To Iamblichus. (362/63)
Your boy came to me asking for a letter. I hesitated, but gave one. The hesitation came from this: since you had been captured by the Erechtheids [Athenians] and that acropolis and its men and places and gods, I thought you had come to despise your former beloved in favor of the new. But love persuaded me to write — or rather compelled me. For nothing prevents one from loving a person who has rushed off to another. And even if scorned, I would have disproved the proverb without ceasing to love.
We beg your family to await the Boedromion [the September festival] and share in the rites of the two goddesses. And if any other initiation calls, run and become a companion of the gods through the mysteries. And consider this too a sacred duty: to return and maintain your ancestral home, to live among the surviving members of your family, and to honor those who have departed.
But if the land of Pallas is hard to leave, then again we beg you: sow children in Athens and extend your line for us. The city is full of descendants of Codrus, and the same course will bring you both sons and a test of friends — for those who truly love you will remain faithful, and you will see who flies away.
But, noble one, of noble stock: best of all, do what I first urged — it is only right. But if the other course has won, let there at least be some speed in that.
Your boy came to me asking for a letter. I hesitated, but gave one. The hesitation came from this: since you had been captured by the Erechtheids [Athenians] and that acropolis and its men and places and gods, I thought you had come to despise your former beloved in favor of the new. But love persuaded me to write — or rather compelled me. For nothing prevents one from loving a person who has rushed off to another. And even if scorned, I would have disproved the proverb without ceasing to love.
We beg your family to await the Boedromion [the September festival] and share in the rites of the two goddesses. And if any other initiation calls, run and become a companion of the gods through the mysteries. And consider this too a sacred duty: to return and maintain your ancestral home, to live among the surviving members of your family, and to honor those who have departed.
But if the land of Pallas is hard to leave, then again we beg you: sow children in Athens and extend your line for us. The city is full of descendants of Codrus, and the same course will bring you both sons and a test of friends — for those who truly love you will remain faithful, and you will see who flies away.
But, noble one, of noble stock: best of all, do what I first urged — it is only right. But if the other course has won, let there at least be some speed in that.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.