Letter 627: That you love and miss both us and our city — well done.

To Gerontius. That you both love and long for us and for our city, you do well. But do not cry out against Egypt, nor seek how you may be released from your office. For if we call blessed those men to whom it has fallen, in the guise of a private citizen, to see the Nile and the things of the Nile and Egypt and the things of Egypt, where must we rank the governor of such things, to whom it belongs, attended by a great retinue, to traverse land and cities and lakes and the river and canals and the mouths [of the Nile], and everywhere to plant the proofs of his own excellence and forethought? Indeed, the people of the Alexandrians would carry a good governor about even upon their heads; and you are such a man, having reached the very height in understanding and eloquence and laws and in desire for noble things, so that I for my part believe that all that came before will appear small compared to the good things that will come to the Egyptians from you. But if it grieves you that you do not see us, consider that we too have come to the same condition, and console yourself for our absence with a finer friend. And a finer friend is Eudaemon the poet, who knows this no less than he knows the beauty of poems. He will also make the deeds of your office immortal.

Γεροντίῳ. (361) Ὅτι μὲν καὶ φιλεῖς καὶ ποθεῖς καὶ ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν ἡμε- τέραν πόλιν, εὖ ποιεῖς· Αἰγύπτου δὲ μὴ καταβόα μηδ’ ὅπως ἀπαλλάξῃ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ζήτει. εἰ γὰρ οἷς ὑπῆρξεν ἐν ἰδιώτου σχήματι Νεῖλόν τε ἰδεῖν καὶ τὰ Νείλου κοὶ Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὰ Αἰγύπτου μακαρίους καλοῦμεν, ποῦ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν τοιού- των θετέον, ᾧ μετὰ θεραπείας μὲν μεγάλης ἔστιν ἐπιέναι καὶ γῆν καὶ πόλεις καὶ λίμνας καὶ ποταμὸν καὶ διώρυχας καὶ στόματα, πανταχοῦ δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς αὑτοῦ καὶ προ- νοίας ἐγκατοικίζειν ἀποδείξεις; ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅ γε δῆμος ὁ τῶν Ἀλεξανδρέων κἂν ἐπὶ τῶν κεφαλῶν ἄρχοντα ἀγαθὸν περιφέροι σὺ δὲ τοιοῦτος φρενῶν τε ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἥκων καὶ λόγων καὶ νόμων καὶ τοῦ τῶν καλῶν ἐπιθυμεῖν, ὥστ’ ἔγωγε πιστεύω πάντα τὰ πρὸ τοῦ σμικρὰ φανεῖσθαι πρὸς τὰ παρὰ σοῦ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἐσόμενα ἀγαθά. εἰ δὲ τῷ μὴ ἡμᾶς ὁρᾶν ἀνιᾷ, νόμιζε μὲν καὶ ἡμᾶς εἰς ταὐτὸν ἥκει παραμυθοῦ δὲ καλλίονι φίλῳ τὴν ἀπουσίαν ἡμῶν. καλλίων δὲ φίλος Εὐ- δαίμων ὁ ποιητὴς οὐχ ἧττον τοῦτο εἰδὼς ἢ κάλλος ποιημάτων. οὗτός σοι καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀθάνατα καταστήσει.