Letter 234: Chrysostom describes the hard seventy-day road to Cucusus and asks Brison to keep writing.

After spending nearly seventy days on the road, so that your Admirableness can reckon how many and how great were the evils we suffered, besieged in many places by fear of the Isaurians and struggling with unbearable fevers, we finally reached Cucusus, the most desolate place in the whole inhabited world. I say this not because I want anyone to be troubled about moving us from here. We have already completed the hardest part, the misery of the road. The favor I ask from you is this: write to us continually. Do not deprive us of this consolation because we have been moved farther away from you. You know how much comfort it gives us, even when our affairs are full of distress, to hear that those who love us are cheerful, healthy, and safe. Write these things constantly. You will restore us greatly and prepare us to enjoy much consolation.

ΣΛ∆ʹ. Βρίσωνι. Ἑβδομήκοντα σχεδὸν ἡμέρας ἀναλώσαντες κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν, ὅθεν λογίζεσθαι ἔξεστι τῇ θαυμασιότητί σου, ὅσα τε καὶ ἡλίκα πεπόνθαμεν κακὰ, φόβῳ τε Ἰσαυρικῷ πολιορκούμενοι πολλαχοῦ, καὶ πυρετοῖς ἀφορήτοις παλαίοντες, ὀψέ ποτε ἀπηντήσαμεν εἰς τὴν Κουκουσὸν, τὸ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐρημότατον χωρίον. Καὶ ταῦτα λέγω οὐκ ἀξιῶν ἐνοχλῆσαί τινα, ὥστε ἡμᾶς μεταστῆσαι ἐντεῦθεν τὸ γὰρ χαλεπώτατον διηνύσαμεν, τῆς ὁδοῦ τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν, ἀλλ' ὑμᾶς χάριν αἰτῶ, τὸ συνεχῶς ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλειν, μηδὲ, ἐπειδὴ ποῤῥωτέρω μετῳκίσθημεν ὑμῶν, καὶ ταύτης ἡμᾶς ἀποστερῆσαι τῆς παραμυθίας. Ἴστε γὰρ ὅση παράκλησις ἡμῖν γίνεται, εἰ καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐν θλίψει καὶ περιστάσει, ὅταν ἀκούωμεν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας ὑμῶν τῶν ἀγαπώντων ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἐν εὐθυμίᾳ καὶ ὑγείᾳ ἐστὲ, καὶ ἀδείᾳ πολλῇ. Ἵν' οὖν ἐντεῦθεν πολλῆς ἀπολαύωμεν τῆς εὐφροσύνης, γράφε ταῦτα συνεχῶς ἡμῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἡμᾶς ἀνακτήσῃ, ἀλλὰ πολλῆς ἡμᾶς παρασκευάσεις ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς παραμυθίας· καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, ὅπως χαίρομεν τοῖς σοῖς ἀγαθοῖς.