Letter 638: Even if your office and the demands pulling you from every direction have driven Plato from your hands, Plato still...
To Priscianus. (361)
Even if your office and the demands pulling you from every direction have driven Plato from your hands, Plato still dwells in your soul — which is why you bring us such fine stories and speeches.
But look: you and Mikkalos have become one again, Hephaestus having wrought this upon you. And a crowd will gather around you, as is natural when two are bound as one — the hair-pluckers will come. But this is your worry; Mikkalos, for his part, presents us with no surplus of hair.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Πρισκιανῷ. (361)
Ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ τῶν χειρῶν σου τὸν Πλάτωνα ἐξέβαλεν ἥ
τε ἀρχὴ καὶ τὰ πανταχόθεν ἕλκοντα, τήν γε ψυχὴν ὁ Πλατῶν
οἰκεῖ τὴν σήν, ὅθεν ἡμῖν μύθους καὶ λόγους τοιούτους φέ-
ρεις.
ἀλλ’ ἰδού, πάλιν σύ τε καὶ Μίκκαλος εἰς γεγένησθον
τοῦ Ἡφαίστου τοῦθ’ ὑμᾶς ἐργασαμένου. καὶ περιστήσεταί γε
ὑμᾶς ταῦτα, ὥσπερ εἰκός, ἴνα ὄντας· ἥξουσιν οἱ τίλλοντες.
ἀλλὰ σοὶ μὲν οὗτος ὁ φόβος, ὁ Μίκκαλος δὲ ἡμῖν οὐκ ἐν
περιουσίᾳ τριχῶν.
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So you will not collect taxes twice, yet you keep asking for letters on matters about which you already have...
Theodotus and Charisius are brothers, and their profession is the same.
The man who brings this letter is trustworthy and deserves your attention.