Letter 546: Do you not think I would give anything to have delivered that speech with you in the audience?

To Themistius. Do you not think I would give anything to have delivered that speech with you in the audience? But I could not decently hold you back, and I was not yet able to perform. I am concerned about how both this piece and quite a few others will sit with you. No one could better rescue the flawed passages, and the parts that are not badly done could not find a more discerning admirer. You already knew Letoius from before, when I was staying with you and he was passing through on his way to the emperor. When you came here, you found him well regarded. If you now make him a close friend, you will not regret the decision. He knows how to be loyal, and -- what you especially practice and value -- he knows how to stay loyal. He has been worth a great many things to me: speaking where speech was needed, acting where action was called for, giving where generosity was required -- and all without losing his goodwill. So let him be honored in your eyes, both for his own nature and for what he has done for me.

Θεμιστίῳ. (356/57) Εἶτ᾿ οὐκ οἴει με τοῦ παντὸς ἂν πρίασθαι τὸ σοῦ καθη- μένου δεῖξαι τὸν λόγον; ἀλλ’, οἶμαι, σέ τε κωλύειν οὐκ ἦν καλὸν ἐμοί τε λέγειν οὐκ ἦν πω δυνατόν. τοῦ δὲ ὅπως κείσεται παρὰ σοὶ καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ὀλίγα φρον- τιῶ. τοῖς τε γὰρ ἡμαρτημένοις οὐκ ἂν ἄλλος ἄμεινον βοηθοὶ τά τε μὴ κακῶς εἰρημένα δεξιώτερον ἐπαινέτην οὐκ ἂν λάβοι. Λητόιον δὲ καὶ πρότερον ἔγνως, ἡνίκα παρ’ ὑμῖν μὲν ἦν ἐγώ, παρὰ δὲ τὸν βασιλέα δι’ ὑμῶν οὗτος ἐχώρει, καὶ δεῦρο ἥκων εὗρες ἐν δόξῃ. καὶ νῦν ἐντυχών, εἰ πάνυ ποιήσαιο φί- λον, οὐ φήσεις βεβουλεῦσθαι κακῶς. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ φιλεῖν εἰδέναι καὶ μένειν οἶδεν ἐν τῷ φιλεῖν, ὃ δὴ καὶ σὺ μάλιστα ποιεῖς τε καὶ τιμᾷς. ἡμῖν δὲ ἀντὶ πολλῶν κατέστη λέγων, οὗ λέγειν ἔδει, πράττων, οὗ πράττειν ἴδει, διδούς, ἐν ᾧ χρῆν ἀναλώσαντα Μαὶ τὴν εὔνοιαν. ἔστω δὴ παρὰ σοὶ τίμιος καὶ φύσεως εἵνεκα καὶ τῶν πρὸς ἡμᾶς.