Letter 485: Even if you had sent a letter without actually helping me, you would have been counted among those who showed the...

To Datianus. (356) Even if you had sent us a letter without having helped us at all by your actions, you would have been ranked among those who had done us the greatest favors; but as it is, by helping you preserved us, and having preserved us you wrote, benefiting us by the one and adorning us by the other, adding fine things to fine things. The pipes, they say, after the lyre. The others, then, standing around, marveled, applauded, and made continual mention of your divine person; but I, growing exultant, said that it was not possible even for him, should he wish it, to be careless about my safety. And when they were at a loss as to what my saying meant, I recounted his benefactions, the first, the second, the third, the fourth, and the rest, which he who received them knows, but he who gave them has forgotten. Then I asked whether the merchant ship that Poseidon had saved across the long seas, this same ship he would overlook as it was being wrecked beside the harbor. "But neither will that one," I said, "nor will this man, deliver me from evils to the very end, since he is himself emulating his own deeds." For me, then, you have granted, and you do grant, and you will grant, the power to sleep secure on both sides; and as for Antiochus, I count him fortunate for the praises with which, in writing, you yourself were praising, and because he was clearly one who knew you. And he knows you well, whoever considers you the best of beings, which indeed Antiochus too considers you to be. This, then, I reckon a piece of good fortune for the man who holds this opinion. For whoever has been persuaded of the right things concerning the gods, the gain is his own. So, both in other respects the emperor is great in our eyes, and also for the virtue of the partner who shares his cares.

Δατιαμῷ. (356) Εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἡμῖν τοῖς ἔργοις βεβοηθηκὼς γράμματα ἐπεπόμφεις, ἐν τοῖς τὰ μέγιστα κεχαρισμένοις ἐτέταξο ἄν· νῦν δὲ καὶ βοηθῶν ἔσωζες καὶ σώσας ἐπέστελλες, τῷ μὲν ὠφελῶν, τῷ δὲ κοσμῶν καὶ καλὰ καλοῖς προστιθείς. αὐλοί φασι μετὰ λύραν. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι περιστάντες ἐθαύμαζον, ἐκρότουν, ἐμέμνηντο συνεχῶς τῆς θείας κεφαλῆς· ἐγὼ δὲ ἁβρυνόμενος οὐδὲ γὰρ βουλομένῳ ῥᾳθυμεῖν αὐτῷ περὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἔστιν ἔφην. ἀπορούντων δέ, ὅ τι μοι νοοῖ τὸ ῥηθέν, κατέλεγον εὐεργεσίαν πρώτην, δευτέραν, τρίτην τετάρτην, τὰς ἄλλας, ἃς ὁ λαβὼν μὲν οἶδεν, ὁ δοὺς δὲ ἐπι- λέλησται. ἔπειτα ἠρώτων εἰ ἣν διὰ μακρῶν πελαγῶν ἴσωσεν ὁλκάδα ὁ Ποσειδῶν, ταύτην ἂν περιίδοι πρὸς τῷ λιμένι ῥηγνυ- μένην. ἀλλ᾿ οὔτε ἐκεῖνος ἔφην οὗτός τε ἐμὲ διὰ τέλους ἐξαιρήσεται κακῶν αὐτὸς τἀ αὑτοῦ ζηλῶν. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν ἐπ’ ἀμφότερα καθεύδειν δέδωκάς τε καὶ δίδως καὶ δώ- σεῖς· Ἀντίοχον δὲ τῶν ἐπαίνων, οὓς ἐπιστέλλων αὐτὸς ἐπῄ- νεις, εὐδαιμονίζω καὶ ὅτι σε δῆλος ἦν εἰδώς. οἶδε δέ σε κα- λῶς ὅστις ἂν ἡγῆταί σε τῶν ὄντων ἄριστον, ὃ δὴ καὶ Ἀντίο- χος ἡγεῖται. τοῦτ’ οὖν εὐτύχημα τοῦ ταύτῃ δοξάζοντος τίθεμαι. καὶ γὰρ ὅστις ἃ χρὴ πέπεισται περὶ τῶν θεῶν, αὐτοῦ τὸ κέρδος. τά τε οὖν ἄλλα μέγας ἡμῖν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τῇ τοῦ κοινωνοῦ τῶν φροντίδων ἀρετῇ.