Letter 547: A letter reached me from Italy describing the nonsense of some sham sophist and your laughter at him, together with...

To Anatolius. (357) There came to us from Italy a letter making clear the drivel of a certain sham sophist, and your mockery directed at him, but your praise directed at me. And indeed the letter urged me to write to you and to consider you the best of men toward me. That you are altogether the best of men, I cast my vote long ago; but I marvel at this in you, that, since you took up office, you have written to the others as before, yet toward me you have not kept up this very thing that was customary. Though at first I was at a loss, now I have ceased being at a loss; for I think I have discovered the source of the silence. You see that most of the sophists, whenever one of their intimates enters upon such an office as you now hold, run to the magistrate both with a speech and with a purse, displaying the one and giving the other, and through that man filling their own pockets. You were afraid, then, that I too might become one of those who run for this purpose, and for this reason indeed you withdrew from writing, robbing me of my boldness. And besides, you knew you owed me a little tunic, which you promised in Thrace but gave nowhere. This was a second thing you feared, lest on coming I should exact it from you. And to make me stay away you found a single compulsion: silence. But I will expose this stratagem of yours as well; for I will come. These things, then, you will receive as part of a jest; but I was very much delighted to hear what I had been expecting. I heard it while Strategius himself was speaking. It was evening, and we were sitting by the reservoir. And there was some discourse about the virtue of magistrates, in which it was not possible for your name not to be present. When one of those present said that none of your qualities was small, "but there is one indeed that is very great"—I said, "What is this great thing?" Strategius then, being just about to depart from the emperor, after many fine things added that: "O emperor, no rank shall rescue any of the wrongdoers, but even if it be one of the judges, even if it be one of those in command of the forces who transgresses the laws, I will not endure that it be overlooked." These things he was saying threaten you, but [reported] that the emperor both praised and gave permission, and that your word at once came to deed. For one of the generals, having turned coward against the barbarians, was put in chains. From him I heard these things with five present, but from me there is no one who has not heard, and there was applause, and no one could disbelieve, disbelieve. For the deed appeared to be of your nature. And I rejoiced in this way, not as one speaking about the things you do, but as being myself the one who does them, since you too have felt something equal regarding my speeches: you consider mine your own. Therefore it is likely that you also consider my friends your own. If indeed this is so, this Letoius is a friend to you, falling short in nothing of your own household toward me, and even surpassing some of them, since—though he had given up managing public affairs out of a desire for tranquility—for my sake he again laid hold of them, in order to ally himself to my affairs with a greater power. This man, if anything good befalls me, is also radiant, but in the other matters he outdoes me in being grieved. And he holds what is his in common with me, and if I do not receive something sent every other day, he says he has suffered dreadful things. And of the young men, those who are poor are, because of him, not poor; for he both sees to it that the deficiencies of those engaged with letters will not go unrecognized, and takes thought how he will relieve them. Though he had not decided to go on an embassy—for he had already met with the emperor when about to establish the Olympic games—he undertook the labor, relieving my uncle of the labor. With whatever measures, then, you would have employed on his behalf in making the men in office his allies, grant those to him to pursue; so that, if this man succeeds there according to his purpose, it will be possible for us here to take great pride.