Letter 760: If you were sending me a great quantity of Colophonian gold, or something more precious than gold, and you sent the...

To Pompeianus. (362) If you were sending me a great quantity of Colophonian gold, or something more precious than gold, and you sent the gift without a letter, would you not think the thing absurd — the act of a man who loves but lacks confidence? Well then, know that you have arrived at the same absurdity by sending your sons without a word. It would have been more natural for a man keeping his sons at home to write as a matter of courtesy than for one entrusting his children to me not to dare attach a letter. But you go find your excuse — and you will search for it, I think, for the rest of your life, because you will not find one. As for me, the lack of a letter will not make me any less attentive to these boys — not only because of your city, which I think I should love no less than my own, but because they seem to me strong in their studies and were feasting on my works before they ever laid eyes on me.

Πομπηιανῷ. (362) Εἴ μοι χρυσὸν ἀποστέλλων πολύν τε καὶ Κολοφώνιον ἢ ἄλλο τι χρυσοῦ τιμιώτερον ἄνευ γραμμάτων ἀπέστελλες τὸ δῶρον, οὐκ ἂν οἴει τὸ πρᾶγμα ἄτοπον εἶναι καὶ φιλοῦντος μέν, οὐ θαρροῦντος δέ; εὖ τοίνυν ἴσθι πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἀτοπίαν ἥκων μετὰ σιγῆς πέμψας τοὺς υἱεῖς. μᾶλλον γὰρ ἂν ἦν εἰκὸς οἴκοι τούσδε κατέχοντα νόμῳ προσρήσεως γράφειν ἢ διδόντα μοι τοὺς παῖδας ἐπιστολὴν μὴ τολμῆσαι προσθεῖναι. ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν ἀπολογίαν ζήτει, ζητήσεις δέ, οἴμαι, τὸν πάντα χρόνον, οὐ γὰρ εὑρήδεις· ἐμὲ δὲ οὐ ποιήσει πρὸς τούτους ἀργότερον τὸ μὴ γράμματα λαβεῖν οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν πόλιν ὑμῶν, ἣν οἶμαι δεῖν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ φιλεῖν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι καὶ πρὸς λόγους ἐρρῶσθαί μοι δοκοῦσι καὶ πρὶν ὶδεῖν ἐμὲ τῶν ἐμῶν εἱστιῶντο.