Letter 66: Procopius tells Nestorius that disappointed hope must be borne under necessity.

A long hope has deceived us. It was painful with time because it would not accept an end, but it still delighted us and made us calmer, because it brought your letter to mind and let us imagine that you would return to us more quickly. Now that we have fallen even from that hope, how could we bear it moderately? Fortune, Fortune, let me speak a little tragedy as consolation for grief: why do we delight you so much when we are in pain? You should either not have joined people in longing, or at least let them enjoy one another and not take pleasure when they are separated. And yet, dear Nestorius, it is nothing strange for us, being human, to undergo such things. We must bend the neck and willingly endure the yoke of necessity, for voluntary pains are gentler to those who suffer them.

Νεστορίωι Διεψεύσθημεν ἐλπίδος μακρᾶς μὲν καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ λυπούσης, ὅτι μὴ τὸ πέρας ἐδέχετο, ηὔφραινε δὲ ὅμως καὶ μετριωτέρους ἐποίει· τὴν γὰρ σὴν ἐπιστολὴν εἰς μνήμην ἄγουσα παρεῖχεν ἐννοεῖν ὅτι δὴ θᾶττον ἡμῖν ἐπανέλθοις. νυνὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος αὐτῆς ἐκπεσόντες πῶς ἂν ἔχοιμεν φέρειν μετρίως; ἀλλ' ὦ Τύχη, Τύχη, τραγῳδήσω γάρ τι μικρὸν εἰς παραμυθίαν τῆς λύπης, τί σε τοσοῦτον εὐφραίνομεν ἀνιώμενοι; ὤφελες γὰρ ἢ μὴ συναγαγεῖν εἰς πόθον ἀνθρώπους ἢ γοῦν ἀπολαύειν ἀλλήλων ἐᾶν καὶ μὴ χωριζομένοις ἐφήδεσθαι. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ξένον οὐδέν, ὦ φίλε Νεστόριε, ἀνθρώπους ὄντας ἡμᾶς τοιούτων πειρᾶσθαι, ἀλλ' ὑποκύπτειν δεῖ τὸν αὐχένα καὶ ζυγὸν ἀνάγκης ὑπομένειν ἑκόντας· οἱ γὰρ ἑκούσιοι πόνοι τοῖς κάμνουσι μετριώτεροι.