As soon, dearest brother, as you were hurrying away from your country with all possible speed, I was beset with fears lest Telemachus, though safe himself, should never again behold Ulysses; but no sooner had I learned what misfortunes had occurred (unwelcome tidings), than I labored under an apprehension lest, as every name is shaken in the capacious urn (of fate), you might have fallen, like unripe fruit, by some adverse hand. But when I heard that you had turned your sails on a better course, and had again returned to your native land, I could have given what they call a Syracusan laugh. Indeed I rejoiced so greatly that I could not tell my joy, 369nor express it in words. Truly I am so filled with delight that I cannot write another line. I rejoice to hear that you are well, which came to my ears yesterday, and I send this brief letter as a testimony of my joy. Farewell. Thine as his own,