Letter 639: We are truly in a desert with you gone — or rather, in something worse than a desert.

To Fortunatianus. (361) We are truly in a wilderness with you absent, or rather in something worse than a wilderness; for those people associate neither with the worse nor with the better, whereas we go seeking the man we ought to have, and we keep running into those of whom it would have been a gain to be rid. And he who alone was a source of consolation now needs consolation himself: Rufinus, that man who has been struck many a time by the divine power, now hangs in suspense over the public couriers, and you would see this same man now laughing, now weeping, his mind turning according to whatever report keeps coming in. There is one remedy stronger than these evils, if you should appear and practice philosophy in your accustomed way. To Eudoxius. (361) It is not the writing of a letter that is presumptuous, but rather the not doing of this that incurs blame. So you, even if nothing else presses upon you, send your greetings; and if something does press upon you, write with confidence; for I consider both you and your brother to be worthy men, and I shall not deprive you of the help that is in my power, if I am able to do anything.

Φουρτουνατιανῷ. (361) Ἡμεῖς ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐν ἐρημίᾳ σοῦ γε ἀπόντος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν φαυλοτέροις τῶν [γε] ἐρημίᾳ· οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὔτε χείροσιν οὔτε βελτίοσιν ὁμιλοῦσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ὃν μὲν ἐχρῆν ἔχειν ζητοῦ- μεν, ὧν δὲ κέρδος ἦν ἀπηλλάχθαι, τούτοις περιτυγχάνομεν. ὃς δ’ ἦν μόνος εἰς παραμυθίαν, παραμυθίας δεῖται· Ῥου- φῖνος ὁ πολλὰ δὴ παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου πεπληγμένος οὗτος νῦν ἐκκρέμαται τῶν ἀγγάρων, καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἔδοις ἂν νῦν μὲν γελῶντα, νῦν δὲ κλάοντα, πρὸς τὸν ἀεὶ φοιτῶντα λόγον τὴν γνώμην τρεπόμενον. ‘ὲν δὴ φάρμακον ἰσχυρότερον τῶν κακῶν, εἰ σὺ φανείης καὶ φιλοσοφοίης τὰ εἰωθότα. Εὐδοξίω. (361) Οὐ τὸ ἐπιστεῖλαι θρασύ, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι μέμψιν ἔχον. σὺ δέ, κἂν μηδὲν ἄλλο κατεπείγῃ, προσαγόρευε· κἂν κατεπείγῃ, γράφε θαρρῶν· ὡς ἐγὼ σέ τε καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἄν- δρας τε ἡγοῦμαι χρηστοὺς καὶ τῆς παρ’ ἐμαυτοῦ βοηθείας, εἴ τι δυναίμην, οὐκ ἀποστερήσω.