Letter 825: What is this? You have sent us money — performing a service for us who perform none for you — as though you had not...

To Albanius. (363) What is this? You have sent us money, you who hold no public office and perform no public service yourself, as though you had not already discharged many obligations while your father was still living, and not a few since he has now passed away, and as though you had not entertained us as guests, while we were running this way and that, not for twenty days, as Oeneus entertained Bellerophon, but at one time for a whole month, at another for three; and on account of these things it would have been entirely reasonable for you to receive a portion of what is mine free of charge. With what in view, then, have you written to me? For if it is because you prevail in speaking, it is I who owe you the wage for that; or if it is because Maximus the just held his hand over you, then again it is I who owe Maximus the wage, while you, even so, have not recovered from me what is owed to you. You know what my rule is toward my companions: to imitate, in dealing with them, the things their fathers did. It was clever of you not to write the sum of money into the letter, for you knew well that I would cry out and push it away. But as things stand, Ulpianus, the accomplice in this contrivance, gave part of it to my household before he came in to me, and the documents to me; then he, having explained the circumstances you were in, said that they were brilliant and worthy of our hopes; and I, the moment I had the book, going through every part of the house, discover the trick. And I did indeed intend to send it back again, but realizing that I would grieve you, and fearing lest it be too boorish, I let part of it lie where it was; and I am deliberating how the repayment might be made pleasant, and in a fine fashion, and able to escape notice, as a repayment is.

Ἀλβανίῳ. (363) Τί τοῦτο; χρήματα ἡμῖν ἔπεμψας οὐ λειτουργοῦσι λει- τουργῶν αὐτός, ὥσπερ οὐ πολλὰ μὲν τετελεκὼς ἔτι ζῶντος τοῦ πατρός, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ μεθεστηκότος ἤδη, ξενίσας δὲ ἡμᾶς ἄνω καὶ κάτω θέοντας οὺκ εἴκοσιν ἡμέρας ὥσπερ Οὶνεὺς Βελλε- ροφόντην, ἀλλὰ νῦν μὶν μῆνα ὅλον, νῦν δὲ τρεῖς· ὑπὲρ ὧν καὶ μάλα σοι εἰκότως ἄν ὑπῆρχε προῖκα τῶν ἐμῶν λαμβά- νειν. πρὸς τί δὴ βλέπων ἐπέσταλκας; εἴτε γὰρ ὅτι λέγων κρατεῖς, ἐγώ σοι τούτου μισθὸν ὀφείλω, εἴθ᾿ ὅτι σου Μάξι- μος ὁ δίκαιος ὑπερέσχε χεῖπα, Μαξίμῳ μὶν ἐγὼ πάλιν ὀφείλω μισθόν, σὺ δὲ οὐδ’ οὕτως ἐμοὶ τὰ ὀφειλόμενά σοι κεκομι- σμένος οἶσθα δέ, ὅστις ἐμοὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἑταίρους ὁ νόμος· τὰ πατέρων εἰς αὐτοὺς μιμεῖσθαι. σοφὸν δέ σου τὸ μὴ ἐγ- γράψαι τῇ ἐπιστολῇ τὰ χρήματα εὖ γὰρ ᾔδεις ὅτι βοήσομαι καὶ διώσομαι. νῦν δ’ ὁ συνεργὸς τοῦ μηχανήματος Οὐλπια- νὸς τὰ μὲν ἔδωκε τοῖς ἐμοῖς πρὶν ὡς ἐμὲ εἰσελθεὶν, τὰ γράμ- μάτα δὲ ἐμοί· εἶθ᾿ ὁ μὲν διηγησάμενος, ἐν οἷς εἴης δὲ ἦν λαμπρὰ καὶ ἄξια τῶν ἐλπίδων,’ ἐγὼ δὲ ἅμα τῷ βιβλίῳ πανταχῆ τῆς οἰκίας ἰὼν εὑρίσκω τὴν τέχνην καὶ διενοήθην μὲν ἀποπέμψαι πάλιν, γνοὺς δὲ ὅτι σε ἀνιάσω καὶ δείσας μὴ ἀγροικότερον ᾖ, τὰ μὲν εἴασα κεῖσθαι, βουλεύ- ομαι δέ, ὅπως ἂν ἡ ἀπόδοσις γένοιτο τερπνή τε καὶ ἐν καλῷ τῷ σχήματι καὶ δυναμένη λαθεῖν, ὡς ἔστιν ἀπόδοσις.