Letter 692: So this charming headland of yours, which you consider equal to the governorship of Cilicia -- do not many sailors...

To Celsus. (362) Is it not so that not a few of those who sail endure this very sweet elbow [the harbor or bend of coast] to which you think fit to compare the governorship of Cilicia? Bear with the elbow yourself, then; for you will not always have to sail up it and toil, but you will at some point enjoy an easiest voyage as well. But if indeed it shall be necessary to continue toiling, let Aeschylus console you, who says that virtues are born from toils. And consider also my own toils, the greater part of which are spent in vain; whereas yours will in every respect bear fruit. You, then, dread a scarcity of barley, but a scarcity of friends grieves me. And I now call their absence a scarcity, since Olympius too must be reckoned among the absent. For before he had clearly appeared, he has gone off, sailing to Artabazus. And I, either contending with those within or worn down over the young men, have the night as my one refuge.

Κέλσῳ. (362) Οὐκοῦν αὐτὸν τὸν ἀγκῶνα τοῦτον τὸν γλυκύν, ᾧ παρα- βάλλειν ἀξιοῖς τὴν Κιλικίας ἀρχήν, οὐκ ὀλίγοι τῶν πλεόντων ὑπομένουσιν; ἀνάσχου δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ ἀγκῶνος· οὐ γὰρ ἀεί γε τοῦτον ἀναπλεῖν δεήσει καὶ πονεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἀπολαύσῃ ποτὲ καὶ ῥᾴστου πλοῦ. εἰ δ’ οὖν καὶ πονοῦντα δεήσει διατελεῖν, Αἰσχύλος σε παραμυθείσθω τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐκ πόνων τίκτεσθαι λέγων. ἐννόει δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς πόνους, ὧν οἱ πλείους ἀναλίσκονται μάτην · ὡς οἱ γε σοὶ πάντη οἴσουσι καρπόν. σὺ μὲν οὖ1 τὴν κριθῶν σπάνιν δέδοικας, ἐμὲ δὶ ἀνιᾷ φίλων σπάνις. καλῶ δὲ νῦν σπάνιν τὴν ἀπουσίαν, ἐπεῖ καὶ τὸν Ὀλύμπιον ἐν τοῖς ἀποῦσι θετέον. πρὶν γὰρ φα- νῆναι καθαρῶς πρὸς Ἀρτάβαζον οἴχεται πλέων. ἐγὼ δὲ ἢ τοῖς ἔνδον μαχόμενος ἢ περὶ τοὺς νέους κοπτόμενος μίαν ἴι̣ο, καταφυγὴν τὴν νύκτα.