Letter 573: That was unmistakably your letter.

To Anatolius. (357) The letter was so clearly yours that, even if the name of the sender had not been written upon it, I would certainly have discovered the writer from what was set down in it. For you are insolent, and the letter had much of this quality, on account of which I also marvel that you have not been drawn away from your accustomed manner even by the multitude of your affairs. That you have written nothing sound, I will demonstrate. For first you said that this was the reason you did not write to me alone of all men: that, being angry, I had struck you with words. But this did not at once make it necessary for the man who had received no letter to act so; rather it had its reason, and it was not beyond what is likely that one pained at not receiving a letter should keep silence. For do not consider whether, had I written, I would have borne being overlooked gently; but consider that grief follows upon being neglected, and that upon grief silence would, not unreasonably, have followed. By this argument, then, you have been refuted, and very brilliantly too; and by calling me a flatterer you reveal yourself to be the lover of a flatterer. For if flattering is an evil, and this is in me, and you rank me before the many, you confess that you love some worthless man. And if this too is true, that whoever delights in those things which do not befit him is worthless, then our august prefect appears to us as worthless. And I marvel if you, in order to obtain your office, did not flatter, whereas I, needing neither to rule nor to grow rich at your hands, shamed myself—I who, in order that I might not become a flatterer, accepted being poor; since for one who knew how to flatter, much wealth would have been wrought. But as it is, we are equally far removed from affluence and from flattery, and I am not vexed at not being rich, but I take pride in not being a slave. I, then, say that I flee these things, which indeed I do flee in my deeds, and I am not a flatterer, but I am indignant at hearing what I am not, after the manner of Lasthenes; whereas you desire praises—and you do well, for great is the constraint toward the practice of virtue—but in pretending to despise them you do not do well, since you deceive. But neither do you do that well, attempting to deceive one whom you cannot carry off. For if I am ignorant of Phaedrus, I am also ignorant of his mother. Then you urge me to let go of praising and to hold fast to accusing. If, then, you persuade me to accuse one who does no wrong, you do nothing other than play the false accuser; but if you persuade me to accuse one who truly does wrong, persuade yourself not to do wrong rather than to accuse us. For it is much better to be clean of suspicion than, while making use of it, to seek out someone who will denounce the matter. But [you say] I praise the not-good on an equal footing with the good, and on this account you flee the praises that come from us. But that man was praised most of all, while many did not possess virtue in its entirety, yet had some one portion of it, which it is unjust not to honor with praises. And if indeed someone even of the baser sort was praised, [it was] a device toward virtue. For being admired for things that are not present as though they were present in him, he too would have desired to become such a man. But you are a harsh fellow, finding fault both with those who sleep and with those who are awake. And yet, if Dardanus did wrong while slumbering, the one who does not slumber is beyond reproach; but if you blame this man's wakefulness, why do you not praise that man's sleep? But neither did that man do wrong by slumbering through the day after his nightly cares, nor is this man, mastering sleep for the sake of crowns, deserving of blame. You see how it was not wealth that—let it be known—rendered me worse, but you, lifted up by your power, were stirred to play the false accuser. I advise you, then, to desist from this, and to attend carefully to the other thing, to hold fast to your office. And yet certain men accuse you, making a tragedy of the sale of Phoenix, as do all those who depart, fleeing from the lawsuits on account of the outrages. But I show those men to be saying nothing; whereas of you, if you do not cease from doing such things, I will appear as an accuser.