Letter 692
To Celsus, governor of Cilicia. (362)
So this charming headland of yours, which you consider equal to the governorship of Cilicia -- do not many sailors endure it? Bear with the headland yourself, then. You will not always have to sail up against it and struggle; someday you will enjoy smooth sailing too.
But if you must keep laboring to the end, let Aeschylus console you with his saying that virtues are born from toil. And consider my own labors, most of which are spent in vain -- whereas yours will surely bear fruit in every way.
You fear a shortage of barley; what pains me is a shortage of friends. By "shortage" I now mean their absence, since Olympius too must be counted among those who are away. He sailed off to Artabazus before he had even properly appeared. As for me, whether fighting with domestic troubles or wearing myself out over my students, I find my one refuge in the night.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.