Letter 684: As if I didn't notice you wanted to undermine the praise sung by everyone about me and Olympius — that we think...

To Polychronios. (361/62) As if I didn't notice you wanted to undermine the praise sung by everyone about me and Olympius — that we think alike, speak alike, and are separated only in body. You, then, out of jealousy — quite naively, not to say maliciously — are tunneling under this praise with your letter. While no one fears any quarrel will arise between us, you write as though one already has. But you haven't caught anything significant, while I have caught you treating us like children. Nowhere giving us confidence about the future, you go around in circles, hanging over us the rock of Tantalus. So that we may not be Tantaluses, free our heads from the stone — either by saying you have already received it or that you never will. For to me, repaying would be a light matter — I would be speaking to one who knows — but it would be worthy of the noose if I were counted among those who have plundered the cities' property.

Πολυχρονίῳ. (361/62) ὤ με ἔλαθες ἐλέγξαι βουληθεὶς τὸν ἔπαινον, ὃς κατ’ ἐμοῦ τε καὶ Ὀλυμπίου παρὰ πάντων ᾄδεται. λέγεται γὰρ ὡς ταὐτὰ μὲν φρονοῦμεν, ταὐτὰ δὲ φθεγγόμεθα, σώμασι δὲ κεχω- ρίσμεθα μόνον. σὺ τοίνυν ζηλοτυπήσας μάλα ἀφελῶς, ἴνα μὴ κακούργως εἴπω, διορύττεις ἐπιστέλλων τὸ ἐγκώμιον, εἰ περὶ μὲν ἡμῶν μηδεὶς μὴ γένηται δέδοικεν, σὺ ὡς γεγενη- μένου γράφεις ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὶν οὐ μέγα τεθήρευκας, ἐγὼ δέ σε πεφώρακα καθάπερ παισὶ διαλιγόμινον ἡμὶν. οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ δοὺς θαρρῆσαι περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος κύκλῳ βαδίζεις ἐπι- κρεμάσας ἡμῖν τὸν Ταντάλου πέτρον. ἱν οὖν μὴ ὦμεν Τάνταλοι, τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπάλλαξον τοῦ λίθου ἢ ἤδη λαβὼν ἢ μηδὲ λήψεσθαι φήσας ὡς ἐμοὶ τὸ μὲν ἀποδοῦναι κοῦφον — εἰδότι δ’ ἂν λέγοιμι —, βρόχου δὲ ἄξιον, εἰ ἐν τοῖς ἡρπακόσι τὰ τῶν πόλεων ἀριθμοίμην