Korais’s Letter Acknowledging Receipt of Jefferson’s Communication (December 28, 1823)

Sir,
I could not be more grateful to youfor [sic] the reply which you were kind enough to let me have and which you were kind enough to let me which was forwarded to me the day before yesterday by Mr. Warden. Too long for your respectable age, it appeared to me too short for the desire that I had to receive lessons from such a master. I will try to profit by them and turn them if possible to account for the benefit of my nation, which has shown up to this time prodigies of value but which, delivered from a yoke of Cannibals, cannot yet possess neither the lessons of instruction nor those of experience. At the time that I received your letter I had just learned of a new naval combat fought by us with the fleet of the tyrant and crowned by the happiest success. Thus, there were two pleasures for me at the same time; and I had great need thereof for, in addition to the infirmities of an age more advanced than yours and a frightening correspondence which does not cease aggravating them, my soul is tormented by the most painful of torments (“to adelo n”), the uncertainty of the future state of my fatherland. If I were certain that one day it would enjoy the good fortune which your wise Constitution assures you, I would descend into my tomb with the joy which Euripides recommends to the family of the deceased: χαίροντας, ευφημούντας εκπέμπειν δόμων.

Mr. Walden, who will be kind enough to send you this letter, also agreed, Sir, to be kind enough to send you on the first occasion, a package of books which I have just turned over to him. It contains a copy of the second edition of Beccaria, translated into modern Greek, and two other pamphlets in ancient Greek which I beg of you to accept. Continue, Sir, to concern yourself with the fate of Greece, and receive with benevolence my most respectful regards.

Paris, December 28, 1823

A. Coray