Letter 246: It pleases me more than winning a province myself that this has happened under your governorship.

To Eutherius. (358/359) It pleases me more than winning a province myself that this has happened under your governorship. I congratulate Caesarius on his character and on his reputation -- which grows greater by your endorsement -- and above all I congratulate him on his sons. For there is in those young men such devotion to both decency and learning that even their father might well feel humbled. I would do anything you ask. If you tell me to love an idle man, I will obey. But these young men, to tell the truth, were recommended to me by their own nature before your letter ever arrived. So it is time for you to ask me a different favor, since the young men have already given themselves this one.

Εὐθηρίῳ. (358/59) Ἥδιον ἐμοὶ τοῦ τὸ ἔθνος κτήσασθαι τὸ σοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος τοῦτο ὸὕτω συμβῆναι. Καισαρίῳ δὲ συγχαίρω μὲν τῶν τρόπων, συγχαίρω δὲ τῆς δόξης, ἣ μείζων τῇ σῇ ψήφῳ γίγνε- ται, καὶ μάλιστά γε τῆς εὐπαιδίας συγχαίρω τοσαύτη γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπιεικείας τε φροντὶς καὶ λόγων, ὥστ’ εἰκότως ἂν αὐ- τοὺς καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αἰσχύνοιτο. σοὶ δὲ πάντα μὲν χαριζοίμην ἂν καὶ εἰ με κελεύεις ἀργὸν φιλεῖν, ὑπακούσομαι· τούτους δέ, τὸ γὰρ ἀληθὲς εἰρήσεται, πρὸ τῶν σῶν γραμμάτων συνέστησεν ἡ φύσις. ὥρα δή σοι χάριν ἑτέραν αἰτεῖν ὡς ταύτην γε αὑ- τοῖς οἱ νεανίσκοι δεδώκασιν.