Letter 437: The usual news has reached us: the emperor has won a victory and a barbarian nation has been destroyed.

The usual news has reached us: the emperor has won a victory and a barbarian nation has been destroyed. We savor this pleasure while hoping for the next. And the next is this: a letter from you bearing an account of the battle and a tribute to the victor. So announce the news to your eager audience, finest and most fortunate of heralds, you who live alongside a noble champion. And let the wrestler grant me this favor in return for your voice: to remain quietly in my bed, since I can do nothing now but admire the deeds of others -- so thoroughly weakened am I in every way. And you too -- grant me this favor: not only to act on my behalf, but also to write. How do you think I felt when I learned that you wrote to my uncle on my behalf, yet sent me nothing?

Καλλιοπίῳ. (355) Ἧκεν εἰς ἡμᾶς τὰ εἰωθότα· νενίκηκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ βαρβάρων ἔθνος ἐκκέκοπται. ταύτην δὲ καρπούμενοι τὴν ἡδο- νὴν τὴν ἑτέραν ἐλπίζομεν. αὕτη δέ ἐστι σὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐλθεῖν διδαχήν τε ἔχουσαν τῆς μάχης καὶ τοῦ κεκρατηκότος ἐγκώ- μιον. ὡς οὖν μετέωρον ἔχων τὸ θέατρον κήρυττε, ὦ κηρύ- κων ἄριστε καὶ εὐδαιμονέστατε, γενναίῳ συζῶν ἀθλητῇ. δότω δὲ σοὶ χάριν ἀντὶ τῆς φωνῆς ὁ παλαιστὴς τὸ μένειν ἀτρέμας ἐν δεμνίοις ἐμὲ τὸν οὐδὲν ἔτι δυνάμενον πλὴν τὰ ἑτέρων θαυ- μάζειν· οὕτω πανταχῶς ἀσθενῶ. καὶ σὺ δὲ δὸς ἡμῖν χάριν τὸ πρὸς τῷ τι πράττειν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν καὶ ἐπιστέλλειν. νῦν δὲ πῶς, οἴει, διετέθην, ἡνίκα πρὸς μὲν τὸν θεῖον ἔγραφες ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἡμῖν ἐπέστελλες οὐδέν;