Letter 8: You're being unfair when you call my inability "deceit.
You're being unfair when you call my inability "deceit." One earns hatred, the other pity -- and you're mixing things that don't mix: bad luck and bad character. I freely admit that I fell in love with Berytus [modern Beirut, famous for its law school] for many reasons and with Athens for every reason, yet couldn't manage to visit either one. I'm told that even Hera was once bound in chains and couldn't stir until the very person who devised those chains came and set her free.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Ἑλλαδίῳ. (353 vel 354?)
Ἀπάτην καλῶν τὴν ἀδυναμίαν ἀδικεῖς. ἔστι δὲ ἐκεῖνο μὲν
τῶν μισουμένων, τοῦτο δὲ τῶν ἐλεουμένων. σὺ δὲ μιγνύεις
τὰ ἄμικτα. ἀτυχήματα καὶ πονηρεύματα. ἐγὼ δὲ ἐρασθῆναι
ὁμολογῶ Βηρυτοῦ μὲν διὰ πολλά, Ἀθηνῶν δὲ διὰ πάντα, δυ-
νηθῆναι δὲ εἰς οὐδετέραν ἐλθεῖν. ἀκούω δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἥραν
δεθῆναι καὶ οὐ κινηθῆναι πρότερον πρὶν ὁ τὸν δεσμὸν μη-
χανησάμενος ἐλθὼν ἔλυσεν.
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