651 S. JOANNIS CHRYSOSTOMI ARCHIEP. CONSTANTINOP.
[LXXX.] To Firminus. (Cucusus, A.D. 404.) Your illness was a great loss to us regarding your company, but it caused not the slightest detriment to our charity. For to have met you even once was more than sufficient to arouse in us a vehement love for you. You were the cause of this yourself, displaying from the very beginning a huge and almost frantic love for us, and you did not leave us to wait for the proof of time, but you captured us at the first sight, and bound us to you with the tightest of chains. Therefore we write to you, and we declare what you desire to hear. And what are these things? We are in good health; we finished the journey safely; we enjoy quiet and leisure; we are obtaining the great goodwill of all; and finally, we receive an ineffable consolation. There is no one here who disturbs us or causes us trouble. But why do you wonder that this has happened to us in the city, when we even finished the journey itself quite safely? You truly make us more certain about your own affairs as well, so that just as you have taken pleasure from this account, so we too, having been made more certain about your health, may take great joy. For it does not escape you how much pleasure this injects into those who know how to love sincerely, when they receive some joyful report about those whom they love.
[LXXXI.] To Hymnetius the Archiater. (Cucusus, A.D. 404.) We shall never cease to extol you with wonderful praises before all, both as an honest man, as a most excellent physician, and as one who knows how to love sincerely. For when conversations about our illness are stirred up here, it is necessary that you also come into such commemorations, and since we have experienced the benefits of your extraordinary skill and your benevolence, we cannot be silent about what we have received from you, but we proclaim it before everyone, earning the greatest gratitude from ourselves in this matter. For you have injected such love for you into our souls, that even if we were in fine health, we would still want to buy it at a great price to be able to pull you here, so that we might also enjoy your gaze. But since this is difficult, partly because of the difficulty of the journey and partly because of the fear of the Isaurians, for the present we do not at all attempt this; but we ask this: that you send letters to us as frequently as possible. For you will be able to bring to us through frequent letters the pleasure which your presence itself produces, anointing them with the honey of your manners.
[LXXXII.] To Cytherius. (Written at Cucusus, A.D. 404.) Our company with you there was brief indeed: but the love which arose from it is great, sublime, and noble. For to those who know how to love sincerely, there is no need of a long time for this matter, but it can be accomplished entirely in a brief space. Which also happened to us; for we are burning with love for you just as if we had had a long-standing mutual company between us. Therefore we also write to you, and explain the state of our affairs, namely that we are in good health, and are living in quiet and leisure. For we have no doubt that, in announcing these things, we shall be doing a pleasing thing for you. We ask for your letters in return, which may bring the same joyful report to us. Therefore, do not be weighed down by writing to us often, and reporting joyful things about the state of your health. For thus, even living in a foreign region, you will be doing the most pleasing thing for us, by writing those things which we desire to hear frequently.
[LXXXIII.] To Leontius. (Cucusus, A.D. 404.) We have indeed been driven from your city, but we have not been driven from your charity. For the former, that is, that we should remain there or be cast out, was situated in the power of others: but the latter is in our own power. Wherefore no one will ever be able to tear it from us; but wherever we travel, we carry about with us the honey of your charity, and we take great pleasure from the recollection of you, gathering together your love toward us, your zeal, your prudence, your comity, your hospitality, and finally all other things into one, and fashioning an image of your virtue. Since therefore you have so won us over and reconciled us to yourself that we especially desire your presence, and this is now not at all permitted, I would that you offer us that consolation which is perceived through letters. For since you are of such prudence, through frequent letters you will be able to achieve it such that you fashion for us that pleasure which your presence brings with it.
[LXXXIV.] To Faustinus. (Cucusus, A.D. 404.) We have come safely to Cucusus (for we begin here, whence you desire us to make the beginning of writing), and we have found a place empty of tumults, and most full of quiet and leisure, nor having anyone who might show us trouble and be hostile to us. But why is it a wonder if this happens to us in the city, when we also finished the most deserted, dangerous, and suspect journey which leads from there to here without fear or trouble, and had everything safer than in cities which are governed by good laws? Pay us therefore this reward for this joyful news, that you shall write to us most frequently about your health. For living here in great quiet, we fashion for ourselves in our thought, without any intermission, the nobility of your soul, your ingenuousness, your hatred of the wicked, your freedom of speech, and finally the whole meadow of your virtues, and we are delighted by the memory of you.