Letter 722: You did not grieve me by being silent toward me, because the reputation you were winning elsewhere was enough to...

You did not grieve me by being silent toward me, because the reputation you were winning elsewhere was enough to make me happy. Many brought me news of this, but none like that fellow citizen of ours who was unlucky with his hand yet found your city no worse than his own. For during a long stay, and being besides a keen judge of a public man's abilities (since he lived among the same people), he gathered everything and reported it all. There was nothing in it that did not give me great joy. He said your wealth has grown -- and what is even better, from honest sources. He said that both you and your brother are counted among the finest speakers, that the city looks to you after your uncle, and that there are hopes of something even more splendid to come. He also told me how you went off to Thrace when a lawsuit summoned you, how things turned out well, and many other fine things. And he will not stop telling me -- I will not let him. Whenever he has gone through everything, I will steer him back to the same topics again. The story is sweet, for it lets me reflect that you do not blame your father for sending you where he sent you.

Ἀλβανίῳ. (362) Οὐκ ἐλύπεις με πρός με σιγῶν· ἐκ γὰρ ὧν ἐν ἄλλοις λέγων εὐδοκίμεις εὔφραινες. ἄγγελοι δὲ τούτου πολλοὶ μέν, οὐδεὶς δὲ οἷος ὁ περὶ μὲν χεῖρα ἀτυχήσας πολίτης ἡμέτερος, τὴν δ᾿ ὑμετέ- ραν οὐ χείρω τῆς οἰκείας εὑρών. οἷα γὰρ ἐν μακρᾷ καθέδρᾳ καὶ προσέτι δεινὸς ὢν ἐξετάσαι πολιτευομένου δύναμιν ὡς ἂν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ζῶν πάντα μὲν συνέλεξε, πάντα δὲ ἐμήνυσεν. οὐδὲν δὲ ἦν ἐφ’ ᾧ μὴ πάνυ χαίρειν παρῆν· τήν τε γὰρ οὐσίαν ὑμῖν ἔφασκεν ἐπιδεδωκέναι, καὶ τὸ ἔτι κάλλιον, ἐκ δικαίων ἀφορμῶν, τῶν τε ἐκ τοῦ λέγειν εὐδοκιμούντων εἶναι καὶ σὲ καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν βλέπειν τε εἰς ὑμᾶς τὴν πόλιν μετὰ τὸν ὑμέτερον θεῖον ἔν τε ταῖς ἐλπίσιν εἶναί τι λαμπρότερον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ᾤχου δίκης καλούσης εἰς Θρᾴκην καὶ ὡς ἀπήλλαττες κατὰ νοῦν, καἰ ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ κόλα διηγεῖτό μοι καὶ οὐδὲ παύσεταί γε διηγούμενος· οὐ γὰρ ἐάσω, ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν πάντα διεξέλθῃ, πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐπανάξω πρὸς ταὐτά γλυκεῖα γὰρ ἡ διήγησις κοὶ γὰρ ἐννοεῖν μοι δίδωσιν ὡς οὐ μέμφῃ τὸν πατέρα πέμψαντά σε οἷπερ ἐξέπεμψε. τούτου δὲ καὶ ἑτέρα μοι πίστις· οὐ γὰρ ἂν φίλων παισίν, ὑφ᾿ ὧν ἡγοῦ βεβλάφθαι προὐξένεις. ἀναγινώσκων δὴ τὴν ἐπιστο- λὴν ἑώρων μὶν ὡς οὐ μόνον τὰ κοινὰ πράττεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν βιβλίων ἔχῃ· πλέον ἴε ἡδόμην, ὅτι κοὶ προσέθηκας τοῖς πατρῴοις ἀγροῖς.