Letter 478: Why I was reluctant to write, you learned from the letter I sent through the sons of Bassus — if you received it.

To Themistius. (356 AD) Why I was reluctant to write, you learned from the letter I sent through the sons of Bassus — if you received it. But that this Malchus, who is coming to you, should arrive without becoming your friend through me — that struck me as absurd. True, even without a letter from me, he would have sought you out before anyone else the moment he stepped off the ship, and you would have received him with the greatest warmth — that much is clear. But it is far more pleasant for both of you that I should be the one who brings you together. Malchus comes to you full of stories about you, some received from me, others from people who learned them from me and passed them on. About the man himself I will say only this: he is as good a person as you will find anywhere, and no less accomplished in rhetoric than he is in character. Make the city such for him that he praises his journey. Or rather, you need do nothing else — if you grant him this one thing, that you recognize him for the man he is and count him among your friends, he will have gained the greatest reward of his travels.

Θεμιστίῳ. (356) Δι’ μὲν ὀκνηρῶς πρὸς τὸ ἐπιστέλλειν ἔσχον, παρὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ἔμαθες, εἴπερ ἔλαβες, ἃ διὰ τῶν Βάσσου παίδων ἔπεμπον. Μάλχον δὲ τουτονὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀφικνούμενον μὴ δι’ ἐμοῦ σοι γενέσθαι φίλον τῶν ἀτόπων ἐφαίνετό μοι. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ καὶ χωρὶς ἐμῶν γραμμάτων οὗτός τε τῆς νεὼς ἐκβὰς σὲ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων εὐθὺς ἔμελλε ζητήσειν σύ τε προσιόντα τοῦτον ὡς ἡμερώτατα δέξεσθαι, δῆλον, μακρῷ δὲ ἥδιον ἀμ- φοῖν ἐμὲ τὸν συνάγοντα εἶναι. Μάλχος μὲν οὖν πλήρης ὢν τῶν περὶ σοῦ λόγων ἔρχεται τοὺς μὲν παρ’ ἐμοῦ δεξάμενος, τοὺς δὲ παρ’ ἄλλων, οἳ παρ’ ἐμοῦ μαθόντες ἄλλους διδάσκουσι· περὶ δὲ τοῦδε γράφω τοσοῦτον, ὅτι χρηστὸς μὲν ὡς οὐκ ἄλλος, ῥητορικὸς δὲ οὐχ ἧττον ἢ χρηστός. ποίει δὲ τὴν πόλιν αὐτῷ τοιαύτην ὥστε αὐτὸν ἐπαινεῖν τῆς ὁδοῦ. μᾶλλον δέ, οὐδέν σε δεῖ τὰ ἄλλα πονεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἢν ‘ὲν τοῦτο χαρίσῃ τὸ νο- μίσαι τὸν ἄνδρα οἷός ἐστι καὶ γράψασθαι ἐν ἐπιτηδείοις, τὰ μέγιστα ἀπολέλαυκε τῆς ὁδοῦ.