Letter 544: What was expected has come to pass.

To Anatolius (356/57) And what was expected has come to pass; for, to put it by altering the line, it is true that there is no one who did not hope for your present office. Thus you have not laid hold of what belongs to others in your present position, but you have received exactly what is your own, and all men cried out loudly, counting blessed those over whom you preside, praising the one who appointed you, and rejoicing together with you that you have obtained an occasion for the display of your excellence. And this is the charming thing about the many: for while you are still in the very beginnings of your office, they use their words not as of one who is going to do many good things for the cities, but as of one who has already done them all, and they describe what is yet to come as already accomplished; such is the reputation that comes over the inhabited world. But of those who took pleasure most of all, I myself was not among those who received a letter, but I was one of those saying, "A letter has come to so-and-so, and he has honored so-and-so with a letter." And perhaps this was done with reason; for it befits one's pride to be a match for one's rank. But there was previously something lowly in honoring you among the offices, so that I am afraid that even the coming of a letter to you from us may turn into a charge against me. Know that I am truly afraid. And though I am able to praise from every side that man best in all things, Sarapodorus, I keep silent, lest this become a fault for the foremost of the Egyptians.

Ἀνατολίῳ (356/57) Καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντα ἐτελέσθη· μεταθέντα γὰρ εἰπεῖν ἀληθὲς ὡς οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὅστις οὐκ ἤλπισε τὴν παροῦσαν ἀρχήν· οὕτως οὐκ ἀλλοτρίων ἅπτῃ τῶν νῦν, ἀλλ’ ἀκριβῶς ἐδέξω τὰ σαυτοῦ, καὶ μέγα πάντες ἐβόησαν ἄνθρωποι μακαρίζοντες μὲν ὧν ἐπιστατεῖς, ἐπαινοῦντες δὲ τὸν ἐπιστήσαντα, συγχαίροντες δὲ σοὶ τοῦ λαβεῖν ἀφορμὴν πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς. χάριεν δὲ ἐκεῖνο τῶν πολλῶν· ὄντος γὰρ ἔτι σοῦ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐν προοιμίοις οὐχ ὡς ποιήσοντος πολλὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰς πόλεις, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἤδη πάντα πεποιηκότος χρῶνται τοῖς λόγοις καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐσομένων ὡς ἤδη τετελεσμένων διηγοῦνται· τοιαύτη δόξα τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπέρχεται. τῶν δὲ ἡδομένων μάλιστα ὦν αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐγενόμην τῶν λαβόντων ἐπιστολήν, ἀλλ’ εἷς ἦν τῶν λεγόντων῾ ἥκει τῷ δεῖνι γράμματα καὶ τὸν δεῖνα ἐτίμησε γράμμασι. καὶ ἴσως εἰκότως τόδε ἐπράττετο· τῷ γὰρ ἀξιῶ ματι προσήκει τὸ φρόνημα ἀντίπαλον εἶναι. τὸ δ’ ὂν πρό- τερόν τί σε τιμᾶν ἐν ταῖς ἐξουσίαις ταπεινόν, ὥστ’ ἐγὼ δέ- δοικα μὴ καὶ τὸ γράμματά σοι παρ’ ἡμῶν ἐλθεῖν εἰς ἔγκλημα ἀφίκηταί μοι. γνῶθι δ’ ὡς ἀληθῶς φοβοῦμαι. τὸν δὲ πάντα ἄριστον Σαραπόδωρον ἔχων ἐπαινεῖν πανταχόθεν σιω- πῶ, μὴ τοῦτο τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐλάττωμα γένηται.