Letter 345: How pleasant your company is — your deeds, performed with justice, there for all to see, and Julianus narrating his...

To Clematius. (358?) How pleasant your company is — your deeds, performed with justice, there for all to see, and Julianus narrating his own, all of which were likewise done with justice. You seem to me like a wrestler pressing through his labors toward the crown, while he already wears his. I do fear, though, that Julianus may abandon Egypt, where he is being sent to toil without profit, and instead sit beside you in conversation — fleeing business but delighting in friends more than others delight in business. But you must stir and encourage him. For I believe this concern of his with ships will show us the man to be a governor of nations.

Κληματίῳ. (358?) Ὡς ἡδίστη γε ὑμῶν ἡ συνουσία τῶν μὲν σῶν ἔργων, ἃ μετὰ τοῦ δικαίου πράττεις, ὁρωμένων, Ἰουλιανοῦ δὲ τῶν αὑ- τοῦ διήγησιν ἔχοντος, ἃ καὶ αὐτὰ σὺν τῷ δικαίῳ πάντα ἐπράττετο. καί μοι δοκεῖτε, σὺ μὲν ἐοικέναι παλαιστῇ διὰ πό- νων ἐπειγομένῳ πρὸς στέφανον, ὁ δὲ ἐν στεφάνῳ πάλαι. καὶ δέδοικα δὴ μὴ τὴν Αἴγυπτον οὗτος ἀφείς, εἰς ἣν πέμ- πεται μοχθήσων οὐκ ἐπὶ κέρδει, σοί γε παρακαθήμενος διαλέ- γηται πράγματα μὲν φεύγων, φίλοις δὲ χαίρων πλέον ἢ πράγ- μασιν ἕτεροι. ἀλλὰ σὺ κίνει τε καὶ παρακάλει. πιστεύω γὰρ τὴν περὶ τὰ πλοῖα ταύτην φροντίδα δείξειν ἡμῖν τὸν ἄνδρα κυβερνήτην ἐθνῶν.