Letter 793: Your boy came to me asking for a letter.

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.

Ἰαμβλίχῳ (362/63) Ὁ παῖς ᾔτει με γράμματα προσελθών, ἐγὼ δὲ ὤκνησα μέν, ἔδωκα δέ. ἐποίει δὲ τὸν μὲν ὄκνον, ὅτι σὺ τῶν Ἐρε- χθειδῶν εἰλημμένος καὶ ἀκροπόλεως ἐκείνης καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ τόπων καὶ θεῶν ἐδόκεις μοι τῶν προτέρων παιδικῶν ὑπὸ τῶν δευτέρων καταφρονεῖν· δοῦναι δὲ ἔπειθε, μᾶλλον δὲ ἠνάγκαζε τὸ ἐρᾶν. κωλύει γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐρᾶν τοῦ πρὸς ἕτερον ὡρμηκότος ἐγὼ δὲ κἂν ὑβριζόμενος ἤλεγξα τὴν παροιμίαν οὐ οὐδ᾿ λύων τὸν ἔρωτα. δεόμεθα δή σου τὸ σὸν γένος ἀναμεῖναι τὸν Βοηδρομιῶνα καὶ μετασχεῖν τοῖν θεοῖν, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἄλλη τις τελετὴ καλῇ, τρέχειν καὶ γίνεσθαι τοῖς δαίμοσι διὰ μυστηρίων ἑταῖρον, νομίσαι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἱερόν, τὸ τὸν πατρῷον οἶκον ἐπανελθόντα συνέχειν καὶ συνεῖναι μὲν τοῖς ζῶσι τῶν οἰκείων, τιμᾶν δὲ τοὺς οἰχομένους. εἰ δὲ δεινὴ κατέχειν ἡ τῆς Παλ- λάδος γῆ, πάλιν δεόμεθά σου σπεῖραι παῖδας Ἀθήνησι καὶ τὸ γένος ἡμῖν ἐκτεῖναι. πάντως δὲ ἡ πόλις γέμει τῶν ἀπὸ Κόδρου, τὸ δὲ αὐτό σοι καὶ υἱεῖς οἴσει καὶ βάσανον φίλων· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὄντως ἀγαπῶντες μενοῦσι φιλοῦντες, τοὺς δὲ ἀπο- πετομένους ὄψει. ἀλλ’, ὦ γενναῖε καὶ ἐκ τοιούτων, μάλιστα μὲν τὰ πρότερον ποίει, δίκαιον γάρ· εἰ δὲ θάτερα νενίκηκε, κἀνταῦθά τι προσέστω τάχους.