Letter 335: Fine work you have done.

To Anatolius. (357/58) Fine indeed are the things you have done. Let these fine things come to pass, and yet more of them. And I trust that I shall persuade you, since I ask you to follow your own rule. Now, among the things for which you are praised, there are many others, and especially this: that, though you reside among the Paeonians [people of Pannonia], you have not forgotten the affairs here, but, as one present among us and living with us, you consider how each of your acquaintances may advance toward something better, and in considering you also act. But when there came to us the result of your zeal on behalf of Sabinus, there was nothing else to be heard sung about than that to this man, from that man, on account of so-and-so, this thing has come. It is fitting, then, that Theodorus too should obtain the like, and become for you the occasion of like praises, and that Sabinus should rejoice together with this man, just as that man rejoiced with him. As for Theodorus, you are not unacquainted with him, someone said. Nevertheless I too shall describe him to you, for it does you no harm to hear what you already know, and to me it is a pleasure to praise the man. This man, sprung from good people in Arabia, showed himself better than his parents, having set out for your city for the acquisition of the laws, and taking more delight in the doing of it than others do in dancing. And having departed thence full of the laws, and not having cast off, because of the laws, the strength of our discourses [rhetoric] which he previously possessed, he received those who took refuge in him with two harbors, he received them, by the reading of the laws and by the force of rhetoric. And he did not neglect his fee, yet he did not regard this one thing only, how he should receive a fee. But he contends so brilliantly, and with all the means he has, that he is rarely defeated. And thanks are owed to him even from those who have been defeated. And when your government is praised, first he does not disbelieve it, and this belongs to one who knows your nature; then he rejoices just as we do, we who are above all able to rejoice in your blessings, and he counts blessed those who are under you, and he would wish to come under you. And toward us Theodorus is such as you would think worthy. For this is the man who turned my son toward us, and showed the others the road, and counseled by deed where one must walk. And indeed, when our affairs came into the court, he poured out much sweat and let loose all his voices. And he even set some of his own concerns in a worse condition while tending to mine. The man, then, who is so admirable, so devoted to you, so dear to me, and ranked among the first by his profession, how is it good that he should not also, through the rest, be among the first? Or do you wish us to seek another, who will do this? But that, though not impossible, is not worthy of Theodorus. For what comes through you brings something greater than the matter itself, and to obtain nothing at all is more tolerable to him than to obtain it through another. Give yourself, then, and let Theodorus be in the catalogue of those adorned by you; for it is far better that I should speak of him, running to me and loving me at once, of the honors he has received, than that you should seek how you will defend yourself.