος τρόπῳ.