Ep. II.
(Written about the same time, in reply to another letter
now lost.)
I do not like being joked about Tiberina and its mud and
its winters, O my friend, who are so free from mud, and who walk on
tiptoe, and trample on the plains. You who have wings and are
borne aloft, and fly like the arrows of Abaris, in order that,
Cappadocian though you are, you may flee from Cappadocia. Have we
done you an injury, because while you are pale and breathing hard and
measuring the sun, we are sleek and well fed and not pressed for
room? Yet this is your condition. You are luxurious and
rich, and go to market. I do not approve of this. Either
then cease to reproach us with our mud (for you did not build your
city, nor we make our winter), or else for our mud we will bring
against you your hucksters, and the rest of the crop of nuisances which
infest cities.