Letter 344
To Anatolius. (358)
Since you say you take the greatest pleasure in being rebuked, and I have a passion for praising good men, I shall gratify both you and myself — praising some things, criticizing others.
Your treatment of Tuscianus will provide occasion for both. For when you took up your office and summoned the man to serve as your assessor, the report spread through the cities, and there was no place that did not hear this: that now honest poverty receives its reward. So-and-so has summoned so-and-so from Phrygia to Pannonia, because when he once had the opportunity for wealth, he departed with praise instead of money.
While those who marveled at this — I was not alone in doing so — some asked why I did not join them. I said that when I find noble men doing something noble, like the son of Thetis [Achilles] or the city of Athens, I do not rise to shout at seeing what I expected, since even before the summons, if anyone had asked me whom you would call, I would have named the very man you called.
For surely you were going to seek someone shrewd, eloquent, who knows how to work, how to love, how to speak, who understands when to be silent, and who has long been schooled in living with poverty. All this is our Tuscianus, who has come to us at your sending. Now here comes what you love — the complaints.
When he arrived and described the terms of his office, I was glad to see a friend, but what I heard when wanting to learn the terms — could you endure having Truth honored? "Nothing sacred," as they say.
Tuscianus spoke grandly of the nature of the position, but to me the position seemed unworthy of Tuscianus's nature. And I proved it by argument. In the middle of winter a letter arrived bringing him greater provision — or, if you prefer, greater rank — good things, but still less than your power and my desire could wish.
For to Tuscianus nothing of this is not great, but precisely because of this the man should advance to something truly great, since everything from you seems great to him. As things stand, he might even accept mockery — being maintained by the emperor in idleness. And surely you know what we call such people. But if he obtained what he deserves, dignity would be added to his sustenance.
So let him work, my good friend, and see to it that the work is not worse than the idleness. If you have not recognized where he ought to be advanced, you do wrong, being a man who lives so closely with justice. If you think you should do what I say, do not delay — obeying Aeschylus and, before him, Hesiod.
And I shall not pass over this either: seeing the man fighting the cold with a single cloak, struggling against the rain, and battling the mud, I asked whether his father's reputation served as clothing for his children too.
He blushed and laughingly mentioned some Lysander and Dionysius — one who gave and one who did not accept — and I told him he did not realize he was preparing a hard old age for himself.
Him, then, I release. But I urge you to improve Tuscianus's circumstances. It would befit him to endure his poverty, but it is easy enough for you prefects to imitate the cloud of Zeus, from which he rained gold upon the Rhodians.
Indeed, if you are willing, prosperity free from blame could be his. But let this be done before Tuscianus takes up any office, for in that role he will choose to starve.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.