Letter 575: I could have refuted you for writing that way -- not for complaining about the frequency of my letters, but for...

To Aristainetus. I could have refuted you for writing that way -- not for complaining about the frequency of my letters, but for complaining about their length. But to prevent a war from being kindled from a small spark, with us bombarding each other with accusations instead of delighting each other with letters, let us grant that you honor the Spartan style [famously brief] and that I was wrong to complain. Win this victory -- I surrender willingly. As for the books: that you promised them to me, it is my job to remind you. That you have not delivered them, it is yours to explain. When I was in the Great City [Constantinople], having escaped the great illness, I was reading a speech to you -- a eulogy for Strategius's daughter. We saw an old book beautifully written and marveled together, remarking that there was once beauty in calligraphy, but no longer. Looking at me, you said you had many such books, an inheritance from your grandfather, and that you would send them from Nicaea. Then you became Philip making promises to the Athenians [proverbially empty promises]. You know how to give estates to others on my behalf, but you do not know how to give books to me. Why is that? You might explain. Or is this another case for quoting Philip: "Aristainetus does not give books to his friends, in order not to be slandered before the Greeks"? I say this to you again: if you do not send those, you will not receive these -- and in these too, you will find gray hairs. For unlike Iolaus [the mythical figure who was rejuvenated], I have not gone from old to young. The laws of nature have not been so kind to me.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (357) Εἶχον μέν σε ἐλέγχειν ἐκείνως ἐπεσταλκότα καὶ οὐ τὸ μὴ πολλάκις λαβεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ μακρὰς αἰτιώμενον· ἕνα μὴ πόλεμος ἐκ μικροῦ σπινθῆρος ἁφθῇ καὶ βάλλωμεν ἀλλή- λους γράμμασιν ἀντὶ τοῦ τέρπειν ἐπιστολαῖς, δεδόσθω σὲ μὲν τιμᾶν τὰ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος, ἐμὲ δὲ οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐγκαλεῖν. καὶ νίκα τὴν νίκην ταύτην ἡττημένων ἡμῶν ἑκόντων. βιβλία δὲ ὅτι μὲν ὑπέσχου μοι, ἐμὸν ἀναμνῆσαι, ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἔδωκας, σὸν εἰπεῖν. ὅτε γὰρ ἐν τῇ Μεγάλη πόλει τὴν νόσον τὴν με- γάλην διαφυγὼν ἀνεγίνωσκόν σοι λόγον, ἔπαινον τῆς Στρα- τηγίου θυγατρός, βιβλίον τι παλαιὸν εἰς κάλλος γεγραμμένον ἐθαυμάσαμεν ἰδόντες καὶ διελέχθημεν, ὡς ἦν ποτε κάλλος γραμμάτων, νῦν δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν. ἐνιδὼν δή μοι σὺ τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχειν ἔφης πολλὰ καὶ κτῆμα παππῷον καὶ πέμψειν ἀπὸ τῆς Νικαίας. εἶτα ἐγένου Φίλιππος ὑπισχνού- μενος Ἀθηναίοις. καὶ ἀγροὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἄλλοις οἶσθα δοῦναι, βιβλία δὲ ἡμῖν οὐκ οἶσθα. διὰ δή; λέγοις ἄν. ἢ κἀνταῦθα τὸν Φίλιππόν μοι καιρὸς εἰπεῖν· οὐ δίδωσιν Ἀρισταίνετος βιβλία τοῖς φίλοις, ἵνα μὴ διαβληθῇ πρὸς Ἕλληνας; πάλιν δή σοι λέγω ταῦτα, ὡς, ἂν μὴ πέμψῃς ἐκείνων, οὐ λήψῃ τούτων, ἐν οἷς καὶ αὐτοῖς εὑρή- σεις πολιόν. οὐ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Ἰόλεων ἐκ γέροντος ἐγὼ νέος· οὐχ οὕτω μοι φαῦλον οἱ νόμοι.