Letter 191: No doubt you and your friends often discuss Phoenicia -- one praising the nature of its soil, another the tempering...

To Andronicus. (360) Surely you and your acquaintances often hold discussions about Phoenicia, one man praising to excess the nature of the land, another the blending of its seasons, another the productiveness of the sea, both its other yield and that from which comes the dye, which they say was first revealed by some chance through a dog that knew nothing of what it was doing. But for my part I define this man [Hierius] as the most beautiful thing in Phoenicia, after the temples of the gods, that is. These he himself reverences, and this is the first of the excellent things in him, that he knows the divine. What I should set as second and third I do not know, for all his qualities are equal to one another. But here is the most novel thing of all: for sitting upon a chair of office, such as you know, he mingled philosophizing with governing, having laughed at those who seem to be somebody and who utter threats with as great a laughter as I do not know whether any of the rest of men, or even of slaves, could match. For they were not able to take anything away from him -- how could they take away things that do not even exist? -- and if he were imprisoned he would think he was passing his time in a meadow, and to be cast out of office was not to be deprived of anything, but to be granted leisure. And I think that not even if someone were to cut his throat would he feel pain. For he does not, like the many, shudder at death, but knows that for the just at least there are no small joys beneath the earth. So there has come to you one who is both a spectator and a judge of what you do, and I would add a praiser as well. If you receive his vote -- and you will receive it -- you will have more toward your reputation than you now possess, and that though what you have now is not little. For no one will cast the opposite vote to Hierius, who surpasses all others in his love of philosophy, and surpasses those who do philosophize in that he lets go and bids farewell to the beard and the threadbare cloak and the staff.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (360) Ἠ που πολλάκις σοί τε καὶ τοῖς γνωρίμοις ὑπὲρ Φοινί- κης γίγνονται λόγοι τοῦ μὲν τὴν φύσιν τῆς γῆς ὑπερεπαινοῦν- τος, τοῦ δὲ τὴν κρᾶσιν τῶν ὡρῶν, ἑτέρου τῆς θαλάττης τὴν φορὰν τήν τε ἄλλην καὶ ἀφ’ ἧς ἡ βαφή, ἣν μηνυθῆναί φασι τὸ πρῶτον τύχη τινὶ διὰ κυνὸς οὐδὲν εἰδότος ὧν ἔπραττεν. ἀλλ’ ἔγωγε τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ὁρίζομαι τῶν ἐν Φοινίκῃ τὸ κάλλιστον μετά γε τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἱερά. ταῦτα δὲ αὐτὸς προσ- κυνεῖ καὶ ἔστι τοῦτο τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ καλῶν τὸ πρῶτον, ὅτι τὸ θεῖον ἐπίσταται. δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅ τι θείμην, πάντα γὰρ ἴσα ἀλλήλοις. ἀλλ’ ὅ γε καινότατον, ἐπὶ θρόνου γάρ, οἴου σύ, καθίζων ἀνέμιξε τῷ ἄρχειν τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν τῶν τι δοκούντων εἶναι καὶ ἀπειλούντων τοσοῦτον καταγελάσας ὅσον οὐκ οἶδ᾿ εἴ τις τῶν ἄλλων ἢ τῶν ἀνδραπόδων. τε γὰρ οὐκ εἶχον αὐτὸν ἀφελέσθαι, πῶς γὰρ τά γε οὐκ ὄντα; δεθείς τε ἡγήσαιτ’ ἂν ἐν λειμῶνι διάγειν τό τε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκ- βαλεῖν οὐ στερῆσαί τινος ἦν, ἀλλ’ ἀποδοῦναι σχολὴν. οἶμαι δέ, οὐδ’ εἴ τις ἀπέσφαττεν, ἤλγησεν ἄν. οὐ γάρ, ὥσπερ οἱ πολλοί, φρίττει τὸν θάνατον, ἀλλ’ οἶδεν οὔσας τοῖς γε δι- καίοις ὑπὸ γῆς οὐ μικρὰς εὐφροσύνας. ἥκει δή σοι θεα- τής τε ὧν πράττεις καὶ κριτής, προσθείην δ’ ἂν καὶ ἐπαινέ- της. οὗ τὴν ψῆφον ἢν λάβῃς, λήψῃ δέ, πλέον εἰς δόξαν νῦν ὑπάρχοντος ἔξεις καὶ ταῦτα ὄντος οὐκ ὀλίγου τοῦ νῦν οὐδεὶς γὰρ τὴν ἐναντίαν Ἱερίῳ θήσεται τῷ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων διαφέροντι κατὰ τὸν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἔρωτα, τῶν δ’ αὖ φιλοσοφούντων τῷ χαίρειν ἐᾶν πώγωνα καὶ τρίβωνα καὶ βακτηρίαν.