Letter 436: Perhaps you will be willing to help me even in the present crisis, keeping faith with me to the end and with all...

Perhaps you will be willing to help me even in the present crisis, keeping faith with me to the end and with all your previous acts of kindness. But if I must suffer even this misfortune -- that your mind has changed -- I will never cast your earlier help from my memory. Those past kindnesses I will attribute to your nature; any change I will blame on an unkind fate. But I beg you, by the labors you have endured on behalf of the Greeks and your friends: suppose I were in good health and choosing to flee that city because I consider this one better -- and let "better" here mean better for the company of students. Then put it to the emperor -- and you have the influence, earned through long loyalty and wise counsel: "O Emperor, that man you are ordering to go to Thrace -- he will be like a farmer at sea, living perpetually on a ship." "For just as the farmer cannot plow the ocean, so this man cannot sow his teaching among young men when the citizens have turned to other pursuits, and foreigners suspect the place and consider it a school of luxury." "But Syria has been a workshop of the Muses for a long time, producing..."

Δατιανῷ. (355) Ἴσως μὲν ἐμοὶ καὶ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα βοηθεῖν ἐθελήσεις ἐμέ τε σώζων διὰ τέλους καὶ τὰς ἔμπροσθεν εὐεργεσίας· εἰ δέ υε δεῖ καὶ τοῦτο ἀτυχῆσαι τὸ τὴν σὴν γνώμην ἑτέραν γεγο- ἕναι, τάς γε πρὸ τοῦ βοηθείας οὔποτε ἐκβαλοῦμεν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀλλ’ ἐκείνας μὲν τῇ σῇ φύσει λογιούμεθα, τὴν δ’ αὖ μεταβο- Λὴν δαίμονι δυσκόλῳ. καίτοι πρὸς τῶν πόνων, οὓς ἐπό- νησας ὑπὲρ Ἑλλῄνων τε καὶ φίλων, θὲς μὲν ἐρρῶσθαί μοι τὸ σῶμα, βελτίω δὲ τήνδε ἐκείνης ἡγούμενόν με φεύγειν ἐκείνην, τὸ βελτίω δὲ ὅπως ἀκούσῃ πρὸς τὰς τῶν νέων συνουσίας. ἔπειτα ἐροῦ τὸν βασιλέα, δύνασαι δὲ σωφροσύνῃ τε καὶ εὐνοίᾳ διηνεκεῖ τὴν δύναμιν κεκτημένος· ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἀνὴρ ἐκεῖνος, ὃν κελεύεις εἰς Θρᾴκην ἐλθὼν ἐκεῖσε προσόμοιος ἔσται γεωργῷ πλέοντι καὶ ἐν νηὶ ζῶντι συνεχῶς. οὔτε γὰρ ἐκείνῳ τὴν θάλατταν ἔστιν ἀροῦν οὔτε τούτῳ σπείρειν εἰς νέους τῶν πο- λιτῶν μὲν πρὸς ἕτερα τετραμμένων, τῶν ξένων δὲ ὑφορωμένων τὸ χωρίον καὶ νομιζόντων διδασκαλεῖον εἶναι τρυφῆς. ἡ Συρία δὲ Μουσῶν ἐργαστήριον πολὺν ἤδη χρόνον δημιουργοῦσα ῥήτορας, ὧν εἷς οὖτος Καλλιόπιος,ᾦ χαίρεις, καὶ πολλὴ πολλαχόθεν νεότης θήγουσά τε παιδευτὴν καὶ αὐτὴ λαμβάνουσα εφ᾿ ὄπερ ἤκει. πότερον οὖν βούλει σοι τὸν βουκόλον ἀπορεῖν βοῶν ἢ περὶ συχνὴν ἀγέλην χρῆσθαι τῇ τέχνῃ; ταῦτ’ ἀκούων ἀποκρινεῖται σοῦ μειδιῶντος καὶ ἐν τῷ βλέμματι πρὸς τὸ δεύτερον ἐνάγοντος· βόες ἔστωσαν τῷ βουκόλῳ. εἰ δέ με οἰήσῃ ῥαψῳδεῖν καὶ μύθους ταῦτα ἡγησάμενος ἀμελήσεις, ἀλλ’ ἔγωγε ἀποσπώμενος βοήσομαι ὅτι με τῆς Ἀντιοχείας ἀνέπεισεν ἔχεσθαι Δατιανὸς καἰ τὸ κάλλος, ᾠ Δατιανὸς τὴν πόλιν ἐλάμπρυνε, λουτρὰ τὰ μὲν τετελεσμένα, τὰ δὲ ἀνιόντα, στοὰ τεταμένη τε εἰς μῆκος καὶ εἰς ὤραν ἀνθοῦσα τοσοῦτον ἔχουσα ἐν τῇ πόλει, ὄσον ὁ τοῦ Πέλοπος ωμος ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ Πέλοπος. ὅρα οὖν εἴ σοι λίαν ἀδεὲς ἕλκεσθαί με. ταύ- την μὲν οἶν τὴν παιδιὰν ἵλεως οἶδ’ ὅτι δέξῃ, κοινὴν δὲ ἡμῖν ἴσθι πεποιηκὼς ἑορτήν, ἃς Πομπηιανῷ παρέστησας ἐλπίδας. ὁ γὰρ ἀνὴρ οἷος εὖ πράττων πολίτας εὐφραίνειν. ἦν μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἐκ νέου μέτριος καὶ τὸ ἄλυπος εἶναι μελετῶν, ἐπή- σκησε δὲ τὸν τρόπον εἰς σέ τε βλέπων καἰ πειρώμενος αὑτὸν ἄξιον τῆς σῆς διανοίας δεικνύναι. διὸ δὴ καὶ νῦν ὑπὸ κοι- νῶν εὐχῶν στέλλεται πάντων ἐπιθυμούντων ἔγκαρπον αὐτῷ καταστῆναι τὴν ὁδόν. εἰ δὲ γένοιτο τῷ μὲν τὰ πατρῷα, ἡ μονὴ δὲ ἐμοί, παιᾶνα εἰς τοὺς αἰτίους ᾀσόμεθα.