Letter 305: Many people write to governors on behalf of friends, and most of those letters say the same thing: "This man is...

You were vexed at the time you were being educated, supposing that you were expending your toil upon a useless thing; but, as it turns out, you were destined to have need of those weapons. For you hold office, and the man who holds office has need of words, just as those who sail have need of rudders. But see that you consider it a great thing not to possess the cities, but to possess them in the best possible way; for the former has fallen to the lot of many, whereas the latter has been preserved among few. And see that you appear worthy to have become one of those few, born from the stock we belong to and reared among us, awakened by nature and able to discern thoroughly what is worse, what is better. And consider this to be the chief point of the excellence concerning these matters: whether the noble have any advantage over those who are not such. As for Severus the Lycian, it seems to me that no city could point to any citizen like him, who hunted after the things of rhetoric in our company, and after the things of philosophy in the company of Maximus. And that man [Maximus] cast his vote concerning him that Severus was the most trustworthy of all whom he had come to know. And you yourself, when you make trial of him, will follow the Pythian [Apollo] and will rejoice with Lycia for her produce, since he flatters you least of all, but admires you in the things that are worthy, recommends what is good, and exposes deceit. For these very qualities led the excellent Seleucus too both to love him and to admire him. He himself, having fallen in with wicked men who know how to plunder, awaits the verdict of the court; but you are worthy to become, in his place, a benefactor to those who are his, and by your forethought concerning all things to render his absence unnoticed. For indeed it would be a terrible thing if the powers of my companions did not bring benefits to my friends. Let his affairs, therefore, obtain deliverance, and likewise the affairs of his sister Stratonis, who has come here under the same necessity as he did. And she is worthy of honor in our eyes, because she has, as her praiser, a brother who is such a man.

Θεμιστίῳ. (361?) Σὺ δὲ ἤσχαλλες παιδευόμενος τότε οἰόμενος περὶ πρᾶγμα ἄχρηστον ἀναλίσκειν τὸν πόνον, ἔμελλες δὲ ἄρα δεηθήσεσθαι τῶν βελῶν ἐκείνων. ἄρχεις γάρ, τῷ δὲ ἄρχοντι δεῖ λόγων, ὥσπερ τοῖς πλέουσιν οἰάκων. ἀλλ’ ὅπως ἡγήσῃ μὴ τὸ τὰς πόλεις ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὡς ἄριστα ἔχειν μέγα· τὸ μὲν γὰρ πολ- λοῖς ὑπῆρξε, τὸ δὲ παρ’ ὀλίγοις ἐσώθη. σὲ δὲ ἄξιον τῶν ὀλίγων τούτων φανῆναι γεγονότα ἐξ ὧν ἔσμεν καὶ τραφέντα παρ’ ἡμῖν φύσει τε ἐγρηγορότα καὶ δυνάμενον διιδεῖν, τί χεῖρον, τί βέλτιον. οἴου δὲ κεφάλαιον εἶναι τῆς περὶ ταῦτα ἀρετῆς, ἢν τοῖς γενναίοις ᾐ τι πλέον παρὰ τοὺς μὴ τοιούτους. Σευήρῳ δὲ τῷ Λυκίῳ δοκεῖ μοι μηδένα ἂν μηδεμία πόλις προσόμοιον δεῖξαι πολίτην, ὃς μεθ’ ἡμῶν μὲν ἐθήρευσε τὰ ῥητορικῆς, μετὰ Μαξίμου δὲ τὰ φιλοσοφίας. καὶ ψῆφον ἔθετο ἐκεῖνος περὶ αὐτοῦ πάντων εἶναι Σευῆρον ὧν ἔγνω πιστότα- τον. πεῖραν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς λαμβάνων ἀκολουθήσεις τῷ Πυ- θίῳ καὶ συνησθήσῃ τῇ Λυκίᾳ τῆς φορᾶς, ὅταν σε κολακεύῃ μὲν ἥκιστα, θαυμάζῃ δὲ ἐν οἷς ἄξιον, εἰσηγῆται δὲ τὰ χρηστά, διελέγχῃ δὲ ἀπάτην. ταῦτα γὰρ δὴ καὶ τὸν καλὸν Σέλευκον εἰς τὸ φιλεῖν τε αὐτὸν καὶ θαυμάζειν ἤγαγεν. αὐτὸς μὲν πονηροῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἁρπάζειν εἰδόσι περιπεσὼν ἀναμένει δικαστηρίου γνῶσιν, σὲ δὲ ἄξιον ἀντ’ αὐτοῦ τοῖς αὐτοῦ γε- νέσθαι καὶ τὴν ἀπουσίαν ἄδηλον τῇ περὶ πάντα προνοίᾳ καταστῆσαι. καὶ γὰρ ἂν εἴη δεινόν, εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἐμοῖς φίλοις αἱ τῶν ἐμῶν ἑταίρων δυνάμεις ὠφελείας φέροιεν. τά τε οὖν αὐτοῦ σωτηρίας τυγχανέτω καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀδελφῆς Στρατω- νίδος ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀνάγκης δεῦρο ἡκούσης ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος. ἔστι δὲ ἡμῖν ἀξία τιμῆς, ὅτι τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὄντα τοιοῦτον ἐπαι- νέτην ἔχει.