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (357) Σή τοι σαφῶς ἡ ἐπιστολή, ὥστε, εἰ καὶ τοὔνομα τοῦ πέμψαντος μὴ ἐνεγέγραπτο, πάντως ἂν εὗρον ἐκ τῶν ἐπεσταλ- 20 μένων τὸν γεγραφότα. σύ τε γὰρ ὑβριστὴς ἥ τε ἐπιστολὴ πολὺ τοῦτο εἶχεν, ᾧ καὶ θαυμάζω τὸ μηδ᾿ ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν πραγμάτων ἀποστῆναί σε τῶν εἰωθότων. ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς ἐπέσταλκας, ἐπιδείξω. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἔφης διὰ τοῦτό μοι μόνῳ τῶν πάντων οὐ γράψαι τὸ θυμωθέντα με πλῆξαί σε λόγοις. τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἦν εὐθὺς ἀναγκαῖον τῷ μὴ λαβόντι ποιεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ εἶχε λόγον καὶ οὐκ ἢν ἔξω τῶν εἰκότων τὸ τῷ μὴ λαβεῖν ἀλγήσαντα σιγῆσαι. μὴ γάρ, εἰ ἐπέστειλα πρᾴως ἐνεγκὼν τὸ παρεωρᾶσθαι, σκόπει, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι τῷ μὲν ἠμελημένῳ τὸ λυπηθῆναι, τῇ λύπῃ δὲ ἠκολούθησεν ἂν οὐκ ἀλόγως ἡ σιγή. τούτῳ μὲν οὖν ἐξηλέγχθης τῷ λόγῳ καὶ μάλα λαμπρῶς· κόλακα δέ με προσειπὼν σαυτὸν ἀποφαίνεις κόλακος. ἐραστήν. εἰ γὰρ τὸ κολακεύειν κακόν, τοῦτο δὲ ἐν ἐμοί, σὺ δὲ ἐμὲ πρὸ τῶν πολλῶν ποιῇ, πονηροῦ τινος ἐρᾶν ὁμολογεῖς. καὶ εἰ τοῦτό γε ἀληθές, ὅτι πονηρὸς ὅστις χαίρει τούτοις οἷς οὐκ ἔοικε, πονηρὸς ἡμῖν ὁ σεμνὸς ὕπαρχος ἀναφαίνεται. θαυμάζω δὲ εἰ σὺ μέν, ὅπως λάβοις τὴν ἀρχήν, οὐκ ἐκολάκευσας, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδὲν δεόμενος οὔτ᾿ ἄρχειν οὔτε παρ᾿ ὑμῶν πλουτεῖν ἐμαυτὸν κατῄσχυνον, ὅς, ὅπως μὴ γενοίμην κόλαξ, πένης ἐδεξάμην εἶναι· ὡς κολακεύειν γε ἐπισταμένῳ πολὺς ἂν εἴργαστο πλοῦτος. νῦν δ᾿ ἴσον ἀπέχομεν εὐπορίας καὶ κολακείας καὶ οὐκ ἄχθομαι τῷ μὴ πλουτεῖν, ἀλλὰ φιλοτιμοῦμαι τῷ μὴ δουλεύειν. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα λέγω φεύγειν, ἃ δὴ καὶ φεύγω τοῖς ἔργοις, καὶ οὔκ εἰμι μὲν κόλαξ, ἀγανακτῶ δὲ ἀκούων, ὅπερ οὔκ εἰμι, κατὰ τὸν Λασθένην· σὺ δὲ ἐπαίνων μὲν ἐπιθυμεῖς καὶ καλῶς ποιεῖς, μεγάλη γὰρ εἰς ἄσκησιν ἀρε- τῆς ἀνάγκη, προσποιούμενος δὲ καταφρονεῖν οὐ καλῶς ποιεῖς ἐξαπατῶν. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνο καλῶς δρᾷς ἀπατᾶν ἐπιχειρῶν ὃν οὐκ ἔχεις ἁρπάσαι. εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ Φαιδρὸν ἀγνοῶ, καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἀγνοῶ. εἶτά μοι παρακελεύῃ τὸ ἐπαινεῖν ἀφέντα ἔχεσθαι τοῦ ἐγκαλεῖν. εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐδὲν ἀδικοῦντι πείθεις ἐγκαλεῖν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ποιεῖς ἢ συκοφαντεῖν· εἰ δ’ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀδικοῦντι, σαυτὸν πεῖσον μὴ ἀδικεῖν μᾶλλον ἢ ἡμᾶς ἐγκα- λεῖν. πολὺ γὰρ βέλτιον καθαρεύειν ὑποψίας ἢ ταύτῃ χρώμε- νον ζητεῖν, ὅστις κατηγορήσει τοῦ πράγματος. ἀλλ’ ἐπαι- νῶ τοὺς οὐκ ἀγαθοὺς ἐν ἴσῳ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φεύγεις τοὺς παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐπαίνους. ἀλλὰ μάλιστα μὲν ἐκεῖνος ἐπῃνέθη, πολλοὶ δὲ παντελῆ μὲν οὐκ ἔσχον τὴν ἀρετήν, ‘ὲν δέ τι μόριον, ὃ μὴ τιμᾶν ἐπαίνοις ἄδικον. εἰ δ οὑν τις καὶ τῶν φαυλοτέρων ἐπῃνέθη, τέχνῃ πρὸς ἀρετὴν Πλήθη. θαυμαζόμενος γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν οὐκ ὄντων ὡς ὄντων αὐτῷ καὶ γενέσθαι τοιοῦτος ἐπεθύμησεν ἄν. σὺ δὲ χαλεπός τις εἶ καὶ τοὺς καθεύδοντας καὶ τοὺς ἐγρηγορότας κακίζων. καίτοι εἰ μὲν Δάρδανος ἠδίκει κοιμώμενος, ὁ μὴ κοιμώμενος ἔξω μέμψεως· εἰ δὲ τὴν ἀγρυπνίαν τούτου ψέγεις, τί μὴ τὸν ὕπνον ἐπαινεῖς ἐκείνου; ἀλλ’ οὔτ’ ἐκεῖνος ἠδίκει κοιμώμενος μεθ’ ἡμέραν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν νυκτὶ φροντισμάτων οὗτός τε κρα- τῶν ὕπνου στεφάνων, οὐκ αἰτίας ἄξιος. ὁρᾷς ὡς οὐκ ἐμὲ τὸ πλουτεῖν, ἴστω γάρ, ἀπέφηνε χείρω, σὺ δ’ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας ἐπήρθης συκοφαντεῖν. παραινῶ δή σοι τούτου μὲν ἀποστῆναι, τοῦ δ’ ἀκριβῶς ἐπιμελεῖσθαι, τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔχεσθαι. καίτοι τινὲς κατηγοροῦσί σου τὴν τοῦ Φοίνικος τραγῳ- δοῦντες πρᾶσιν καὶ ὅσοι περὶ τὰς δίκας οἴχονται φεύγοντες ὑπὸ τῶν ὑβρισμάτων. ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ τοὺς μὲν οὐδὲν λέγοντας δεικνύω, σοῦ δέ, ἢν μὴ παύση τοιαῦτα ποιῶν, φανοῦμαι κατήγορος.