Letter 566: This man is the son of Himerius, nephew of Sopater, namesake of Iamblichus [the famous Neoplatonist philosopher],...

To Aristaenetus. (357) Since you have the son of Himerius, the nephew of Sopater, the namesake of Iamblichus, and one who is both my kinsman and my friend, consider him at once your own friend too, and do not blend yourself with the young man little by little, but upon receiving this letter throw open to him all your affairs, not judging his character by his age, but on the basis of his character placing the young man among the old. This man loves me as a mother does, feels shame before me as a son does, and fears me as a household servant would. And the greatest of the qualities in him is this: believing that the worship of the gods is the strongest compulsion toward the practice of virtue, he would sooner accept becoming an Irus [a beggar] while honoring them than a Cinyras [a man of fabled wealth] while failing to honor them. Having inherited his ancestral estate and his father's friends, he increased the portion that consisted of the friends, but the portion of the estate he did not value; rather, approving of Euripides when he says that it belongs to the man of means to purchase a sure friend with much money, in acquiring this possession he spends from what he has. And when you have heard who it is that summons him, and with what intention he proceeds toward that to which he is summoned, you will marvel at him for his not marveling at wealth, you will praise the wisdom by which he tries to escape the things he does not consider noble, and you will count him blessed for his judgment concerning things divine. Therefore, after entertaining this noble nature as your guest and joining in his prayer that he may be released, send him on to Italy, or rather to Syria.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (357) Τὸν Ἱμερίου μὲν υἱόν, Σωπάτρου δὲ ἀδελφιδοῦν, Ἰαμ- βλίχῳ δὲ ὁμώνυμον, ἐμὸν δὲ καὶ συγγενῆ καὶ φίλον ἔχων εὐθὺς ἡγοῦ καὶ σαυτοῦ φίλον καὶ μὴ κατὰ βραχὺ συγκεράννυ τῷ νεανίσκῳ σαυτόν, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τοῖς γράμμασιν ἀναπέτασον αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ πράγματα μὴ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ κρίνων τὸν τρόπον, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ τρόπου τὸν νέον τιθεὶς εἰς γέροντας. οὗτος ἐμὲ φιλεῖ μὲν ὥσπερ ἡ μήτηρ, αἰσχύνεται δὲ ὥσπερ υἱός, φοβεῖται δὲ ὡς ἂν οἰκέτης. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ, νο- μίζων τὴν μεγίστην ἀνάγκην εἰς ἀρετῆς ἄσκησιν εἶναι θεοὺς τιμῶν δέξαιτ’ ἂν Ἶρος γενέσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ μὴ τιμῶν Κινύρας. κληρονομήσας δὲ πατρῴας οὐσίας καὶ φίλων τὸ μὲν τῶν φίλων ηὔξησε μέρος, τὸ δὲ ἐκείνης οὐκ ἠξίωσεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπαι- νῶν Εὐριπίδην λέγοντα τοῦν ἔχοντος εἶναι φίλον πρίασθαι χρημάτων πολλῶν σαφῆ, τοῦτο τὸ κτῆμα κτώμενος ἀναλίσκει τῶν ὄντων. ἀκούσας δέ, τίς μὲν αὐτὸν ὁ καλῶν, ἐφ’ ὃ δὲ καλούμενος τίνι γνώμῃ πορεύεται, θαυμάσῃ μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸ μὴ θαυμάσαι πλοῦτον, ἐπαινέσῃ δὲ τὴν σοφίαν, ᾗ πειρᾶται δια- φεύγειν ἃ μὴ μομίζει καλά, μακάριον δὲ ἡγήσῃ τῆς περὶ τὰ θεὶα κρίσεως. ξενίσας οὖν τὴν γενναίαν φύσιν καὶ συνευ- ξάμενος αὐτῷ λυθῆναι πέμπε ἐπ’ Ἰταλίας, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπὶ Συρίας.