Letter 570: Fortune did not plan well for you, but you, I think, have planned well for yourself.

To Themistius. Fortune did not plan well for you, but you, I think, have planned well for yourself. Fortune took your son Themistius from you -- the boy I once nourished on the precepts of Isocrates [the great Athenian orator and educator]. But the disaster has not overwhelmed you. You remain within the laws of philosophy, showing courage in the face of Fortune. It is, I believe, characteristic of a man who has borne the blow thus far not to become soft about it afterward. It would be shameful for someone who was not broken at the first shock to give way as time goes on. You knew Iamblichus to be a good man when he came to visit us. Now treat him well as a good man deserves. The greatest kindness you can do him is to consider him your friend and to show others that you regard him as one. A descendant of philosophers certainly deserves to be honored by a philosopher. He takes pride in the virtues of his forebears, but what matters more to him than being born of such people is being worthy of them. Even though he did not receive as much education as he desired -- orphanhood prevented it -- his natural gifts and the nobility of his character are fitting for philosophy.

Θεμιστίῳ. (357) Ὁ μὲν δαίμων οὐ καλῶς ὑπὲρ τῶν σῶν ἐβουλεύσατο, σὺ δέ, οἶμαι, καλῶς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀφῄρηταί σε Θεμίστιον, ὃν ἐγώ ποτε ταῖς Ἰσοκράτους παραινέσεσιν ἔθρεψα· σὲ δὲ οὐ κατέ- κλυσεν ἡ συμφορά, μένεις δὲ ἐν τοῖς φιλοσοφίας νόμοις ἀνδρίᾳ χρώμενος πρὸς τὴν Τύχην. ἔστι δέ, οἶμαι, τοῦ μέχρι νῦν ἐνηνοχότος τὸ κακὸν τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸ πά- θος μαλακόν. αἰσχρὸν γὰρ εὐθὺς οὐ προαχθέντα προἰόντος ἐνδοῦναι τοῦ χρόνου. τὸν δ’ Ἰάμβλιχον ἔγνως μὲν ἐλθὼν ὡς ἡμᾶς ἀγαθόν, εὖ ποίει δὲ νῦν ὡς ἄνδρα ἀγαθόν. μεγίστη δὲ εὐεργεσία φίλον τε σαυτοῦ νομίσαι καὶ δεῖξαι τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὅτι αὐτὸν ἡγοῖο φίλον. πάντως δὲ τὸν ἐξ ἐκείνων παρὰ σοὶ δεῖ κεκρίσθαι τίμιον, τὸν ἐκ τῶν φιλοσόφων παρὰ τῷ φιλο- σοφοῦντι. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ταῖς τῶν πατέρων ἀρεταῖς σε- μνύνεται, μεῖζον δέ ἐστιν αὐτῷ τοῦ φῦναι ἐκ τοιούτων τὸ γε- νέσθαι τούτων ἄξιον. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ λόγων ὅσων ἐπεθύμει μετέσχεν ὀρφανίᾳ κωλυθείς, ἥ γε φύσις καὶ τὸ τῶν ἠθῶν γενναῖον φιλοσοφίᾳ πρέποντα.