Letter 199: Your letter was full of the wisdom I expected, and I was glad to receive it -- glad both for what you said about our...

To Germanus. (360) That you govern much territory and great cities and Greek peoples fulfills our prayers; but that you do not govern [more], we have not obtained the whole of our prayer. And I think that we shall not long be without obtaining this portion too. At that time, then, it was permitted to you to do good to us; now it is permitted to you to do good to our friends, if indeed this too is not [a way of] doing good to us in the person of our friends. This Hermolaus, then, becomes intimate with me through his love for letters [literature/oratory], on account of which he did not shrink from at once both assisting those engaged in lawsuits and being one of those who attend [my classes], and he has indeed increased the ability he already had. So then it is possible for you to make trial of him. And of being an honest man he has given account so very strongly that not even an enemy could say of him that he is not honest. Having now come here intending to settle some affair of his own better through the one who has greater power, he heard from us that there is no need to run off to the Euphrates nor to trouble so-and-so; for you will grant him greater things than he would have had from the greater man. He has therefore enrolled his young son into performing this public service [liturgy], reckoning it the first duty proper to an honest man to do good to his fatherland; and the man set in charge of this matter needs the governor to be well-disposed toward him, if he is to sail well [prosper]. So that you may make his voyage safe for him both by aiding him yourself and by inducing the prefect to imitate your conduct; for I have promised that you will do these things, and it would be your part not to clothe me in disgrace. But toward Hermolaus be such as I know you to be, and renew the writing of letters to us. For even if your handwritten letters are now many, this very thing is out of place among the many, that the letters to us should not be [among them].

Γερμανῷ. (360) ὅτι μὲν ἄρχεις καὶ χώρας πολλῆς καἰ πόλεων μεγάλων καὶ γενῶν Ἑλληνικῶν, εὐχὰς ἡμῖν πληροῖς· ὅτι δὲ οὐχ ἄρχεις, οὐ πάσης τετυχήκαμεν τῆς εὐχῆς. οἶμαι δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ τοῦδε οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν τεύξεσθαι τοῦ μέρους. τότε μὲν οὖν ἡμᾶς, νῦν δέ σοι τοὺς ἡμετέρους εὖ ποιεῖν ἔξεστι φίλους, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἐστιν εὑ ποιεῖν ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις φίλοις. Ἑρμόλαος τοίνυν οὗτος γίγνεταί μοι συνήθης ἀπὸ τοῦ περὶ τοὺς λόγους ἔρωτος, δι’ ὃν οὐκ ὤκνησεν ὁμοῦ τοῖς τε δικαζο- μένοις συμμαχεῖν καὶ τῶν φοιτώντων εἷς εἶναι, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐπηύξησε τὴν οὖσαν αὑτῷ δύναμιν. οὐκοῦν σοι πάρεστι πεῖραν λαβεῖν. τοῦ δέ γε εἶναι χρηστὸς οὕτω σφόδρα πάνυ πεποίηται λόγον, ὥστ’ οὐδ’ ἂν ἐχθρὸς εἴποι περὶ αὐτοῦ μὴ εἶ- ναι χρηστόν. ἥκων δὴ νῦν ἐνθάδε θησόμενός τι τῶν αὑ- τοῦ βέλτιον διὰ τοῦ μειζόνως ἰσχύοντος ἤκουσε παρ’ ἡμῶν, ὡς οὐδὲν δεῖ τρέχειν ἐπ’ Εὐφράτην οὐδὲ τὸν δεῖνα ἐνοχλεῖν· δώ- σεῖν γὰρ σὲ μείζονα ὧν ἂν εἶχε παρὰ τοῦ μείζονος. υἱὸν μὲν οὖν νέον ἐνεβίβασεν εἰς τὸ λειτουργεῖν τοῦτο πρῶτον ἡγού- μενος τῷ χρηστῷ προσήκειν, πατρίδα εὖ ποιεῖν, δεῖ δὲ τῷ πρὸς τοῦτο καταστάντι τὸν ἄρχοντα εὐμενῶς ἔχειν, εἰ μέλλοι πλεύ- σεσθαι καλῶς. ὅπως οὖν αὐτῷ ποιήσῃς τὸν πλοῦν ἀσφαλῆ τῷ τε αὐτὸς βοηθεῖν καὶ τῷ τὸν ἡγεμόνα παρασκευάσαι τὰ σὰ μίμεῖσθαι· ὡς ἐγὼ μὲν ταῦτα ποιήσεις ὑπεσχόμην καὶ σὸν δ’ ἂν εἴη μή με αἰσχύνῃ περιβαλεῖν. ἀλλ’ εἰς τε Ἑρμό- λαον γίγνου τοιοῦτος ὁποῖον οἶδα καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιστέλλειν ἀνανεοῦ. καὶ γὰρ εἰ πολλὰ τὰ νῦν γράμματά σου τῆς χειρός. αὐτό γε τοῦτο ἄτοπον ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς μὴ καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰναι.