Letter 260: It seems you have done something to upset our friend Asclepius.

To Honoratus. (361) You seem to have given some grief to our companion Asclepius. For he would not be forcing me, by the most extreme constraints, to write, if you did not owe him satisfaction for something, whether greater or lesser. For my part, I begged him repeatedly not to bring you such things, from which he will cause you distress; and I conclude that our affairs are an offense to you because they have come to us from over there. For, since he is not altogether a Melitides [a proverbial simpleton], he perceives the change. For these reasons, then, I was urging myself to keep silent, and I was sorry for what I had sent before; yet in any case it is possible for me to show affection even without writing. But since Asclepius, strangling me and declaring that he would not let go even if anything should happen, has thrust me into this letter, do what befits a just man. And if any unpleasantness arises through this letter, dismiss the heralds and blame Agamemnon. [an allusion to the Iliad: the heralds bear no fault; Agamemnon, who sent them, is responsible.]

Ὁνωράτῳ. (361) Ἔοικάς τι λελυπηκέναι τὸν ἑταῖρον ἡμῖν Ἀσκληπιόν. οὐ γὰρ ἄν με ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἀνάγκαις ἐβιάζετο γράφειν, εἰ μή τι- νος αὐτῷ δίκην ὤφειλες ἢ μείζονος ἢ ἐλάττονος. ἐγὼ δὲ πολλὰ μὲν ἐδεήθην αὐτοῦ μὴ τοιαῦτά σοι φέρειν, ἐξ ὧν ἀνιά- σει, τεκμαίρομαι τεκμαίρομαι δὲ σοὶ προσίστασθαι τὰ ἡμέτερα τῷ ἡμὶν ἐκεῖθεν ἐλθεῖν. ὅτι γὰρ οὐ πάνυ Μελιτίδης, αἰσθάνεται τῆς μεταβολῆς. διὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα παρῄνουν ἐμαυτῷ σιγᾶν καί μοι μετέμελε τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεσταλμένων, πάντως δὲ ἔξ- εστί μοι καὶ μὴ γράφοντι φιλεῖν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄγχων Ἀσκλη- πιὸς καὶ φάσκων οὐδ’ ἄν, εἴ τι γένοιτο, ἀφήσειν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ποίησον ὃ τὸν δίκαιον εἰκός. εἰ δέ τις ἀηδία γένοιτο διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων, ἀφεὶς τοὺς κήρυκας αἰτιῶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα.