Letter 62: When did you ever really leave me, that I should need to write?

To Eucleides the philosopher. When did you ever really leave me, that I should need to write? When do I not see you with the eyes of my soul, as though you were right here? I seem to be with you constantly, conversing with you, and I attend to my duties just as diligently as when you were here to guide me. But if you genuinely want me to write — as though you were not already present to me in spirit — then be careful: by asking for letters, you may actually create the impression of being more absent than you are. Still, if it truly gives you pleasure, I am willing to obey. As the proverb says, you will be "leading a galloping horse onto the plain." Do your part and return like for like. Do not grow weary of our unbroken exchange. Yet I have no wish to interfere with your work for the public good. In fact, the more I free you for noble studies, the more I benefit the entire community of Hellenes [cultured pagans] — like letting a well-bred young hunting dog off the leash to track its quarry with a completely clear mind. But if you possess such speed that you can attend to your friends without neglecting those other pursuits — then do both, and run at full speed.

To Eucleides the Philosopher 2 Nay, when did you ever leave me, so that I need to write, or when do I not behold you with the eyes of the soul as though you were here with me? For not only do I seem to be with you continually and to converse with you, but I pay attention to my duties now just as zealously as when you were here to guide me. But if you do wish me to write to you, just as though you were not here, then take care that you do not yourself create the impression of not being with me all the more by your very wish that I should write. However, if you do really find pleasure in it I am willing to obey you in this also. At any rate, by your request, you will, as the proverb says, lead a galloping horse into the plain. Come then, see that you return like for like, and in answer to my counter-summons do not grow weary of the unbroken series of letters exchanged between us. And yet I have no wish to hinder the zeal that you display on behalf of the public welfare, nevertheless, in proportion as I keep you free for the pursuit of noble studies, I shall be thought, far from injuring it, to benefit the whole body of Hellenes at once, that is to say, if I leave you like a young and well-bred dog without interference, free to give all your time to tracking down, with a mind wholly free from all else, the art of writing discourses; but if you possess such swiftness that you need neither neglect your friends nor slacken in those other pursuits, come, take both courses and run at full speed! 2 Libanius often mentions a certain Eucleides, a native of Constantinople, to whom this letter may be addressed; the reference to public affairs may imply that Julian was already Emperor, but it cannot be dated with certainty. Schwarz rejects the letter on stylistic grounds, and Cumont for the same reason attributed it to the sophist Julian of Caesarea, for whom see Introduction under Iamblichus; but, though it is conventional and sophistic, there is nothing in it that the Emperor Julian might not have written.

[Πρός: Εὐκλείδῃ φιλοσόφῳ] Πότε γὰρ ἡμῶν ἀπελείφθης, ἵνα καὶ γράφωμεν, ἢ πότε οὐχὶ τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὡς παρόντα σε θεωροῦμεν; οἵ γε οὐ μόνον ἀεί σοι συνεῖναι καὶ συνομιλεῖν δοκοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν γε νῦν προσηκόντων ὡς ὑπὸ παρουσίᾳ τῇ σῇ τὰ εἰκότα κηδόμεθα. εἴ δὲ καὶ γράφεσθαί σοι παρ’ ἡμῶν ὡς ἀπόντι θέλεις, ὅρα μὲν ὅπως μὴ αὐτὸς τὸ δοκεῖν ἡμῶν ἀπεῖναι μᾶλλον αὐτῷ τῷ γράφειν ἐθέλειν ἐκφήνῃς· πλὴν ἀλλ’ εἴ γε σοι φίλον ἐστί, καὶ πρὸ ςτοῦτο ἑκόντες ὑπακούομεν. πάντως γε, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, θέοντα τῇ παρακελεύσει τὸν ἵππον εἰς πεδίον ἄξεις. ἄγε οὖν ὅπως ἀντιδώσεις τὰ ἴσα, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀντίκλησιν ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀμοιβαίων συνεχείᾳ μὴ κατοκνήσεις. καίτοι ἔγωγε εἰς τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ σοι γινομένην σπουδὴν οὐκ ἐθέλω διοχλεῖν, ἀλλ’ ὅσῳ σε φυλάττω τῇ θήρᾳ τῶν καλῶν, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀδικεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ξύμπαν ὁμοῦ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ὠφελεῖν ἂν δοκοίην, ὥσπερ σκύλακα γενναῖον, ἀόχλητον ἀφιεὶς ἐσχολακέναι σε τοῖς περὶ τοὺς λόγους ἴχνεσιν ὁλοκλήρῳ τῷ λήματι· εἰ δέ σοι τοσοῦτον τάχος περίεστιν, ὡς μήτε τῶν φίλων ἀμελεῖν μήτ’ ἐκείνοις ἐνδεῖν, ἴθι χρῆσαι παρ’ ἄμφω τῷ δρόμῳ.