Letter 251: It is an old passion of mine to delight in Greek words and to consider that those who traffic in anything else are...

To Eudaemon. (357/358) It is an old passion of mine to delight in Greek words and to consider that those who traffic in anything else are committing a crime against rhetoric. I used to be downcast, though, at having no one to share the hunt, no one ready to join me in tracking down these matters. Someone even laughed at me once and said I was no more usefully occupied than those men comedy mocks for investigating the feet of a flea [a reference to Aristophanes' Clouds, where Socrates studies gnats]. So if something has escaped me, I am not surprised -- I simply could not cover everything alone. But then you came to us from Egypt -- and many blessings on the man who imposed the necessity, who summoned you to a lawsuit but unwittingly gave the city the eloquence that was in you. It was then that I understood the proverb better than ever: "When two go together, they are much to one another" [Homer, Iliad 10.224]. Or perhaps not "to one another" but rather "you to me." For the asking was always mine, and the answering became yours. I think I may even have worn you out with the frequency of my questions -- some sent on slips of paper while you sat among your students, others put to you at home while you were often in the middle of dinner. Most of it happened in a blizzard of inquiries whenever we ran into each other. For our conversations were not about income from one's profession, nor about food and what we had for dinner and what we would have next, nor about who was leaving office and who would succeed him. Such things, we felt, had nothing to do with the Muses. No -- the moment I spotted you, I would drag you to the shop-screens and hold you there, practically nailing you in place, and plunge you into the testing of words. And you would sort the counterfeit from the genuine, defending words unjustly cast out and condemning ...

Εὐδαίμονι. (357/58) Παλαιὸν ἔμοιγε τοῦτο τὸ πάθος τοῖς Ἑλλήνων ὀνό- μασι χαίρειν καὶ τοὺς <τοῖς> ἔξω τούτου συμφερομένους ἀδικεῖν ἡγεῖσθαι ῥητορικήν· ἠθύμουν δὲ πρότερον τὸν συνερῶντα οὐκ ἔχων οὐδ’ ὅστις ἦν ἕτοιμος κοινωνεῖν τῆς περὶ ταῦτα θήρας. ἤδη δέ τις καὶ κατεγέλασέ καὶ οὐ περὶ μειζόνων ἔφησέ με φροντίζειν ἢ οὓς ἔφησεν ἡ κωμῳδία σκοπεῖν περὶ τῶν τῆς ψύλ- λης ποδῶν. ὥστ’ εἴ μέ τι καὶ διέφυγεν, οὐχὶ θαυμάζω μόνον μὴ δυνηθέντα διὰ παντὸς ἐλθεῖν. ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ ἧκες ἡμῖν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου—καὶ πολλὰ ἀγαθὰ γένοιτο τῷ περιθέντι τὴν ἀ- νάγκην, ὃς σὲ ἐκάλεσε μὲν ἐπὶ δίκην, ἔδωκε δὲ ἄκων τῇ πόλει τοὺς ἐν σοὶ λόγους — ἐνταῦθα δὴ τῆς παροιμίας ἔτ’ ἄμεινον ᾐσθόμην, ὡς ἄρα σύν τε δύ᾿ ἐρχομένω μέγα ἀλλήλοις εἰσίν. ἀλλ’ ἴσως ἐνταῦθα οὐκ ἀλλήλοις, ἀλλ’ ἐμοὶ σύ. