Letter 557

To Aristainetus. Your praises of the good Spectatus are entirely fitting, and by those praises you are honoring our whole family. As for the distinction the emperor has bestowed on you, you kept quiet about it, but Spectatus revealed it. He said he was more pleased for the one who gave the honor than for the one who received it -- so true it is that whoever does something generous toward you has first done himself a favor. Your reluctance to bestir yourself, your staying put and refusing to move -- that is hardly admirable, but it is very much in character. So I did not need to ask what you have decided to do; I said in advance what you will do. But you need to shed your inertia and, through a small effort, acquire great ease -- especially since you will be going to a man who is first in everything and whose company confers distinction. On that subject, you will deliberate with yourself. But this man Pelagius -- once you know him, you will have met the gentlest soul in Syria. I praise him starting from that quality, not because he lacks the others: he has birth, eloquence, influence in his city, and everything else that could make a man distinguished. But it is through the gentleness of his character, more than through all those things, that he has made his name. That is why he lives in great wealth and even greater affection. You will not need many months to reach the same verdict about the man. Once you meet him and hear him speak and see his modesty -- for he always shows it -- you will admire that he is who he is, and call the people who have him fortunate.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (357) Πρέποντά γε εἰς τὸν καλὸν Σπεκτάτον ᾄδεις, καὶ τοῖς γε εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἐπαίνοις τὸ γένος ἡμῶν ἴσθι κοσμῶν. τὴν τι- μὴν δέ, ᾐ σε τιμᾷ βασιλεύς, σὺ μὲν ἐσίγησας, ὁ δὲ ἐμήνυσεν. ἔφη γὰρ τῷ διδόντι μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ λαβόντι συνησθῆναι. οὕτως ὁ τι ἄν τις περὶ σὲ σπουδάσῃ, τούτῳ πρῶτον εὖ πεποίηκεν αὑτόν. τὸ δὲ ὀκνεῖν τε καὶ μένειν καὶ μὴ κινεῖσθαι ἐθέ- λειν ἥκιστα μὲν καλόν, τοῦ δὲ σοῦ τρόπου· ὥστ’ οὐκ ἐδεήθην ὅ τι ποιεῖν ἔγνωκας ἐρωτᾶν, ἀλλ’ εἶπον φθάσας ὃ ποιήσεις. δεῖ δέ σε τὴν ἀργίαν ἐκδύντα μικροῖς πόνοις μεγάλην κτήσασθαι ῥᾳστώνην, ἄλλως θ’ ὅτε πορεύσῃ παρ’ ἄνδρα τὰ πάντα πρῶτον καὶ ᾧ κοινωνῆσαι πραγμάτων ἔχει τι δόξης. ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ τούτου μὲν σαυτῷ διαλέξῃ· Πελάγιον δὲ του τονὶ γνοὺς ἐγνωκὼς ἔσῃ τὸν ἡμερώτατον Σύροις. ἐπαινῶ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν αὐτόν, οὐχ ὡς οὐκ ἔχοντα καὶ γένος, ἐπεὶ καὶ λό- γους καὶ δύναμιν ἐν πόλει καὶ τἄλλα οἷς ἄν τις εἴη λαμπρός, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τῇ τῶν τρόπων ἡμερότητι πλέον ἢ δι’ ἐκείνων ἧκεν εἰς ὄνομα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ζῇ τε ἐν πλούτῳ πολλῷ καὶ φίλτρῳ πλέον. δεήσῃ δὲ οὐ πολλῶν μηνῶν εἰς τὸ ταὐτὰ ψηφίσα- σθαι περὶ τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἀλλ’ ἢν συμμίξας ἀκούσῃς τε φθεγγο- μένου καὶ αἰδούμενον ἴδῃς, ἀεὶ γὰρ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, τὸν μὲν ὅτι τοιοῦτός ἐστι θαυμάσῃ τοὺς δὲ ἔχοντας αὐτὸν εὐδαίμονας ἡγήσῃ.