Letter 678: I remember you, for I love you, and I write, for I wish to please you.

To Diodotus. (361) I remember you, for I love you, and I write to you, for I take pleasure in it. As for you, that you love me, I both know it and rejoice in it; but that you keep silent, this I hold against you. So that, then, we may come to agreement on this point as well: having taken pleasure in receiving, give pleasure in your turn by giving. To Acacius. (361/62) Again a letter has come to me from my dearest friend, bringing me a twofold gladness: in one respect because it is a letter, and in another because it announces a change for the better. What compelled me to keep silent during the earlier time was that, in writing to you, I could neither find any reason to make no mention of your affliction, nor was it expedient to make mention to you of the affliction; for the sick man is harmed by such a thing. And that you were ill, the sons of physicians were telling me. It was therefore not possible to converse with you as with one in health, for that would be quite insulting and the act of one who does not know his companion's fortune, nor to write to you as to one who is sick, for that would be harmful. It remained, then, for me by myself both to groan and to pray; and that I continued to do these things, both the gods and my friends know. And indeed I was doing both these things on my own behalf as well. For I myself was among those who were oppressed by a like malady, which, having grown very great in the summer, compelled me to buy hellebore. But now in part it has ceased, though I have not been delivered from the whole of it, and there are good hopes now that the temples have been opened. As for Titianus, like a good son he has shared in his father's misfortune, while like a son of yours he has not desisted from loving letters. We shall therefore attempt, both I and he himself, to bring the affairs of the past into the present time.

Διοδότῳ. (361) Μέμνημαί σου, φιλῶ γάρ, καὶ γράφω, χαρίζομαι γάρ. σὺ δ’ ὅτι μὲν φιλεῖς, οἶδά τε καὶ χαίρω· ὅτι δὲ σιγᾷς, τοῦτο ἐγκαλῶ· ἴν’ οὖν καὶ τῇδε συμβαίνωμεν. ἡσθεὶς τῷ λαβεῖν εὔφρανον τῷ δοῦναι. Ἀκακίῳ. (361/62) Πάλιν ἥκει μοι γράμματα παρὰ τοῦ φιλτάτου διπλῆν φέροντα τὴν εὐφροσύνην, τοῦτο μὲν ὡς ἐπιστολή, τοῦτο δ’ ὅτι μεταβολὴν ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω μηνύει. σιγᾶν δέ με τὸν πρότερον ἠνάγκαζε χρόνον τὸ μήτε ἔχειν λόγον ἐπιστέλλοντα πρὸς σὲ τοῦ πάθους ἀμνημονεῖν μήτε συμφέρειν μνημονεύειν πρὸς σὲ τοῦ πάθους· βλάπτεσθαι γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ τοιοῦδε τὸν ἀρ- ρωστοῦντα. ὡς δ’ ἠρρώστεις παῖδες ἔλεγον ἰατρῶν. οὔτ’ οὖν ὡς ὑγιαίνοντι διαλέγεσθαι ἐνῆν, πάνυ γὰρ ὑβριστικὸν καἰ οὐκ εἰδότος τὴν τοῦ ἑταίρου τύχην, οὔθ’ ὡς νοσοῦντι γράφειν, βλαβερὸν γάρ. ἐλείπετ’ οὖν ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ στένειν καὶ εὔχε- σθαι· ἃ ὅτι διετέλουν ποιῶν, ἴσασι καὶ οἱ θεοὶ καὶ οἱ φίλοι. καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ ταῦτα ἐποίουν ἀμφότερα. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἦν τῶν ὑφ’ ὁμοίου κακοῦ πιεζομένων, ὃ μέγα πάνυ γενόμενον τοῦ θέρους ἠνάγκασεν ἐλλέβορον ὠνεῖσθαι. νῦν δὲ δὴ τὸ μέν τι πέπαυται, τοῦ παντὸς δὲ οὐκ ἀπήλ- λαγμαι, χρησταὶ δὲ ἐλπίδες ἱερῶν ἀνεῳγμένων. Τιτιανὸς δὲ ὡς μὲν παῖς ἀγαθὸς δυστυχίαν πατρὶ συνδιήνεγκεν, ὡς δὲ σὸς υἱὸς τοῦ λόγων ἐρᾶν οὐκ ἀπέστη. πειρασόμεθα οὖν ἐγώ τε καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν παρόντα χρόνον καὶ τὰ τοῦ παρελθόν- τος ἀγαγεῖν.