Letter 718: So why did you sit by the Bosporus if you were only going to do the same thing in Cilicia?

So why did you sit by the Bosporus if you were only going to do the same thing in Cilicia? You came back to Celsus, but not yet to me. And yet I was hoping to hear everything from a man who can judge well and does not know how to deceive -- and to recover all that joy I used to have with you, riding horses together, back when my little horse kept trying to kick you, and you were simultaneously dodging him and telling me one of your stories, imitating Odysseus in the telling. For you too had escaped a kind of Cyclops, I think -- some man who wanted to kill you and whose method was to offer hospitality and then commit murder. The difference is that Odysseus was saved against the Cyclops's will by gouging out his eye, whereas you conquered your bandit's nature with a dance and had the man who had been sharpening his sword against you and your servants escorting you to the border as a guard. I expected my head would benefit from the same remedies as before. But you keep company with one friend while neglecting another, and you did not divide your time. I wished my little horse could understand even a small part of what I say --

Ῥουφίνῳ. (362) Τί οὖν οὐκέτι περὶ τὸν Βόσπορον ἐκαθέζου μέλλων γε τοῦτο ποιήσειν ἐν Κιλικίᾳ; Κέλσῳ μὲν γὰρ ἐπανήκεις, ἡμὶν δὲ οὔπω. καίτοι πάντα μὲν ἤλπιζον ἀκούσεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ δοκιμάζειν τε δυναμένου καὶ φενακίζειν οὐκ εἰδότος, πᾶσαν δὲ ἐκείνην ἀπολήψεσθαι τὴν εὐφροσύνην, ἣν εἶχον διὰ σοῦ μετὰ σοῦ τὸν ἵππον ἐλαύνων, ὅτε σοὶ μὶν οὑμὸς ὁ μικρὸς ἐπεβούλευε λακτίσαι θέλων, σὺ δ’ ὁμοῦ τε ἐφυλάττου καὶ διηγοῦ τι τῶν σαυτοῦ τῇ διηγήσει τὸν Ὀδυσσέα μιμούμενος. καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ Κύκλωπα διεπεφεύγεις, οἶμαι. τινὰ κτεῖναι βουλόμενον καὶ τοῦτο ἔχοντα τέχνην, ξενίζειν, εἶτα φονεύειν διαφέρει δὲ τοσοῦτον, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἄκοντος ἐσώθη τοῦ Κύκλωπος τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐκκόψας αὐτῷ, σὺ δὲ ὀρχήσει τὸν τρόπον ἐνίκησας τοῦ λῃστοῦ καὶ φύλακα μέχρι τῶν ὅρων εἶχες τὸν ἀκονῶντα ξίφος ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας. ᾤμην οὖν μοι τὴν κεφαλὴν τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπολαύσεσθαι φαρμάκων· σὺ δὲ φίλῳ μὲν σύνει, φίλου δὲ ἀμελεῖς, καὶ οὐκ ἐμέρισας τὸν χρόνον. ἐβουλόμην μοι τὸν ἵππον τὸν μικρὸν μικρὰ τῆς ἐμῆς συνιέναι φωνῆς κατ’ ἐκεῖνον τὸν Ἀχιλλέως, ὅπως αὐτὸν παροξύναιμι καὶ ποιήσαιμί σοι χαλεπώτερον διδάξας ὅσα ἠδίκημαι. ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῦτο ἔστι μοι, τῷ γε εἰωθό:ι θυμῷ λήψεται παρὰ σοῦ δίκην.