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (357/58) Καλά γέ σοι τὰ πεπραγμένα. γενέσθω δὴ ταυτὶ τὰ καλὰ καὶ πλείω. πιστεύω δέ σε πείσειν ἀξιῶν ἀκολουθεῖν σε τῷ σαυ- τοῦ νόμῳ. ἐφ’ οἷς μὲν οὖν ἐπαινῇ, συχνά τε ἄλλα καὶ ὅτι διατρίβων ἐν Παίοσιν οὐκ ἐπελάθου τῶν τῇδε, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἄν τις συνών τε καὶ συζῶν, ὅπως τῶν σοι γνωρίμων ἐπί τι βέλτιον ἕκαστος προβαίη σκοπεῖς καὶ πράττεις γε σκοπῶν. ὡς δὲ ἧκεν ἡμῖν τὸ ἔργον τῆς εἰς Σαβῖνον σπουδῆς, οὐδὲν ἦν ἕτε- ρον ἀκούειν ᾀδόμενον ἢ ὅτι τῷδε παρὰ τοῦδε διὰ τὸν δεῖνα τόδε ἥκει. δεῖ δὴ καὶ Θεόδωρον τυχεῖν τε τῶν ἴσων καὶ σοὶ τῶν ἴσων ἐπαίνων αἴτιον καταστῆναι καὶ συνησθῆναι τούτῳ Σαβῖνοι, ὥσπερ οὗτος ἐκείνῳ. τὸν δὲ Θεόδωρον οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, ἔφη τις. ὅμως δὲ φράσω σοι καὶ ἐγώ, σοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν βλάβος ἃ οἶσθα ἀκοῦσαι, ἐμοὶ δὲ ἡδονὴ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπαινεῖν. οὗτος ἐξ ἀγαθῶν ἐν Ἀραβίᾳ γενόμενος ἀμείνω τῶν ποτέρων αὑτὸν ἔδειξεν ὁρμήσας μὲν εἰς τὴν σὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ κτήσει νόμων, τῷ ποιεῖν δὲ πλέον ἡσθεὶς ἢ ἕτεροι τῷ ὀρχεῖσθαι. πλήρης δὲ νόμων ἐκεῖθεν ἀπελθὼν καὶ τὸ τῶν λόγων τῶν ἡμετέρων σθένος ὃ πρότερον εἶχεν οὐκ ἐκβα- λῶν ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων δύο λιμέσι τοὺς εἰς αὑτὸν καταφεύγον- τας ἐδέξατο, ἐδέξατο, νόμων τε ἀναγνώσει καὶ ῥητορικῆς ἰσχύι. καὶ μισθοῦ μὲν οὐκ ἠμέλησεν, οὐ μὴν ἓν τοῦτο εἶδεν, ὅπως λήψεται μισθόν. ἀλλ’ οὕτω λαμπρῶς ἀγωνίζειαι καὶ πᾶσι, οἷς ἔχει, ὥστε ὀλιγάκις μὲν ἥττηται. χάριτες δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἡττημένων. τῆς δὲ σῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπαινουμένης πρῶτον μὲν οὐκ ἀπιστεῖ, τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὴν σὴν εἰδότος φύσιν, ἔπειτα χαίρει καθάπερ ἡμεῖς, οἷς ἔνι μάλιστα χαίρειν ἐν τοῖς σοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ σοὶ μακαρίζει καὶ βούλοιτ’ ἂν ὑπὸ σοὶ γενέσθαι. πρὸς δέ γε ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεόδωρος, ὁποῖον ἂν ἀξιώ- σαις. οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὸν υἱὸν μεταθεὶς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις δείξας τὴν ὁδὸν κοὶ συμβουλεύσας ἔργῳ, ποῖ χρὴ βαδίζειν. καὶ δὴ Λαὶ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡμῖν εἰς δικαστήριον ἐλθόντων πολὺν μὲν ἱδρῶτα, πάσας δὲ φωνὰς ἀφῆκε. καί τι καὶ τῶν αὑτοῦ χεῖρον ἔθετο θεραπεύων τοὐμόν. τὸν οὖν οὕτω μὲν θαυμαστόν, οὕτω δὲ σοὶ προσκείμενον, οὕτω δὲ ἐμοὶ φίλον, ἐν πρώτοις δὲ τεταγμένον ὑπὸ τῆς τέχνης μὴ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν πρώτοις εἶναι ποῦ καλόν; ἢ βούλει ζητεῖν ἡμᾶς ἕτερον, ὅστις τοῦτο ποιήσει; ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀμήχανον μέν, οὐκ ἄξιον δὲ Θεοδώρου. τὸ γὰρ διὰ σοῦ μεῖζον ἄγει τοῦ πράγματος καὶ τὸ μηδενὸς τυχεῖν τοῦ δι’ ἑτέρου τυχεῖν με- τριώτερον αὑτῷ. δὸς δὴ σαυτόν, καὶ ἔστω Θεόδωρος ἐν τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ κεκοσμημένων· πολὺ γὰρ ἄμεινον τοῦτόν μοι προσδραμόντα φιλοῦντα ἅμα λέγειν, ἃ τετίμηται ἢ σὲ ζητεῖν, ὅ τι ἀπολογήσῃ.