Letter 234: I was just praising your character -- we happened to be discussing the virtues of governors, and naturally you took...

To Italicianus. (360?) I was just praising your character -- we happened to be discussing the virtues of governors, and naturally you took the prize -- when, right in the middle of our conversation and our vote of approval, a most excellent son of a most excellent father placed a letter in my hand. Plato would have said, "Olympius, son of Pompeianus." And the moment I began reading, I was leaping for joy along with everyone else: the thought was splendid and the language no less so. In substance you are with us, even though you give yourself to the Italians. But your letter at least prevents desertion, raining down Attic eloquence as it does. So be sure to say in future that you are our partner, as indeed you are. Do this -- or we will charge you with desertion before the Muses. When we had drunk our fill of the letter, we looked at one another and said, "Should this man really be managing his own private affairs instead of the public's?" Not that you need an office, but rather that public affairs are wronged because you do not govern. One man recalled your guardianship of the laws, another the relentlessness of your labors, another the speed of your judgments, another your freedom from greed. Another thought it admirable that you knew how to grant a favor and to grant only what was right while refusing what was not. For my part, nothing about you seemed small, but what loomed largest was this: you refused to court the powerful by ruining cities. Clearly there were threats, dangers, arrows -- but to you nothing was more frightening than doing something shameful. I would love to ask those men what possessed them to blame you while punishing us, giving you what you would have paid for while exacting a penalty from us. But they could offer no decent explanation. As for you, this is what people say among us. We console ourselves for no longer having the ability to say what we once could, and you too should console yourself as best you can, by writing and by urging others to write. Let there be plenty of that from you -- and surely those you stir will need no persuading to speak up.

Ἰταλικιανῷ. (360?) Ἐπαινοῦντί μοι τὴν σὴν φύσιν, καὶ γὰρ ἐτύγχανεν ἡμῖν λόγος τις ὢν ὑπὲρ ἀρχόντων ἀρετῆς καὶ ἦν δήπου σὰ τὰ νι- κητήρια, — τοιαῦτα δὴ ἡμῶν διαλεγομένων καὶ ψηφιζομένων 15 ἐνέθηκε τῇ χειρὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν βέλτιστος βελτίστου πατρός, εἶ- πεν ἂν Πλατῶν, Ὀλύμπιος Πομπηιανοῦ. καὶ ἅμα τε ἀνεγί- νωσκον καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπήδων· οὕτως ὅ τε νοῦς ἐφαί- νετο θαυμαστὸς τά τε ὀνόματα τῶν φρενῶν οὐ χείρω. σὺ δὲ ἔργῳ μεθ’ ἡμῶν ὢν τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς σαυτὸν δίδως, ἀλλ’ ἥ γε ἐπιστολὴ κωλύει νόμων ὑομένη τῶν Ἀττικῶν. ὅπως οὖν τοῦ λοιποῦ κοινωνὸς ἡμῖν εἶναι λέγῃς, ὥσπερ εἶ. τουτὶ μὲν οὖν ποιήσεις ἢ γραψόμεθά σε παρὰ ταῖς Μούσαις λειποταξίου. τῶν δ’ οὖν γραμμάτων ὡς ἄδην εἴχομεν, βλέψαντες εἰς ἀλ- λήλους τουτονὶ δέ, ἔφαμεν, νῦν τὰ αὑτοῦ διοικεῖν ἀντὶ τῶν κοινῶν ἐχρῆν; οὐχ ὡς σοῦ χρῄζοντος ἀρχῆς, ἀλλ’ ὡς τῶν πραγμάτων, ὅτι μὴ ἄρχεις, ἠδικημένων. εἶθ’ ὁ μὲν ἐμέ- μνητο τῆς τῶν νόμων φυλακῆς, ὁ δὲ τῆς συνεχείας τῶν πό- νων, ὁ δὲ τοῦ περὶ τὰς διαγνώσεις τάχους, ὁ δὲ τοῦ μὴ χρη- μάτων ἐρᾶν, τῷ δὲ ἐδόκει καλὸν τὸ χάριν δοῦναι εἰδέναι, καὶ δοῦναι μὲν ἣν δεῖ, μὴ δοῦναι δὲ ἣν μὴ δεῖ. ἐμοὶ δὲ τῶν σῶν μικρὸν μὲν οὐδὲν ἐφαίνετο, πάμμεγα δὲ τὸ μὴ τῇ φθορᾷ τῶν πόλεων θεραπεῦσαι τοὺς δυνατούς. ἦν μὲν γὰρ δῆλον ὡς ὀργαὶ καὶ κίνδυνοι καὶ βέλη, σοὶ δὲ οὐδὲν τοῦ ποιῆσαί τι τῶν αἰσχρῶν φοβερώτερον. ἡδέως δ’ ἂν αὐτῶν ἐπυθόμην τί μαθόντες σοὶ μὲν ἐνεκάλουν, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἐκόλασαν, καὶ σοὶ μὲν ἔδοσαν ὃ κἂν ἐπρίω, παρ’ ἡμῶν δὲ ἔλαβον δίκην. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνοις μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἴη λόγος εὐσχήμων, περὶ δὲ σοῦ παρ’ ἡμῖν τοιΜυ τοι λόγοι. καὶ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ἔτι τῷ λέγειν ἅ ποτε εἴχομεν παραμυθούμεθΑ καὶ σὺ δέ, ὡς ἔνι, παραμυθοῦ γράφων τε καὶ γράφειν παρακαλῶν. ἔστω δὴ παρὰ σοῦ τοῦτο πολύ, πάντως δὲ καὶ οὓς κινεῖς οὐ σιγᾶν ἐπιθυμοῦντας ἐγείρεις.