Letter 123: The verses you sent along with your letter -- you, who are truly both "a fine poet and a mighty orator" [a Homeric...

The verses you sent along with your letter -- you, who are truly both "a fine poet and a mighty orator" [a Homeric quotation, modified] -- seem to have inspired Hermogenes with eagerness to address our concerns. As it happened, he received your letter the very same day he was relieved of his command. But even at the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, he didn't neglect your requests. Groaning yet grateful -- considering the favor he was granting a fine one -- he urged us to close out his administration by attending to what we needed. But Andronicus brought word that there'll be no escaping for you -- though in a better arrangement, at least. In any case, it will be necessary to cross the mouth of the sea [the Bosporus]. That man's uncle -- the one whose son you named after yourself, imitating Cimon's example [the Athenian statesman who named his son after his grandfather] -- apparently told the emperor what he knew about you, and the emperor is summoning you. You'll have to weigh the hopes from that quarter against the value of your quiet life. Priscianus was the one who reported all this. He read Titianus's speeches -- Priscianus, who was busy at the time, now demands them. We'll hand them over. And we didn't miss that letter of yours in which you address the boy...

**To Acacius** (359/60) Along with the verses you wrote — worthy of the gods, for you alone are truly both "a good poet and a mighty orator" — these seem to me to have inspired in Hermogenes an eagerness to dispel our fears. And yet on the very same day he both received your letter and was relieved of his office. Nevertheless, even at the bottom of the barrel, he did not neglect your requests; rather, he groaned while at the same time counting it a favor — one he was glad to grant — and declared he would crown his term of office with a noble deed by ordering what we needed. But Andronicus has reported that there will be no escape for you, though the circumstances are more favorable: you must in any case sail through the mouth of the Pontus. For that man's uncle — after whom you named your son, imitating the example of Cimon — has spoken to the emperor about your merits, and the emperor now summons you. You must weigh the prospects that await you there against the appeal of a quiet life. The one who brought this news also brought Priscianus. Andronicus read aloud Titianus's speeches; Priscianus, who was busy at the time, now asks for them, and I shall hand them over — not having overlooked that letter of yours in which you instruct your son on vocal pitch, on variations of tone, on pauses for breath, and on all the other elements that give power to oratory. These instructions, it seems to me, will improve not only the young man but even me, the old man — against whom someone has already let fly the jibe that I am more of an actor than an orator.

Ἀκακίῳ. (359/60) Μεθ' ὧν ἔγραψας τὰ ἔπη θεῶν, σὺ γὰρ δὴ μόνος ἀμ- φότερον, ποιητής τ' ἀγαθὸς κρατερός τε ῥήτωρ, οὗ- τοί μοι δοκοῦσιν Ἑρμογένει προθυμίαν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὸ λῦσαι τοὺς φόβους. καίτοι τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμέρας εἶχέ τε τὰ παρὰ σοῦ καὶ παρελύετο τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἐν τῷ πυθμένι τοῦ πίθου τῶν γε σῶν οὐκ ἠμέλησεν, ἀλλ’ ἔστενεν ἅμα καὶ χάριν ἡγούμενος, ἣν ἐδίδου λαμβάνειν καλῷ τε λέγων ἔργῳ κατα- κλείσειν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκέλευεν ὧν ἐχρῄζομεν. ἀλλ’ Ἀνδρόνι- κος ἤγγειλεν, ὡς οὐκ ἔσται σοι διάδυσις, ἀλλ’ ἐν βελτίονι μὲν τῷ σχήματι. πάντως δὲ ἀνάγκην εἶναι διαπλεῦσαι τοῦ πόντου τὸ στόμα. τὸν γὰρ ἄνδρα ἐκείνου τὸν θεῖον, ᾧ σὺ τὸν υἱὸν ὁμώνυμον ἐποίησας τὸ τοῦ Κίμωνος μιμησάμενος, εἰπεῖν ἃ συνῄδει σοι πρὸς τὸν κρατοῦντα, τὸν δὲ καλεῖν. σὺ δὲ βου- λεύσῃ περί τε τῶν ἐλπίδων τῶν ἐκεῖθεν καὶ τῆς ἡσυχίας. ὁ δὲ ταῦτα ἀγγείλας καὶ Πρισκιανός. ὁ μὲν ἀνέγνω Τιτιανοῦ τοὺς λόγους, Πρισκιανὸς δέ, τότε γὰρ ἄσχολος ἦν, νῦν ἀπαιτεῖ, καὶ ἀποδώσομεν οὐκ ἀγνοήσαντες τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐν ᾗ διαλέγῃ τῷ παιδὶ περί τε φωνῆς τόνου καὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα μεταβολῶν πνεύματός τε ἀναπαύλης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα βοηθεῖ λόγῳ. ἅ μοι δοκεῖ μὴ μόνον τὸν νεανίσκον ἀμείνω καταστήσειν, ἀλλὰ καἰ ἐμὲ τὸν γέροντα, καθ’ οὗ τις ἤδη καὶ σκῶμμα ἀφῆ- κεν, ὡς εἴην ὑποκριτὴς μᾶλλον ἢ ῥήτωρ.