Letter 442

To Themistius, philosopher in Constantinople. (355) You have been granted the chance to see our city's representatives without even stirring from home. The men for whose sake it would have been worth your visiting us -- they have come to you instead. One has long been your friend; the other will become so now. Of these two men, no one in our city is better, and few are their equals. I would venture to say no one elsewhere either. As for me -- there is nothing you could ask them that they would claim not to know.

Θεμιστίῳ. (355) Ὑπῆρξέ σοι καὶ μένοντι τὴν ἡμετέραν ὁρᾶν. δι’ οὓς γὰρ ἦν σοι παρ’ ἡμᾶς ἄξιον ἐλθεῖν, οἵδε ἥκουσι παρὰ σέ, ὁ μὲν πάλαι σοι φίλος, ὁ δὲ νῦν ἐσόμενος. τοῖν δὲ ἀνδροῖν τού- τοιν ἀμείνων μὲν παρ’ ἡμῖν οὐδείς, ἴσοι δὲ οὐ πολλοί· φαίην δ’ ἂν ὡς οὐδὲ ἄλλοθι. περὶ δὲ ἡμῶν οὐδὲν ἐρήσῃ τοιοῦτον ὃ φήσουσιν ἀγνοεῖν.