Letter 238

To Modestus. (358/359) The poets, I think, were right about Eros when they called him invincible [a reference to the famous Sophocles chorus in Antigone]. Just look at Strategius: a man deeply rooted here has now left behind wife, children, and everything else he loves, and is racing off to see you. He tries to conceal his motive, claiming he is running on a tax matter, but he does not fool me -- you are his real errand, and the tax business is merely a pleasant bonus. It is clear, then, that you will look on him with kind eyes, not least because you have in him an exact informant about the stoa [colonnade/portico building project]. He endured great heat and heavy dust on that project, and gladly, because in his own labors he was giving you the chance to build a reputation. What at the outset offered no brilliant prospect has turned into something that no generation can pass by in silence -- it draws every eye, and whoever sees it marvels. The whole city, then, owes you gratitude, and you owe gratitude to this man. For it was you who conceived the design, but he who carried it out. And gratitude enough would be this: praise him, and think of him as we do. Our own verdict is that Strategius is a man of true nobility, whom no one has ever surpassed in doing good. He is always looking for ways to return kindness on a grander scale, and in that search he has never once come up empty.

Μοδέστῳ· (358/59) 16 Καλῶς μοι δοκοῦσιν οἱ ποιηταὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος ἐσκέ- φθαι καλοῦντες αὐτὸν ἀνίκητον, ὅπου γε καὶ Στρατήγιος εὖ μά- λα ἐνθένδε κινούμενος νῦν γυναῖκα ἀφεὶς καὶ τέκνα καὶ τἄλλα οἶς ἥδεται τρέχει τὴν σὴν ὀψόμενος κεφαλήν. καίτοι κρύπτειν μὲν ἐπιχειρεῖ τὸ πάθος ὡς ὑπὲρ εἰσφορῶν δραμών, ἐμὲ δὲ οὐ λέληθε σὲ μὲν ἔργον θέμενος, οὐκ ἀηδῶς δὲ κἀκεῖνο θερα- πεύσας. εὔδηλον οὖν ὅτι αὐτὸν ἡμέροις ὄψει τοῖς ὄμμασι τά τε ἄλλα καὶ μηνυτὴν ἔχων τῆς στοᾶς ἀκριβῆ, περὶ ἣν οὗ- τος πολὺ μὲν καῦμα, πολὺν δὲ καπνὸν ἠνέσχετο χαίρων, ὅτι σοι παρεῖχεν ἐν τοῖς αὑτοῦ πόνοις κτήσασθαι δόξαν. ὃ γὰρ ἐν προοιμίοις οὐκ ἦν λαμπρᾶς ἐλπίδος, τοῦτο πρὸς ἐρχόμενον οὐδεμίαν ἡλικίαν ἐᾷ σιγῇ παρελθεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἕλκει τε τὰς ὄψεις καὶ ὅστις εἶδεν, ἐθαύμασε. σοὶ μὲν οὖν ὅλην τὴν πόλιν, σὲ δὲ τούτῳ προσήκει χάριν εἰδέναι. σὺ μὲν γὰρ εἰς νοῦν ἐβάλου τὸν κόσμον, σοὶ δὲ οὗτος διακονεῖ. ἔστι δὲ ἀρκοῦσα χάρις, ἂν ἐπαινῇς τε αὐτὸν καὶ νομίζῃς ὅπερ ἡμεῖς. ἡ δὲ ἡμετέρα ψῆφος Στρατήγιον ἄνδρα εἶναι γενναῖον, ὃν οὐδεὶς ἐνίκησεν εὖ ποιῶν· οὕτως ἀμοιβὰς ἀεὶ ζητεῖ μείζονας καὶ ζητῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε οὐχ εὗρεν.