Letter 329: Spectatus — who loves you above all others (whether he is right to do so I cannot say, but that he loves you...

To Anatolius. (358) Spectatus — who loves you above all others (whether he is right to do so I cannot say, but that he loves you intensely I know perfectly well) — has returned to us in triumph from the embassy. And thanks to his tongue, we Greeks were not bested by barbarians. Shall I describe the eloquence with which he wrestled down the Persian in that king's own palace? But I am afraid of upsetting you. You insist that while you live no one else should be praised. Even now you are choking with envy that you did not go there as ambassador yourself, on top of your administrative duties, and turn the man to stone with your voice. But precisely for that reason I must tell you, so you can toss and turn all night. When the Persian king summoned our delegation, he spoke at length in praise of justice and those who act justly, then declared: "I am being wronged, and you are the wrongdoers." He raised the matter of a tract of land — once theirs, now in our possession — which those who desire peace must surrender. The other delegates spoke well enough, and you yourself will judge their words fine once you hear what they were. But our soldier — as you would call him — or rather our orator, as I would say, demonstrated that the king was seeking redress not from those he accuses but from others entirely. For those who seized the land were one party, and the one being attacked was another. It would be outrageous, he argued, if one side claims as ancestral what was never given by any ancestor, while forcing the other to surrender what is part of a legitimate inheritance. By the gods, would you not rather have said these things yourself than rule twice as many subjects as you do? So answer my letter, and write something comparable — you who leave so very few private citizens alone. For your deluge of dispatches herds many a man toward the imperial feeding-trough.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (358) Λαμπρὸς ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῆς πρεσβείας ὁ σὲ δὴ μάλιστα Σπε- κτάος φιλῶν — καὶ ει μ ν εἰκότως φιλεῖ, τοῦτό γε οὐκ οἶδα, τὸ δ’ ὅτι φιλεῖ σφοδρῶς, ἀκρὶ ῶς ἐπίσταμαι — καὶ παρὰ τὴν τοῦδε γλῶτταν οὐΚ ἐκρατήθημεν ἐν Ἕλληνες ὑπὸ βαρ- βάρων. εἴπω δὴ τὴν ρητορείαν, ᾐ κατεπάλαισε τὸν Πέρσην ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνου βασιλείοις; ἀλλὰ δέδοικα μή σε λυπήσω. σὺ γὰρ ἀξιοῖς σοῦ ζῶντος μηδένα ἄλλον ἐπαινεῖσθαι. καὶ νῦν, ὅτι μὴ πρὸς τῷ διοικεῖν ἃ διοικεῖς ἦλθες ἐκεῖ πρεσβεύων καὶ τῇ βοῇ τὸν ἄνθρωπον λίθον ἐποίησας, ἀποπνίγῃ. ἀλλὰ καὶ κατ’ αὐτὸ μέντοι τοῦτο λεκτέον, ὅπως ἀγρυπνῶν στρέφοιο τὴν νύχθ’ ὅλην. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰσεκάλεσε τοὺς παρ’ ἡμῶν, πολλὰ δικαιοσύνην θαυμάσας καὶ τοὺς τὰ δίκαια ποιοῦντας ἐγὼ μὲν τοίνυν ἀδικοῦμαί φηριν, ὐμεῖς δὲ ἀδικεῖτε. καὶ γῆς δέ τι μέτρον ἔλυεν, ἣν ἐκείνων οὖσαν πρὸ τοῦ νῦν ἡμᾶς ἔχειν, ἧς ἀποστατέον τοὺς τῆς εἰρήνης ἐπιθυμοῦντας. κάλα μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων, ψηφιῇ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς εἶναι καλὰ πυθόμενος ἅττα ἦν· τὰ δὲ δὴ τοῦ στρατιώτου μέν, ὡς ἂν σὺ φαίης, ῥήτορος δέ, ὡς οὑμὸς λόγος, ἐπεδείκνυεν αὐτὸν οὐχ οἷς ἐγκαλεῖ, παρὰ τούτων ζητοῦντα δίκην. ἄλλους μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τοὺς ἀφῃρημένους τὴν γῆν, ἄλλον δὲ τὸν πολεμούμε- νον. καὶ εἶναι δεινόν, εἰ ὁ μὲν προσερεῖ πατρῷα ἃ μὴ γέγονεν αὐτῷ παρ’ ἐκείνου, τὸν δ’ ἀποστῆναι πείσει τούτων ἃ τοῦ πατρῴου κλήρου μέρος ἐστί. πρὸς τῶν θεῶν, οὐκ ἐβούλου σοὶ ταῦτα εἰρῆσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ δὶς τοσούτων ἄρχειν ὁπόσων ἄρχεις; ἀμείβου δή μου τὰ γράμματα καὶ γράφε τι παραπλή- σιον, ὦ πάνυ δή τινας ὀλίγους ἰδιώτας ἀφείς· ὡς ἡ τῶν δέλ- των ἐπομβρία πολλοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν εἰσάγει φάτνην.