Letter 233: I know. "Why do you tell me what I already know?

To Priscianus. (360?) I know. "Why do you tell me what I already know?" [a Homeric quotation]. Do not imagine you know your own achievements better than we do, who hear about them. For there are those who report, and we are those who inquire. While others have already asked whether the burden of office is crushing you, I simply ask whether your health is holding up. Once I learn it is, I consider that I have also heard you are more than equal to the burden. For you are a man, very much a man, and a governor who truly knows how to govern. If there is much to manage and you must fly about sleepless, that merely confirms what I have long wished to see: that sleeping and sitting around is for ordinary men, and you must be one of the extraordinary ones. In all else I am confident. I fear only one thing: the flood of hospitality gifts, which the great eaters demand like debts. That is not a matter of administrative skill but of having wealth to dispense. And what your career as an advocate earned you, your time as governor has spent. I have sent the book. If you have leisure, look in on the philosophers.

Πρισκιανῷ. (360?) Οἷδα. τίη μοι ἐπισταμένῳ πάντ᾿ ἀγορεύεις; μὴ γὰρ οἴου μᾶλλον αὐτὸς ἃ πράττεις εἰδδέναι τῶν ἀκουόντων ἡμῶν. οἴ τε γὰρ ἀγγέλλοντές εἰσιν οἴ τε ἐρωτῶντες ἡμεῖς. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἄλλων ἤδη τις ἤρετο εἰ μή σε τὸ φορτίον ἐπίεσεν, ἐγὼ δ’ εἰ σοι τὸ σῶμα ἔρρωται πυνθανόμενος ἐπειδὰν ὡς ἔρρω- ται γνῶ, τὸ καὶ τοῦ φορτίου σε κρείττω εἶναι ἀκηκοέναι ἡγοῦ- μαὶ. ἀνὴρ γὰρ εἶ, μάλα ἀνήρ, καὶ ἄρχων εἰδὼς μάλα ἄρχειν εἰ δὲ πολλὰ δεῖ μεταχειρίζειν καὶ ἄγρυπνον ἀνάγκη πέτεσθαι, τούτῳ μηνύεις ὃ πάλαι ἐπόθουν, ὡς τὸ καθεύδειν τε καὶ καθ- ῆσθαι τῶν πολλῶν, σὲ δὲ εἶναι δεῖ τῶν οὐ πολλῶν. τῇ μὲν οὖν ἄλλῃ θαρρῶ, δέδοικα δὲ ἓν μόνον, τῶν ξενίων τὸ πλῆ- θος, ἃ ὥσπερ ὀφειλήματα ἀπαιτοῦσιν οἱ φαγεῖν ἀγαθοί. τουτὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι διανοίας ἄρχειν ἐπισταμένης, ἀλλ’ εὐπορίας δοῦ- ναι δυναμένης. σοὶ δὲ ἃ δέδωκε τὸ συναγορεύειν, ἀνήλωκε τὸ ἄρχειν. ἔπεμψα τὸ βιβλίον, σὺ δέ, εἰ σχολή, τοὺς φιλοσό- φους ορα.