Letter 787: Not only did your being pulled in both directions over the things delivered show the lover at a loss — unable to...

To Demetrius. (362/63) Not only did your being pulled in both directions over the things delivered show the lover at a loss — unable to decide which should first receive the applause — but your verdict on the speech was itself a lover's passion. The speech has no beauty, yet you rank it with the tales of Pelops and Ganymede, and you have become one of those who praise the snub-nosed, the hook-nosed, and the dark-skinned on the very grounds for which a man not in love would find fault. But they are forgiven, and so are you — for this is what the god does. Still, you could not persuade anyone that things are as you say, not until you stop being in love. And that you will never do — so you will never persuade.

Δημητρίῳ. (362/63) Οὐ μόνον τῷ πρὸς ἑκάτερον ἕλκεσθαι τῶν κομισθέντων ἔδειξας τὸν ἐραστὴν ἀπορῶν, ὁποτέρῳ δεῖ προτὲρῳ δοῦναι τοὺς ψαλμούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ <περὶ> τοῦ λόγου ψῆφος πάθος ἦν ἐρωτικόν τῷ μέν γε κάλλος οὐκ ἔπεστι, σὺ δ᾿ αὐτὸν τῶν ἀμφὶ Πέλοπα καὶ Γανυμήδην ποιεῖς καὶ γέγονας ἐκείνων δὴ τῶν τοὺς σιμοὺς καὶ γρυποὺς καὶ μέλανας ἐπαινούντων ἐξ αὐτῶν ὧν ἂν ψεχθεῖεν ὑπ’ ἀνδρὸς οὐκ ἐρῶντος. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνοις τε συγγνώμη καὶ σοί, τοιαῦτα γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἐργάζεται, οὐ μέντοι πείσαις ἂν ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει, πρὶν ὂν ἐρῶν παύσῃ τοῦτο δὲ οὐδέποτε ποιήσεις, ὥστε οὐδέποτε πείσεις.