Letter 188: Sebon is a Cretan, and he is related by blood to the people you govern -- for he descends from those men born to...

To Andronicus, a general. (360) Sebon is a Cretan, and he is related by blood to the people you govern -- for he descends from those men born to Zeus after the god carried Europa from Phoenicia across the sea to Crete. He is brimming with learning, as you will discover yourself when you meet and test him, and his education has made him no less good in character than in speech. Here is another mark of his culture: he opened his house to strangers and made many forget their own homes, preferring his company to their own families. He took in a Phoenician man who had come ashore -- the brother of the rhetorician Eusebius. He prayed for his guest's safe arrival, nursed him during his stay, and mourned his death. The man was decent in every way, and his will was admirably drawn. For he bypassed his own wicked brothers -- wicked to others and to him alike -- and left his estate to a man who was honorable to everyone, including himself. But now those brothers have attacked the will with breathtaking shamelessness. Along with them, other vultures descended from every direction, and Sebon drove them off. But these people are like the Scythians -- most dangerous in defeat, for they conquer by retreating. The Scythians owed this trick to living on wagons; these men owe it to the sloth of some officials and the more active corruption of others. The men who should have been as indignant as if they themselves were wronged simply slept -- Elpidius playing Aristides and Andronicus playing Phocion [ironic comparisons to famously just Athenians]. But now the mouse has tasted pitch, as the proverb says. You will drag them from darkness into the light, for the sake of justice and because you will think it outrageous that men who sit idle at home should live in luxury, no better than slaves, while Sebon -- the finest of Hellenes -- wanders abroad for four years, separated from his wife and children. You would understand his longing to go home -- a longing that has driven him many times to throw away the case and return, only to be stopped by us, out of pity, warning him how shameful it would be to let his enemies enjoy his property and, in Homer's words, how disgraceful if no action proves stronger than the passage of time. Show that we were right to persuade him to stay. Honor the laws by summoning those who hide, and honor us by doing it quickly. I will have nothing to say if this man is subjected to yet more delays, when the power to press the matter lies with you. I have told everyone that you will help with all your strength on my account -- and if you are slack, that prediction will make a liar of me. So be careful not to make me out a fraud.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (360) Σέβων ἐστὶ μὲν Κρής, προσήκει δέ τι κατὰ γένος τού- τοις ὧν ἄρχεις. ἔστι γὰρ ἀπόγονος τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων, οἳ ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐγένοντο τῷ Διὶ κομίσαντι τὴν παρθένον ἀπὸ Φοινίκης διὰ θαλάττης εἰς Κρήτην. γέμων δὲ μαθημά- των, ἃ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμιλῶν τε καὶ πειρώμενος εὑρήσεις, οὐ μᾶλ- λον τὴν γλῶτταν ἢ τοὺς τρόπους ἀγαθὸς ὑπὸ τῆς παιδεύσεως γεγένηται. κοὶ δὴ καὶ τόδε τῆς παιδείας· ἀνέῳξε γὰρ ξένοις τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ πολλοὺς ἐποίησεν ἐπιλαθέσθαι τῆς οἰ- κείας καὶ πρὸ τῶν οἰκείων τὸ τοῦδε ποιήσασθαι. δέχεται δὴ κατάραντα καὶ Φοίνικα ἄνδρα, ἀδελφὸν Εὐσεβίου τοῦ ῥήτορος ὃν πέμψαι μὲν εὔχετο σῶν, παρόντα δὲ ἐθεράπευσεν, ἀπελθόν- τα δὲ ἐπένθησε τά τε ἄλλα χρηστὸν ὄντα καὶ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας ἀξίως ἐπαίνου βεβουλευμένον. ἀφεὶς γὰρ πονηροὺς ἀδελ- φοὺς πρός τε τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ πρὸς αὑτὸν ἔδωκεν ἀνδρὶ γεν- ναίῳ πρός τε τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ πρὸς αὑτόν. οἱ δὲ ἐχρήσαντο νῦν πολλῇ κατὰ τῶν διαθηκῶν ἀναισχυντίᾳ. καὶ ἅμα γῦπες ἕτεροι πολλοὶ πολλαχόθεν ἐφέροντο, οὓς Σέβων ἀπεσόβησεν. ἀλλ’ οὗτοί γε πάντων εἰσὶ χαλεπώτατοι νικῶντες ὥσπερ οἱ Σκύθαι, φεύγοντες γὰρ νικῶσιν. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸ ἐπ’ ἀμα- ζῶν οἰκεῖν τοῦτο παρεῖχε, τούτοις δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῶν μὲν νωθεία, τῶν δὲ ἑτέρα κακία. οὓς χρῆν ἀγανακτεῖν ὥσπερ αὐ- τοὺς ἀδικουμένους, οἱ δ’ ἐκάθευδον, Ἐλπίδιός τε ὁ Ἀριστεί- δης καὶ Ἀνδρόνικος ὁ Φωκίων. ἀλλ’ ἄρτι δὴ μῦς πίττης. σὺ γὰρ δὴ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ σκότους πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἑλκύσεις τῶν τε δικαίων εἵνεκα καὶ νομίσας δεινὸν τοὺς μὲν οἴκοι καθη- μένους τρυφᾶν ἀνδραπόδων οὐδαμῇ βελτίους, Σέβωνα δὲ τὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄκρον ἐπ’ ἀλλοτρίας ἔτη τέτταρα ἀλᾶσθαι γυναικὸς οὔσης αὐτῷ καὶ παίδων. εἰδότι <δ᾿> ἂν τὸν περὶ ταῦτα πόθον, δι’ ὃν ὥρμησε πολλάκις ῥίψας τὴν δί- κἠν ἐπανελθεῖν, ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν δὲ κατεκωλύθη τὸν ἐλεούντων, εἰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αἰσθήσεται τὰ αὑτοῦ καρπουμένους καὶ τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν λεγόντων, ὡς αἰσχρὸν μηδὲν ἔργον φανῆναι κρεῖττον τοῦ χρόνου. δεῖξον δὴ καλῶς ἡμᾶς πεπεικότας μέ- νειν καὶ τοῖς μὲν νόμοις χάρισαι τὸ καλέσαι τοὺς κρυπτομέ- νους, ἡμῖν δὲ τὸ ταχέως· ὡς οὐκ ἔσται μοι λόγος, ἢν οὗτος αὖθις εἰς ἀναβολὰς ἐμπέσῃ τοῦ κατεπείγειν ὄντος ἐν σοί. τὸ γὰρ ὅτι παντὶ σθένει βοηθήσεις ἐμὴν χάριν προειπεῖν πάντα με ἀφαιρήσεται λόγον, εἰ ῥᾳθυμήσαις. ὅρα οὖν μή με ἀπο- φήνῃς ἀλαζόνα.