Letter 4: Procopius turns a brief acquaintance into a complaint about absence and longing.

I have now learned in practice, and can tell others, how much good men grieve us when they show us what they are and then withdraw from those who have come to know them. I knew you even before we had spoken. If you wonder how, I had teachers: all those who had experience of you and admired you. When I met you myself and learned what you were like, I thanked fortune, and then I blamed her again. If she lets a man taste so great a thing only with the tip of his finger, as people say, and then takes the pleasure away, what kind of gift is that? The present joy did not delight me as much as the hope of what was coming grieved me, because I kept thinking that you would soon leave me behind. That has happened, and now that it has happened it hurts, and I hardly know what to do with it. Even at a distance, you insist on kindling my longing all the more. By your eagerness toward me, surpassing even my own hopes, you have won. May some gracious god quickly bring you back to me again.

Γερμανῷ Ὅσον οἱ ἀγαθοὶ λυποῦσιν ἄνδρες πεῖραν αὑτῶν παρέχοντες καὶ ἀφιστάμενοι τῶν ἐγνωκότων, νῦν ἔργῳ μαθὼν διηγοῦμαι τοῖς ἄλλοις. ὑμᾶς γὰρ ᾔδειν μὲν καὶ πρὶν εἰς λόγους ἐλθεῖν. εἰ δὲ θαυμάζεις ὁπόθεν, διδασκάλους εἶχον ὅσοι πειραθέντες ἐθαύμαζον. ὡς δὲ κἀγὼ συμμείξας ἐμάνθανον, χάριν μὲν ὡμολόγουν τῇ τύχῃ, πάλιν δὲ ταύτην ἐμεμφόμην εἰ τοσούτου γεύσασα πράγματος ἄκρῳ δακτύλῳ, φασίν, εἶτα τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀφαιρήσεται. καὶ οὐ τοσοῦτον ηὔφρανε τὸ παρόν, ὅσον αἱ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐλπίδες ἐλύπουν. ἐλογιζόμην γάρ, ὅτι δὴ θᾶττον ἡμᾶς οἰχήσῃ καταλιπών. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ γέγονε καὶ συμβὰν λυπεῖ, καὶ ἀποροῦμαι τῷ πράγματι, σὺ δὲ φιλονεικεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον ἡμῖν ἐξάπτειν τὸν ἔρωτα καὶ πόρρω γενόμενος. τῇ γὰρ εἰς ἐμὲ σπουδῇ καὶ τὰς ἐμὰς ἐλπίδας ὑπερβάλλων ἐνίκας. ἀλλ' εἴθε γάρ τις θεῶν εὐμενὴς ἡμῖν γένοιτο καί σε θᾶττον ὡς ἡμᾶς αὖθις ἐνέγκοι.