Letter 284: To the same person. (361)

To the same man. (361) I think that Caesarius too has been honored by you even with tears, the man who by his death made Armenia the poorer. For I suppose that the city as well mourns him publicly, lamenting the upright man [...], Pindar would have said. And this also is no small part of the evils: that his son, dragged away by the calamity from his pursuits in the study of literature, is running home, having exchanged one set of cares for another, the cares befitting a young man for those that belong to a father. Or rather, those of that household are not wholly unfortunate, since the deity has prepared, as a remedy for the blow that was to come, your office. For it is not unclear that you will strive to make their perception of their misfortune slight for them, both out of respect for the man who lies dead and as a favor to us, and because you consider that this will bring you no less credit than the other things you do, if you should set upright a prosperous house that has been shaken. And it would be the greatest benefaction for it to come about that Eudoxius comes to us again, which it seems to me he will do, seeing that the forethought he has from you is sufficient in place of the man who has departed.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (361) Οἴμαι καὶ δάκρυσιν ὑπὸ σοῦ τετιμῆσθαι Καισάριον τὸν φαυλοτέραν δείξαντα τὴν Ἀρμενίαν τῇ τελευτῇ. τὴν μὲν γὰρ πόλιν καὶ δημοσίᾳ κείρασθαι ν·ομίζω πενθοῦσαν τὸν ὀρθό- πόλιν, εἶπεν ἂν Πίνδαρος. ἔστι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο μέρος οὐ μικρὸν τῶν κακῶν τὸ τὸν ἐκείνου παῖδα τῶν περὶ λόγους δια- τριβῶν ὑπὸ τῆς συμφορᾶς ἀφελκυσθέντα τρέχειν οἴκαδε φρον- τίδας φροντίδων ἀλλαξάμενον, τῶν νέῳ πρεπουσῶν τὰς προσ- ηκούσας πατρί. μᾶλλον δέ, οὐ πάντα δυστυχοῦσιν οἱ κεί- νοῦ τοῦ δαίμονος ἑτοιμάσαντος τῇ μελλούσῃ πληγῇ φάρμακον τὴν σὴν ἀρχήν. οὐ γὰρ ἄδηλον ὡς ἀγωνιῇ μικρὰν αὐτοῖς ἀποφῆναι τὴν αἴσθησιν τῆς τύχης τόν τε κείμενον αἰδούμε- νος καὶ ἡμῖν χαριζόμενος νομίζων τε οὐχ ἥττω σοι τοῦτο δόξαν τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ποιεῖς οἴσειν, εἰ οἶκον εὐδαίμονα κινού- μένον στήσαις. μεγίστη δὲ εὐεργεσία τὸ γενέσθαι πάλιν Εὐδοξίῳ παρ’ ἡμᾶς ἐλθεῖν, ὃ ποιήσειν μοι δοκεῖ τὴν παρὰ σοῦ πρόνοιαν ὁρῶν ἀρκοῦσαν ἀντὶ τοῦ μεταστάντος.