Letter 486: I wrote to you at the start of winter.

To Barbation. (356 AD) I wrote to you at the start of winter. Clematius was the one who took the letter — a man who spent the entire summer here and passed all his time singing your praises. Not that he was teaching us anything we didn't already know, unless the Cretan needs lessons about the sea. But there was something charming in the way he celebrated your virtues — with shouting, with all his heart, and practically leaping in the air. Seeing this, I thought it fitting that my first letter should reach you through a man who is fond of me and both fond of and full of admiration for you. But it seems you never received it. For when you wrote to your uncle about us, you sent no letter to me — the one you've kept stationed here. Well, your uncle will either deliver a greeting eventually or bear a complaint from me. As for you, in return for your devotion to us, may you have trophies over the barbarians and the emperor's unfailing favor. From us your reward is praise — for our currency is words — and beyond that, may your sons be enrolled in the schools ahead of all others.

Βαρβατίωνι. (356) Περὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐπέστειλά σοι, Κλημάτιος δὲ ἦν ὁ λαβὼν κομίζειν, ἀνὴρ ἅπαν μὲν τὸ θέρος διατρίψας ἐνθάδε, πάντα δὲ τὸν χρόνον ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ σοῦ λόγοις διεξελ- θῶν καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντας μὲν ἐδίδασκεν, εἰ μὴ καὶ ὁ Κρὴς τὴν θάλατταν· ἦν δὲ αὐτοῦ χάριεν τὸ σὺν βοῇ καὶ παντὶ θυμῷ καὶ μετὰ πηδημάτων μεμνῆσθαι τῶν σῶν καλῶν. ἃ ἐγὼ καθορῶν ἠγησάμην πρέπον τὰ πρῶτα τῶν γραμμάτων δι’ ἀνδρὸς ἐλθεῖν σοι φιλοῦντος μὲν ἐμέ, σὲ δὲ τοῦτό τε αὐτὸ καὶ θαυμάζοντος. ἀλλ’ ἔοικας οὐ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπιστολήν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τῷ θείῳ γράφων ὅπερ ἡμῶν αὐτῷ μοι γραμμάτων οὐ μετέδωκας, ᾧ τὸ μένειν ἐνταῦθα δέδωκας. ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἢ δώσει ποτὲ τὴν πρόσρησιν ἡ μέμψιν οἴσεται σοὶ δὲ ἀντὶ τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς σπουδῆς τρόπαιά τε ἀπὸ βαρβάρων εἴη καὶ τὸ διὰ τέλους ἀρέσκειν τῷ βασιλεῖ, παρ’ ἡμῶν δὲ μισθὸς ἔπαι- νος, τὰ γὰρ ἡμέτερα ἐν λόγοις, καὶ προσέτι τοὺς υἱεῖς σοι πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν μουσείοις τετάχθαι.