Letter 581: I was embarrassed by what you wrote about the wild animals.

To Aristaenetus. (357) I was ashamed at what you wrote about the wild beasts; for you did not appear to recognize that it was not possible to do us a favor, since we were distressed, but rather you made our difficulty into a joke. And by now someone has even said that you are not really at a loss, treating the jest as a sign of it. It happened that the letter came to us through the hands of our uncle, a man who himself least of all knows how to jest, but who supposed that you were doing this in keeping with the occasion. But now at least it is no time for it, when the need is pressing. But as for your kinsman performing the same public service [liturgy] in Bithynia, it was an occasion that gave you the chance to show that you do not rank the affairs of friends second to those of your own household. But, I think, you seized on a pretext for taking it easy. We have sent to you [plural] some of what our mountain produces. And you, even if you are not ready to grant a favor, at any rate show yourself not bad at making a return.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (357) Ἠισχύνθην οἷς ἔγραψας περὶ τῶν θηρίων· οὐ γὰρ ἐῴκεις ὅτι σοι μὴ χαρίσασθαι παρῆν ἡμῖν ἀνιωμένῳ, ποιου- μένῳ δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν ἀπορίαν παιδιάν. ἤδη δέ τις οὐδ’ ἀπο- ρεῖν σε ἔφη σημείῳ τῇ παιδιᾷ χρώμενος. συνέβη δὲ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν διὰ τῶν τοῦ θείου χειρῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐλθεῖν, ἀνδρ·ὸς αὐτοῦ μὲν ἥκιστα παίζειν εἰδότος, σὲ δὲ νομίζοντος μετὰ τοῦ καιροῦ τοῦτο ποιεῖν. ἀλλὰ νῦν γε οὐ καιρὸς ἐν ἐπειγούσῃ τῇ " χρείᾳ. τὸ δὲ τὸν συγγενῆ σοι ταὐτὰ λειτουργεῖν ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ καιρὸς ἦν διδούς σοι δεικνύειν ὅτι τῶν οἰκείων οὐ ποιῇ τὸ τῶν φίλων δεύτερον. ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, πρόφασιν ἥρπασας εἰς ῥᾳ- θυμίαν. πεπόμφαμεν δὲ ὑμῖν ὧν ἡμῖν τὸ ὄρος τρέφει. σὺ δ’, εἰ καὶ μὴ δοῦναι χάριν ἕτοιμος, ἀλλ’ ἀμείψασθαι φάνηθι μὴ κακός.