Letter 471: I admit I don't write often.

To Themistius. (356 AD) I admit I don't write often. The fault is yours. I'm amazed I've written even now. So what did you do to force my silence? Every letter you receive is immediately known to people here. By betraying Philios, you think it is the Carian who is endangered. You display my letters in the agora, and a wind rising from there and striking here stirs up waves against me — the kind of trouble Macedonius knows about and will explain if anyone asks. That first blow cannot be healed. I beg you not to add a second. And when you urge me not to forget my friends in my good fortune, you yourself appear to have forgotten your friend. You knew long ago that none of those things the crowd considers blessings ever impressed me, but now you refuse to remember — though you often reproached me for declining to court the powers of governors, a habit I guard even more carefully now that my homeland gives me greater confidence. Besides, even if I were so disposed as to consider that a blessing, the power now belongs to others — the very people who have stripped us of power. Find someone else, then, to broker your reconciliation. I'm afraid that if I touch the matter I'll become an Akesias [a proverbially incompetent healer].

Θεμιστίῳ. (356) Ὁμολογῶ μὴ πυκνὰ γράφειν. ἡ δὲ αἰτία παρ’ ὑμῖν. Με καὶ νῦν ὅτι γέγραφα θαυμάζω. τί οὖν ἀδικοῦντες ἠναγκάσατέ με σιγᾶν; ἣν ἂν ἐπιστολὴν λάβητε, τοῖς ἐνταῦθα εὐθὺς ἔγνω- σται. καὶ προδιδόντες τὸν Φίλιον ἐν τῷ Καρὶ κινδυνεύειν οἴεσθε. εἶθ’ ὑμεῖς μὲν ἐπ’ ἀγορᾶς δείκνυτε τὰ γράμματα, πνεῦμα δὲ ἐκεῖθεν ἀρθὲν καὶ δεῦρο ἐμπεσὸν κύματα ἡμῖν ἐγεί- ρει καὶ ποιεῖ ταῦτα ἃ Μακεδόνιος εἰδώς, εἴ τις ἔροιτο, διδά- ξει. τὴν μὲν οὖν πληγὴν ἐκείνην οὐκ ἂν ἰάσαιτό τις, δέο- μαι δὲ ὑμῶν μὴ προσθεῖναι δευτέραν. ὅταν δέ μοι παραινῇς μὴ τῷ πράττειν εὖ τῶν φίλων ἀμνημονεῖν, αὐτὸς ἐπιλελῆσθαι φαίνῃ τῶν φίλων. ἐμὲ γὰρ ὅτι τούτων δὴ τῶν τοῖς πολ- λοῖς δοκούντων ἀγαθῶν οὐδὲν οὐδεπώποτε ἐπῆρε, πάλαι μὲν ᾔδεις, νῦν δὲ οὐ βούλει καίτοι μοι πολλάκις ἐπιτιμῶν ὅτι τὰς τῶν ἀρχόντων δυνάμεις οὐκ ἠξίουν θεραπεύειν, ὃ τοσούτῳ νῦν πλέον φυλάττεται, ὅσῳ προστίθησιν εἰς τὸ θαρρεῖν ἡ πα- τρίς. καὶ μὴν εἰ καὶ σφόδρα οὕτως εἶχον ὡς τοῦτο εὐτυ- χίαν ἄγειν, ἑτέρων γε νῦν τὸ δύνασθαι τῶν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀφῃρη- μένων τὸ δύνασθαι. ζήτει οὖν, ὅστις σοι πράξει τὰς διαλλα- γάς· ὡς ἔγωγε δέδοικα μὴ τοῦ πράγματος ἁπτόμενος Ἀκεσίας γένωμαι.