Letter 1: A playful literary complaint that friends should answer letters rather than remain silent.

They say that Pythagoras of Samos did not honor silence forever. A fixed time was set for his followers, and when that time brought them back to speech, they spoke again. Even while they were silent, surely they were not meant to know nothing of one another. The tongue kept silence, but the hand served the mind, and through letters they found a voice again. If you are imitating Pythagoras, then let this be the end of your silence; time should naturally dissolve it. But if you have come with some more serious purpose, then you are hard-hearted men who do not know how to love in return. After all, the story says that the river Alpheus, though separated so far from Arethusa, still looks from the Peloponnese toward Sicily, travels through the middle of the sea, and takes care to remain beautiful and fresh for his spring. She receives her weary lover and gives herself to him; there you might see a strange love affair between river and spring. You, however, neither visit me with words nor answer when I visit you. Please put an end to my complaints. If you will not, I would rather say no more, so that I do not leave this letter having wounded you.

Καισαρείῳ καὶ Εὐβούλῳ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτόν φασιν ὡς μέχρι παντὸς ἐτίμα σιγήν, ἀλλ' ὥριστο χρόνος αὐτοῖς μεταβολὴν ἄγων ἐπὶ λόγους, καὶ μετεβάλλοντο. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ παρ' ὃν ἐσιώπων χρόνον ἔδει δήπουθεν μηδὲν παρ' ἀλλήλων εἰδέναι, ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν γλῶτταν εἶχε σιγή, ἡ δὲ χεὶρ διηκονεῖτο τῇ γνώμῃ, καὶ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων πάλιν ἐφθέγγοντο. ὑμεῖς δὲ εἰ μὲν τὸν Πυθαγόραν ζηλοῦτε, καὶ δὴ πέρας ἔστω σιγῆς· λύσει γὰρ αὐτὴν εἰκότως ὁ χρόνος. εἰ δέ τι πλέον φέροντες ἥκετε, σκληροί τινες ὑμεῖς καὶ ἀντερᾶν οὐκ εἰδότες. καίτοι τὸν Ἀλφειὸν λόγος ποταμὸν ὄντα καὶ τοσοῦτον Ἀρεθούσης ἀπῳκισμένον μέχρι καὶ νῦν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου τὴν Σικελίαν ὁρᾶν, καὶ διὰ μέσης θαλάττης ἀγόμενον σκοπεῖν ὅπως καλός τε ᾖ καὶ διαμένῃ γλυκὺς τῇ πηγῇ. ἡ δὲ δέχεται τὸν ἐραστὴν κεκμηκότα καὶ δίδωσιν ἑαυτήν, καὶ ἴδοις ἂν τότε ξένην ἀφροδίτην ποταμοῦ καὶ πηγῆς. ὑμεῖς δὲ οὔτε φοιτᾶτε πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοῖς λόγοις, οὔτε φοιτῶντας ἀμείβεσθε. ἀλλὰ γὰρ δοίητε τέλος ἐγκλημάτων ἡμῖν· εἰ δὲ μή, ἀλλ' οὐ βούλομαί τι λέγειν, ἵνα μὴ λυπήσας ἀπέλθω.