Letter 703: We have given up asking every person who arrives from your region when you are coming back.
We have given up asking every person who arrives from your region when you are coming back. Most of them lie to cheer us up, saying "any day now." Then we pounce on every newcomer and make the road harder for the weary than the road itself, while you, it seems, have gotten hold of a stretch of sea rich in fish and judge the waves more pleasant than the mainland.
If we ever do get you back here, we will file charges -- and the mainland shall be judge.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Πολυχρονίῳ. (362)
Ἀπειρήκαμεν τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν ἀφικνουμένους ἐρωτῶντες,
πότε ἀφίζεσθε; καὶ γὰρ ἐξαπατῶντες οἱ πλείους, ἴν’ ἡμᾶς
εὐφραίνοιεν, αὐτίκα φασίν. εἶθ’ ἡμεῖς μὲν προσκείμεθα τοῖς
εἰσιοῦσι καὶ γιγνόμεθα τῆς ὁδοῦ χαλεπώτεροι τοῖς κεκομμένοις,
ὑμεῖς δὲ ἄρα λαβόμενοι θαλάττης πολλὰ βοσκούσης ἡδίω τὰ
κύματα τῆς ἠπείρου κρίνετε.
ἢν οὔ· ποτε ὑμᾶς ἐνταῦθα
λάβωμεν, γραφὴν ἀποίσομεν, ἡ δὲ ἤπειρος δικάσει.
Related Letters
Accept, then, letters from both of us on behalf of a single matter -- the one asking, the other demanding.
What excuse can you offer for your silence?
On the Epistle to the Romans: "God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done" [Romans 1:28].
I recently read your letter and could tell your spirits were low.
...was unexpectedly held up.