Letter 274: You hold a great office.

To Dulcitius. (361?) You hold a great office. Rumor predicted this and did not lie. But you govern others, not us -- a point on which we might complain to Fortune. Still, there is some consolation even in this: instead of us, our fathers are being looked after, which means we are not entirely without our share of the benefit. I know, moreover, that you will come here to even greater things. Meanwhile, I present to you this Daricius, a Thracian -- or better to say a Greek, for though he was born there, he was educated in the city of Theseus [Athens]. I give him to you as a gift, for you know how to receive only such gifts: gold, even Colophonian gold [proverbially fine], has never seemed to you worth more than lead. Receive the young man, trust him, and take heart. And when you admire him as a rhetor, do not think him more skilled as a speaker than he is good as a man. His character has been proved in serious times. May you have the chance to test your friends in calm weather...

Δουλκιτίῳ. (361?) Ἀρχεις ἀρχὴν μεγάλην. τοῦτο προεῖπεν ἡ Φήμη καὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσατο. ἄρχεις <δὲ> ἑτέρων καὶ οὐχ ἡμῶν. περὶ δυναίμεθ’ ἂν ἐγκαλεῖν τῇ θεῷ, ἀλλὰ κἀν τούτῳ μέντοι παρα- 15 μυθία τις ἔνεστιν. ἀντὶ γὰρ ἡμῶν ἡμέτεροι θεραπεύονται πα- τέρες, ὅπερ ἐστὶν οὐκ ἀμοίρους εἶναι τοῦ κέρδους ἡμᾶς. ἀλλ’ ὅτι μέν γε καὶ δεῦρο ἥξεις ἐπὶ μείζοσιν οἶδα ἐγώ. Δαρίκιον δὲ τουτονὶ τὸν Θρᾷκα, βέλτιον δὲ εἰπεῖν Ἕλληνα, τίκτεται μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖ, παιδεύεται δὲ ἐν τῇ Θησέως, δῶρόν 20 σοι δίδωυι. τὰ τοιαῦτα γὰρ οἶσθα δέχεσθαι μόνα, χρυσὸς δέ, κἂν Κολοφώνιος ᾐ, μολύβδου τιμιώτερος οὐκ ἐφάνη. δέχου δὴ τὸν νεανίσκον καὶ πίστευε καὶ θάρρει καὶ ὅταν ὡς ῥήτορα θαυμάσῃς, μὴ μᾶλλον ἡγοῦ ῥήτορα δεινὸν ἢ ἄνδρα ἀγαθόν. δέδεικται δὲ ἐν μεγάλοις καιροῖς ὁ τρόπος, σοὶ δὲ εἴη μὲν ἐν γαλήνῃ πειρᾶσθαι τῶν φίλων, εὖ δ’ ἴσθι, τοῦδε ἀμείνων οὐκ ἂν ἐν χειμῶνι γένοιτο. πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὴν νῦν σὴν Ἀσίαν ὑπὸ τῆς γνώμης ἄγεται καὶ ποιεῖται πρὸ τῆς οἰκείας τὸ χωρίον. θεοῦ δ’ ἂν εἴη καὶ σοῦ δεῖξαι καλῶς βεβουλευμένον αὐτόν.