Letter 644: To Φουρτουνατιανῷ. (361)

To Fortunatianus. (361) You seem to have good servants only by half: they know well to whom they must deliver the letters that come from you, but the letters from those men, which they ought to bring to you, they would not take up even under compulsion. For my part, after your earlier letter, I at once wrote back and ordered him to take it; but he said that there was still time to delay and that nothing was pressing, and that in any case he would not be so wicked as to be willing to make me appear idle and to grieve you. While he was saying such things, a second letter arrived, Celsus coming as the bearer in the middle of the [exchange of] letters; for about that earlier letter he heard from me, but this one he handed over himself, in the bath, around midday. For such are the laws that the sickness of my head lays down for me. I am surprised that you now name as leisure my having held back from the affairs of the young men, as though you did not consider that this very thing brings the affairs of the others upon us: the keeping quiet about the affairs of the young men. For we cannot withdraw to those young men, but we must run, or else seem to be a scoundrel. Just as, then, one of the two crags which Homer mentioned is covered at its summit by a perpetual cloud, so for me a throng of business [...]. But for you, if the trees suffice in place of us, consider with yourself whether they suffice well; and if the plane tree of the Mede too is second among your friends, show it by your deeds.

Φουρτουνατιανῷ. (361) Ἐξ ἡμισείας ἔχειν ἔοικας ἀγαθοὺς οἰκέτας, οἱ τὰ μὲν παρὰ σοῦ γράμματα καλῶς ἴσασιν οἷς δοῦναι δεῖ, τὰ δὲ πὰρ ἐκείνων ὥστε σοὶ φέρειν οὐδ’ ἂν ἀναγκαζόμενοι λάβοιεν. ἴγωγέ τοι πρὸς τὴν προτέραν ἐπιστολὴν εὐθὺς ἀντεπιστεί- λας ἐκέλευον λαμβάνειν, ὁ δὲ μέλλειν ἔφησεν ἔτι καὶ οὐδὲν κατεπείγειν, πάντως δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἔσεσθαι κακὸς ὡς ἐμὲ μὲν ἀργὸν ἐθελῆσαι δεῖξαι, σὲ δὲ ἀνιᾶσαι. τοιαῦτα ἐκείνου λἐ- γοντος ἧκεν ἐπιστολὴ δευτέρα Κέλσου μέσου τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ἥκοντος περὶ μὲν γὰρ ἐκείνης ἤκουε παρ’ ἐμοῦ, ταύτην δὲ ἐνεχείριζεν αὐτὸς ἐν βαλανείῳ περὶ μεσημβρίαν ’ τοιαῦτα γάρ μοι νομοθετεῖ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἡ νόσος. θαυμάζω δὲ εἰ τὸ τῶν νέων ἀποκεκρίσθαι με νῦν ὀνομάζεις σχολὴν ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐννοῶν ὅτι τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ τοὺς ἄλλους ἡμῖν ἐπάγει τὸ τὰ τῶν νέων ἡσυχάζειν. οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς ἐκείνους ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἀναχωρεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἀνάγκη τρέχειν ἢ πονηρὸν εἶναι δοκεῖν. ὥσπερ οὖν ἅτερος τοῖν σκοπέλοιν ὧν Ὅμηρος ἐμνήσθη καλύπτεται τὴν κορυφὴν διηνεκεῖ νεφέλῃ, οὕτως ἐμοὶ πραγμάτων ὄχλος Μὁε σοὶ δ’, εἰ μὲν ἀνθ’ ἡμῶν ἀρκεῖ τὰ δένδρα, σκόπει πρὸς σαυ- τὸν εἰ καλῶς ἀρκεῖ· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἡ τοῦ Μήδου πλάτανος δευ- rέρα τῶν φίλων, ἴργῳ δεῖξον.