Letter 740: Your insult did not go unnoticed, my dear Magnus -- though you certainly hoped it would.

To Magnus. (362) In committing an outrage you did not escape notice, my dear Magnus, though indeed you had hoped to; for you supposed, being clever, that you were doing this to a fool, whereas I, though slow in judgment about other matters, did not let this one slip past me. You closed the bath, doing well, and, after bidding me to use it, you yourself declared that you were running off home because of a need for food. You then, it seems, were in need neither of your house nor of provisions, but so that you might cause distress neither by opening it in your presence nor by allowing it to remain closed, you devised a third course in which you caused even greater distress: your flight. For it was, I think, more fitting to lead a man away by persuading him than to thrust him, by sending him to the doors, into the rudeness of soldiers. For if this had been advantageous to a man of refinement, it would not have been watched over by you while being set in motion by me. But you desired, as it appears, to commit an outrage. I, then, have bathed, and a small thing sufficed me in place of a greater one; but you, if you desire to mock, leave the others alone, for they are harsh, while from me indulge your inclination, since I would bear even a blow gently.

Μάγνῳ. (362) Ὑβρίσας οὐκ ἔλαθες, ὦ φίλε Μάγνε, καίτοι γε ἤλπισας· ᾤου γὰρ δεινὸς ὢν εἰς ἀνόητον τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἐγὼ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα γνώμην βραδύς, τοῦτο δὲ οὐ διέφυγεν. ἀλλ’ ἔκλεισας μὲν τὸ βαλανεῖον εὖ ποιῶν, ἐμὲ δὲ αὐτῷ χρῆσθαι κελεύσας αὐτὸς κατὰ χρείαν τροφῆς ἔφασκες οἴκαδε τρέχειν. σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἄρα ἐδέου τῆς οἰκίας οὐδὲ σιτίων, ἀλλ’ ὅπως μήτ’ ἀνοί- ξαις παρὼν μήτ’ ἐῶν κεκλεῖσθαι λυποίης, ἐπενόησας τρίτοι ἐν ᾧ πλέον ἐλύπησας, τὴν φυγήν. ἢν γάρ, οἶμαι μᾶλλον ἐμμελὲς πείσαντα ἀπαγαγεῖν ἢ πέμψαντα πρὸς τὰς θύρας εἰς στρατιωτῶν ἀπαιδευσίαν ἐμβαλεῖν. ει γὰρ τοῦτο ἦν ἀστείῳ συμφέρον, οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ σοῦ μὲν ἐτηρεῖτο, ὑπ᾿ ἐμοῦ δὲ ἐκινεῖτο. ἀλλ’ ἐπεθύμεις, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὑβρίσαι ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν λέλουμαι καὶ μικρὸν ἀντὶ μείζονος ἤρκεσέ μοι· σὺ δ’ εἰ χλευάζειν ἐπι- θυμεῖς, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἴα χαλεποὶ γάρ, ἐξ ἐμοῦ δὲ χαρίζου τῷ πάθει τοῦ καὶ πληγὴν ἂν ἐνεγκόντος πρᾴως.