Letter 217: I return to the subject of your building projects, not because I wish to criticize -- you know my admiration for...

To Andronicus. (360?) We, for our part, supposed that the term of your office would prove a time of good cheer for the son of Theon, both from what we requested and from what you yourself promised; but perhaps he praises your predecessor instead. And if he does not even do this, it is because of his forbearance, since, had he praised him, he would have praised him justly. For everything under that man was, for him, a calm; but what comes from you is the strait of Sicily. And you, the friend, did not even imitate the moderation of those who are no friends of ours; to such a pitch of "friendship" have you come, that, in order that one man, Ursus, may be flattered by an unjust exaction, the bonds toward us have been trampled underfoot, and the nurture-debt owed for a ram, and the acquaintances of so many men have been held in contempt; and it is nothing terrible to you that you should drive the sword in through your own kin. It seems, dearest friend, that all this abundant praise has corrupted you, and that you think, in harrying your intimates, that you outdo Aeacus [judge of the dead]. But not even those who in a night-battle lay hands on their friends through ignorance do we praise; rather we pity them, and they themselves are among those who pity themselves, because they failed to recognize them. But whoever does this in the day and in the light, and prides himself on acting impiously, I do not know whether there is for such a man any rite of purification. But, my good man, do not strike the Graces from the roster of the gods, nor reckon it equally free of danger to grieve both me and one who knows how to defend himself and is like a lion - the unconquered Olympius.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (360?) Ἡμεῖς μὶν ᾠόμεθα τὸν τῆς σῆς ἀρχῆς χρόνον εὐθυμίας ἔσεσθαι τῷ παιδὶ τῷ Θέωνος χρόνον ἔκ τε ὧν ἐδεήθημεν ἔκ τε ὧν ἐπηγγέλλου, ὁ δ’ ἴσως ἐπαινεῖ τὸν πρότερον· εἰ δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο ποιεῖ διὰ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν, ἀλλ’ εἴπερ ἐπῄνει, δικαίως ἂν ἐπῄνει. γέγονε γὰρ αὐτῷ πάντα ἐκεῖνα γαλήνη, τὰ δὲ παρὰ σοῦ πορθμὸς Σικελίας καὶ οὐδὲ τὴν τῶν μὴ φίλων ἡμῖν ὁ φίλος ἐμιμήσω μετριότητα, πρὸς τοσοῦτον ἥκεις τοῦ φιλεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἕνα Οὖρσος δι’ εἰσπράξεως ἀδίκου κολακευθῇ, πεπάτηται μὲν τὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ τροφεῖα κριοῦ, καταπεφρόνηνται δὲ τοσούτων γνώσεις ὑπάρχων, δεινὸν δὲ οὐδέν, εἰ διὰ τῶν οἰ- κείων ὤσεις τὸ ξίφος ἔοικέ σε ὁ πολὺς ἔπαινος, ὦ φίλ- τατε, διεφθαρκέναι καὶ νομίζεις ἐν τῷ τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους ἐλαύ- νεῖν τὸν Αἰακὸν παρελᾶν. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τοὺς ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ μέν- τοι τῶν φίλων ὑπ’ ἀγνοίας ἁπτομένους ἐπαινοῦμεν, ἀλλ’ ἐλε- οῦμεν, καὶ αὐτοὶ δέ εἰσι τῶν αὑτοὺς ἐλεούντων, ὅτι ἠγνόησαν. ὅστις δὲ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ καὶ φωτὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖ καὶ σεμνύνεται δυσ- σεβῶν, οὐκ οἶδα εἴ τι τούτῳ ἔστι καθάρσιον. ἀλλ’, ὦγαθέ, μὴ διάγραφε τὰς Χάριτας τοῦ καταλόγου τῶν θεῶν μηδ’ ὁμοίως ἀκίνδυνον ἡγοῦ τὸ λυπεῖν ἐμέ τε καὶ τὸν ἐπιστάμενον ἀμύ- νεσθαι καὶ λέουσιν ἐοικότα, τὸν ἀήττητον Ὀλύμπιον.