Letter 465: The "reputation" you mention — I believe it is Traianus, for he is the one who convinced himself that I amount to...

To Elias. (355/56) What you call rumor seems to me to be Trajan, for he is the one who persuaded himself that I was someone of consequence, and who draws many others into sharing that opinion. And thanks to you for not making the failure to receive my letter into a pretext for not writing yourself, but instead for setting apart what is owed to me and the negligence of the servants. If I were not concerned for the young men whom you are nurturing with literature, you would have been carried off to us by force. But as things stand, it has seemed best to me not to begrudge them the winter, but to reserve that visit for the summer. If you should rid us of the affliction of our kidney, you have persuaded us to go on living; for as matters now stand, it is a misfortune for us not to be dead.

Ἠλίᾳ. (355/56) Ἣν μὲν κ.αλεῖς φήμην, Τραϊανὸς εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ, ἐκεῖνος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ πείσας τε αὑτὸν ὡς εἴην ἐγώ τι, καὶ πολλοὺς ἕλκων εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς δόξης, χάρις δέ σοι τοῦ μὴ ποιήσα- σθαι πρόφασιν εἰς τὸ μὴ γράψαι τὸ μὴ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπιστολήν, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς θεῖναι τό τε ἐμὸν καὶ τὴν τῶν οἰκετῶν κακίαν. εἰ δὲ μὴ τῶν νέων, οὓς τῇ μουσικῇ τρέφεις, ἐκηδόμην, ἁρπασθεὶς ἂν ἦσθα παρ’ ἡμῖν. νῦν δὲ ἔδοξέ μοι τοις μὲν μὴ φθονῆσαι τοῦ χειμῶνος, τὸ δὲ τῷ θέρει τηρῆσαι. τὸν νε- φρὸν δὲ ἡμῖν ἢν ἀπαλλάξῃς τοῦ πάθους, ζῆν ἡμᾶς πέπεικας· ὡς νῦν γε ἡμῖν ἐν συμφορᾷ τὸ μὴ τεθνάναι.