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐρωτᾶν ἐμὸν ἀεί, τὸ δὲ ἀποκρίνεσθαι γεγένηται σόν, ὥστ’ οἶ- μαί σε καὶ ἀποκναῖσαι τῷ τῶν ἐρωτημάτων πυκνῷ τῶν μὲν ἐν γραμματίοις πεμπομένων ἐπὶ συνουσίᾳ σοι τῶν νέων καθη- μένῳ, τῶν δὲ οἴκαδε σῖτον αἱρουμένῳ πολλάκις τὸ πολὺ δὲ ἐποίουν καὶ αἱ νιφάδες, ἡνίκ’ ἂν ἀλλήλοις ἐντύχοιμεν. οὐ γὰρ ἡμῖν οἱ λόγοι περὶ προσόδου τῆς ἀπὸ τῆς τέχνης οὐδ’ ὑπὲρ ἐδωδῆς καὶ τί δεδειπνήκαμεν καὶ τί μέλλομεν οὐδ’ ὅστις ἔξεισι τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ διαδέξεται τίς. τουτὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν πρὸς τὰς Μούσας εἶναι δοκεῖ. ἀλλ’ ἐγώ σε ἰδὼν ἕλκων ἂν εὐθὺς πρὸς τὰ γέρρα τῶν ἐργαστηρίων καὶ κατέχων καὶ μόνον οὐ προση- λῶν εἰς τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐνεβίβαζον βάσανον, σὺ δὲ ἀπέκρινες τὰ νόθα τῶν γνησίων τοῖς μὲν βοηθῶν ἐξεληλαμένοις ἀδίκως, τὰ δὲ ἐκβάλλων ὡς οὐ δικαίως τιμώμενα. ταὐτὰ ταὐτὰ ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ προάστεια σύνοιδεν, ἐφ’ ὧν καθήμενοι τοὺς ἄρ- χοντας ἀναμένοντες ἐξ ἀποδημίας ἰόντας εἴχομεν ὅ τι ἐργασό- μεθα. πάντα μὲν οὖν ἀριθμεῖν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἂν εἴη τοῦ καὶ τὴν ἄμμον ἔχοντος εἰς ἀριθμὸν ἄγειν, δοὺς δὲ ἡμῖν ὦ Ἡράκλεις λέγειν, ἐπειδὰν καλῶμεν τὸν θεόν, καίτοι τις οὐ τῶν ἐν φαύλῃ δόξῃ δεῖν ἐξαίρειν ἔφασκε τὸ ἰῶτα πλὴν ὅστις σχετλιάζει, τοῦτον δὲ οὐκ εἴργει τοῦ γράμματος, καλεῖν δέ γε οὐκ ἐᾷ μετὰ τοῦδε τοῦ γράμματος, ἀλλὰ σὺ τριπλῆν ἀνεὶς τῇ κλήσει τὴν ὁδόν, ὧν ἡμῖν τὼ δύο, ποιηταῖς δὲ οὐδὲν ἄβατον ἅτε ἐπτερωμένοις, ἡμῖν τε ἴσθι καὶ τῷ θεῷ μεγάλα κεχαρισμέ- νος καὶ προσδέχου τι παρ’ ἐκείνου χρηστόν. οἷσθα δὲ ἡλίκας ἐδίδου δωρεὰς καὶ πρὸ τῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν πορείας Ἡρακλῆς. ἄλλος μὲν οὖν ἂν ἐπαινέσας τὴν περὶ τοὔνομα τέχνην ἀπηλ- 246 LIBANIl λάγη τῶν ἄλλων οὐδὲν ἰδών, ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖς οὐ μᾶλλόν γε τῷ διδάσκειν ὠφελεῖν ἢ τῷ μετὰ κάλλους εὐφραίνειν. κάλλη δέ σοι τὰ μὲν ἐξ Ἰταλίας, τὰ δὲ ἐξ Αἰτωλίας, ἐνταῦθα μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς εἰκόνος καὶ τῶν ἐν οἴνῳ πεπραγμένων, ἐκεῖ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν διὰ τῶν Εὐριπίδου σεσωσμένων. ὁρᾶν γὰρ δὴ δοκῶ τοὺς ἐπτη- χότας καὶ τρέμοντας φαιδροὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς ᾄσμασι καὶ τεθαρρη- κότας. καὶ χαίρω γε, νὴ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, ὅτι μοι ὁ Εὐριπίδης, οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς ὅπως περικάομαι τοῦ ποιητοῦ, τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσι τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπὸ τῶν δραμάτων ἐφύλαξε τὰς ψυχάς. ὅν μοι δοκεῖς καλέσαι μάρτυρα μόνον οὐχ ὡς οὐκ ἔχων καὶ ἄλλους ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτῶν καλεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἴνα μοι παράγων τἀμὰ παιδικὰ μόνον καὶ τῇδε χαρίζοιο. πεποίηκας γὰρ προσόμοιόν τι τῷ πόμα μὲν ὅ τι δήποτε παρὰ τοῦ διψῶντος αἰτηθέντι, δόντι δὲ Θάσιον οἶνον, διότι τὸν ᾐτηκότα ἠπίστατο τῷ Θασίῳ προσκεί- μένον. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸ δίψος ἀκέσασθαι καὶ μετὰ μείζονος ἡδονῆς. εἶτα οὐ σύ γε εὐδαίμων ὡς ἀληθῶς τοι- αῦτα διερευνώμενος καὶ τοιαῦτα δωρούμενος, μᾶλλόν γε ἢ Ἀν- θεμίων τε καἰ Ἰσχόμαχος ἐπὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν χρημάτων καἰ Νικίας ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀνδραπόδων; ἐμοὶ γὰρ εἴη τοιαῦτα ἰχνεύειν ἴνα ἔχοντι Δάον.