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (357) Ἧκεν ἡμῖν ἐξ Ἰταλίας γράμματα δηλοῦντα σοφιστοῦ τινος ὑποξύλου φληνάφους καὶ σὸν γέλωτα μὲν εἰς ἐκεῖνον, ἔπαινον δὲ εἰς ἐμέ. καὶ παρῄνει δὴ τὰ γράμματα γράφειν σοι καὶ νομίζειν ἀνδρῶν σε εἰς ἐμὲ βέλτιστον εἶναι ὑῶ δέ σε ἀνδρῶν μὲν ὅλως εἶναι βέλτιστον πάλαι δὴ ψῆφον ἐθέμην, θαυμάζω δέ σου τὸ ἐπειδὴ ἦρξας, τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις, ᾗ πρόσθεν, ἐπιστεῖλαι, πρὸς δὲ ἐμὲ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ εἰωθὸς μὴ τηρῆσαι. ἀπορῶν δὴ τὸ πρῶτον νῦν ἀπορῶν ἐπαυσάμην· εὑρηκέναι γὰρ οἶμαι, πόθεν ἡ σιγή. ὁρᾷς τῶν σοφιστῶν τοὺς πολλούς, ὅταν τις τῶν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτηδείων εἰς ἀρχὴν εἰσέλθῃ τοιαύτην, οἴαν καὶ σὺ νῦν, τρέχοντας παρὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα μετὰ λόγου καὶ βαλαντίου καὶ τὸν μὲν δεικνύντας, τὸ δὲ διδόντας καὶ δι ἐκείνου πληροῦντας. ἔδεισας δὴ μὴ γένωμαι καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦτο τρεχόντων, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δὴ τοῦ γράφειν ἀπέστης ἀφαιρούμενός με τὸ θαρρkν. πρὸς δὲ καὶ ᾔδεις ὀφείλων μοι χιτωνίσκον, ὃν ὑπέσχου μὲν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ, δέδωκας δὲ οuαμοῦ. τοῦτο δεύτερον ἴδεισας μή σε ἥκων εἰσπράττοιμι. καὶ πρὸς τὸ μένειν με μίαν εὗρες ἀνάγκην τὴν σιωπήν. ἀλλ’ ἐγώ σου καὶ ταύτην ἐλέγξω τὴν τέχνην· ἥξω γάρ. ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν ἐν παιδιᾶς δέξῃ μέρει· πάνυ δὲ ἥσθην ἀκούσας ἃ προσεδόκων. ἤκουσα δὲ ἐν Στρατηγίου λέγοντος αὐτοῦ. ἑσπέρα μὲν ἦν, προσεισι,ίκειμεν δὲ τῇ δεξαμενῇ. καὶ λόγος ἦν τις ὑπὲρ ἀρχόντων ἀρετῆς, ἐν ᾧ μὴ τὸ σὸν εἶναι ὄνομα οὐκ ἐνῆν. εἰπόντος δέ του τῶν παρόντων μηδὲν μὲν εἶναι τῶν σῶν μικρόν, ‘ὲν δὲ καὶ δὴ πάνυ μέγα ποῖον ἔφην τοῦτο τὸ μέγα; Στρατήγιος οὖν εὐθὺς μέλλων ἔφη πα- ρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπιέναι μετὰ πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ προσ- έθηκεν ὅτι, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τῶν ἀδικούντων οὐδένα οὺόὲν ἀξίωμα ῥύσεται, ἀλλὰ κἂν τῶν δικαζόντων τις,κἂντῶνἐπὶταἱςδυνάμεσιπαραβαίνη τοὺςνό- μους,οὐκἀνέζομαιἀμελεῖσθαι. ταῦτα σὲ μὲν ἔλεγεν ἀπειλεῖ τὸν δὲ ἐπαινεῖν τε καὶ ἐπιτρέπειν καὶ σοὶ τὸν λόγον εὐθὺς εἰς ἔργον ἐλθεῖν. τῶν γάρ τινα στρατηγῶν δειλὸν γενό- μένον πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους δεδέσθαι. παρ’ ἐκείνου μὲν ἐγὼ ταῦτα ἤκουσα πέντε παρόντων, παρ’ ἐμοῦ δὲ οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐκ ἀκήκοε, καὶ κρότος ἦν καὶ οὐδεὶς εἶχεν ἀπιστεῖν. ἀπιστεῖν. τῆς γὰρ σῆς φύσεως ἐφαίνετο τὸ ἔργον. ἐγὼ δὲ οὕτως ἔχαιρον, οὐχ ὡς λέγων περὶ ὧν σὺ ποιεῖς, ἀλλ’ ὡς αὐτὸς ὢν ὁ ποιῶν, ἐπεὶ καὶ σὺ περὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους ἴσον τι πέπονθας· σαυ- τοῦ τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἡγῇ. οὐκοῦν καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς φίλους σαυτοῦ νομίζειν εἰκός. εἰ δὴ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, φίλος σοι Λητόιος οὗτος τῶν οἰκείων οὐδὲν λειπόμενος εἰς ἐμέ, τινὰς δὲ καὶ παρελθών, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ τὰ κοινὰ πράττειν ἀφεὶς ἡσυχίας ἐπι- θυμίᾳ πάλιν αὐτῶν ἐμὴν χάριν ἀνθήψατο τοῦ τοῖς ἐμοῖς πράγμασιν ἀπὸ μείζονος τῆς δυνάμεως συμμαχεῖν. οὗτος, ἂν μὲν ἐμοί τι χρηστὸν ᾖ, καὶ φαιδρός, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἑτέροις τῷ λυπεῖσθαί με νικᾷ. καὶ τὰ ὄντα κοινά μοι κέκτηται, κἂν μὴ παρ’ ἡμέραν τι πέμψας λάβω, δεινὰ πεπονθέναι φησί. νέων δὲ ὅσοι πένητες, διὰ τοῦτον οὐ πένητες· τὰς γὰρ ἐνδείας τῶν περὶ τοὺς λόγους ὅπως τε μὴ ἀγνοήσει ποιεῖ καὶ ὅπως λύσει φροντίζει. πρεσβεύειν δὲ οὐκ ἐγνωκώς, ἤδη γὰρ ἐντετυχήκει τῷ βασιλεῖ μέλλων θήσειν τὰ Ὀλύμπια, τὸν θεῖον τὸν ἐμὸν ἀπαλλάττων τοῦ πόνου τὸν πόνον ὑπέστη. οἷς ἂν οὖν ἐχρήσω πράγμασιν ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου παῶν αὐτῷ συμμάχους τοὺς ἐν τέλει, ταῦτα τούτῳ δὸς ἄγειν· ὡς, ἂν οὗτος ἐκεῖ πράξῃ κατὰ νοῦν, ἡμῖν ἐνθάδε μέγα φρονεῖν ὑπάρξει.