Letter 690: You seem to have forgotten the state of both my mind and my body if you actually expected to see me among the...

To Seleucus. (362) You seem to have forgotten the state both of my mind and of my body, if indeed you expected to see me even among the number of the envoys. For I am neither one of those who long to run off on such errands, nor, even if I had longed for it ever so much, would I have been able to, seeing that it is a labor for me to come from home into the marketplace. As for the things which you said the most distinguished men recounted, I spoke none of them with an eye to any reward, but I pitied land and sea. If, then, it had to be that some reward also came to me for that hatred, it has come; for he who destroyed everything is gone, without our having needed any blade against him. Another has come too, and indeed is coming to be day by day. For of those things which are done by the emperor toward the common welfare, I have my share; and as for anything private, if he gives it I shall accept, and if he does not give it I shall by no means complain. For what greater thing could anyone even seek than that the sacred harbors stand open to men?

Σελεύκῳ. (362) Εοικας ὅπως εἶχον καὶ γνώμης καὶ σώματος ἐπιλελῆσθαι, εἰ δὴ καὶ ἐν πρέσβεων ἀριθμῷ προσεδόκησας ὄψεσθαί με. ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτε τῶν ἐπιθυμούντων ἐπὶ τοιούτοις τρέχειν οὔτ’ ἄν, εἰ καὶ σφόδρα ἐπεθύμουν, οἰός τ’ ἦν, ᾧ γε ἔργον εἰς ἀγορὰν οἴκοθεν ἐλθεῖν. ἃ δὲ διηγήσασθαι τοὺς γνωριμωτάτους ἔφης, οὐδὲν μὶν αὐτῶν ἔλεγον εἰς μισθὸν ὁρῶν, ἀλλ’ ᾤκτειρον γῆν καὶ θάλατταν. εἰ δ’ οὖν ἔδει μοι καὶ γενέσθαι μισθὸν τοῦ μίσους, γέγονεν· οἴχεται γὰρ ὁ πάντα φθείρων οὐδὲν ἡμῶν δεηθέντων ἐπ’ αὐτὸν σιδηρίου. γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἕτερος καὶ γίγνεταί γε καθ’ ἡμέραν. ἃ γὰρ εἰς κοινὴν εὐδαιμονίαν παρὰ τοῦ βοσιλέως πράττεται, τούτων ἔχω τὸ μέρος· ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ διδόντος δέξομαι καὶ μὴ διδόντος οὐ μὴ μέμψωμαι. τί γὰρ ἄν τις καὶ ζητοῖ μεῖζον τῶν ἱερῶν λιμένων ἀνθρώποις ἀνεῳγμένων;