Theodoret of Cyrrhus→Athanasius, Presbyter|c. 440 AD|theodoret cyrrhus
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From: Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus
To: Archibius, Presbyter
Date: ~440 AD
Context: Theodoret apologizes for a delayed letter, blaming winter weather that kept ships in harbor, and reflects charmingly on how the debts of friendship grow larger the more you pay them.
To the Presbyter Archibius,
I did not ignore your two recent letters. I wrote back without delay and gave my reply to the deeply devout presbyter Eusebius. But the letter was held up: winter weather kept the ships in harbor, warning of a coming storm and bidding sailors and pilots to wait.
So I discharged my debt for the moment -- not in order to stop being a debtor, but to increase what I owe. For this is the nature of the obligation of friendship: it grows many times greater every time you pay it. Those who try to honor the laws of friendship only increase the power of its love, blowing sparks into a flame and kindling an ever-greater warmth, while everyone caught in that fire strives to outdo the other in affection.
Accept this defense, my dear friend. Forgive the delay. And send me a letter telling me how you are.
Letter 61
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To the Presbyter Archibius.
I did not let the two letters which I had just received from you go unheeded, but wrote without delay, and gave my letter to the very devout presbyter Eusebius. In consequence of some delay, it was for the time postponed, for the weather kept the vessels within the harbour, inasmuch as it indicated a coming storm at sea and bade sailors and pilots wait awhile. So I discharged this debt for the time, not that I may cease to be a debtor but that I may increase the debt. For this obligation becomes many times greater by being discharged, inasmuch as they who try to observe the laws of friendship increase the potency of its love, and, blowing sparks into a flame, kindle a greater warmth of affection, while all who are fired thereby strive to surpass one another in love. Receive then my defense, my venerable friend; forgive me; and send me a letter to tell me how you are.
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From:Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus
To:Archibius, Presbyter
Date:~440 AD
Context:Theodoret apologizes for a delayed letter, blaming winter weather that kept ships in harbor, and reflects charmingly on how the debts of friendship grow larger the more you pay them.
To the Presbyter Archibius,
I did not ignore your two recent letters. I wrote back without delay and gave my reply to the deeply devout presbyter Eusebius. But the letter was held up: winter weather kept the ships in harbor, warning of a coming storm and bidding sailors and pilots to wait.
So I discharged my debt for the moment -- not in order to stop being a debtor, but to increase what I owe. For this is the nature of the obligation of friendship: it grows many times greater every time you pay it. Those who try to honor the laws of friendship only increase the power of its love, blowing sparks into a flame and kindling an ever-greater warmth, while everyone caught in that fire strives to outdo the other in affection.
Accept this defense, my dear friend. Forgive the delay. And send me a letter telling me how you are.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.