Letter 277: Even before the letter-bearer arrived, word had reached us of the honor you enjoy from a man who himself deserves...

To Dianius. Even before the bearer of the letter arrived, a report had reached us concerning the honor you enjoy in the eyes of a man worthy of every honor and good repute; and from the one who delivered the letter it was possible to hear things both like, and even finer than, those reported by others. I reflected, then, that the gods are present to the fair and excellent, such as you indeed are, and that they come to their aid, easily rescuing them out of circumstances that seem most extreme; so that your case differs not much from that of the Lesbian lyre-player, who, when he had fallen into the sea, was carried along more pleasantly than those aboard the ship. And while we were grieving on your account and lamenting to one another into what a storm you had fallen, that earthquake and the things that followed from the earthquake, one of the gods granted you as a refuge a man who is your friend, a man in whom there is both greatness of mind and the power to accomplish whatever he sets his heart upon. I urge you, then, to hold fast to your present fortune and to fasten your own skiff to the ship of Alexander, whom I already seem to myself to behold in a still greater office, and again in a third and a fourth. And I think that not even old age will release him into rest from the labors that benefit the cities; for the emperor knows the man and will not cease to make use of him. Therefore let it seem to you a greater thing than any office to follow this man and to assist him in his work; or rather, in this way you would advance to offices both easily and honorably, with that man praising you and having made you an imitator of himself.

Διανίῳ. (358) 15 Καὶ πρὶν ἥκειν τὸν φέροντα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀφῖκτο λό- γος περὶ τῆς τιμῆς ἧς ἀπολαύεις παρ’ ἀνδρὶ καὶ τιμῆς ἀπάσης καὶ εὐφημίας ἀξίῳ, παρὰ δὲ τοῦ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν διδόντος ἦν ἀκούειν ὅμοιά τε καὶ ἔτι καλλίω τῶν ὑπ’ ἄλλων ἀγγελλομέ- 20 νῶν. ἐνεθυμήθην οὖν ὅτι τοῖς ἐπιεικέσι καὶ βελτίστοις, ὁποῖος δὴ σύ, πάρεισιν οἱ θεοὶ καὶ βοηθοῦσιν ἐκ τῶν ἐσχάτων εἶναι δοκούντων ῥᾳδίως ἐκσώζοντες, ὡς οὐ πολύ γε τῶν τοῦ Λεσβίου κιθαρῳδοῦ διαφέρει τὸ σόν, ὃς ἐμπεσὼν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ἥδιον ἐκομίζετο τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ πλοίου. καὶ σοὶ δὴ συναχθομένων ἡμῶν καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὀδυρομένων, εἰς οἷον ἄρα χειμῶνα πέπτωκας, τὸν σεισμὸν ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ σεισμοῦ, θεῶν τις ἔδωκε καταφυγὴν ἄνδρα φίλον, ἐν ᾦ μέ- γεθός τε διανοίας καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι πράττειν ἅττα ἂν προ- θυμηθῇ παραινῶ δή σοι τῆς παρούσης ἔχεσθαι τύχης καὶ τὸν σαυτοῦ λέμβον ἐξαρτῆσαι τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου νεώς, ὃν ἤδη μοι δοκῶ θεωρεῖν ἐπὶ μείζονος ἀρχῆς καὶ τρίτης πάλιν καὶ τετάρτης. οἶμαι δέ, αὐτὸν οὐδὲ γῆρας ἐξαιρήσεται πρὸς ἡσυ- χίαν ἀπὸ τῶν ταῖς πόλεσι λυσιτελούντων πόνων. οἶδε γὰρ βασιλεὺς τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ χρώμενος οὐ λήξει. τούτῳ τοίνυν ἕπεσθαι καὶ συλλαμβάνειν ἔργου μεῖζον παρὰ σοὶ πάσης ἀρχῆς δοκείτω, μᾶλλον δέ, καὶ πρὸς ἀρχὰς οὕτω προβαίης ῥᾳδίως τε καὶ καλῶς ἐκείνου τε ἐπαινοῦντος καὶ μιμητὴν αὑτοῦ πεποιηκότος.