Letter 577: A fine pair you make, you and the good Dometios.

To Aristainetos. (357 AD) A fine pair you make, you and the good Dometios. A skilled charioteer yokes you together, casting a single vote for both. For the one who summons you to share in the labors also summons him on equal terms. But you, without even practicing how to sit still, stay where you are, while he goes to lighten the governor's burden — blessed by the one who called him, and sure to make that man fortunate too by what he brings. And what he brings is expertise in law, power of speech, and justice of character. So congratulate the one on what he will receive and the other on whom he goes to serve, and make the man your friend — so that you too may share in the joy of such an acquisition.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (357) Καλή γε ἡ συνωρίς, σὺ καὶ Δομέτιος ὸ χρηστός. ζεύ- γνυσι δὲ ὑμᾶς ἡνίοχος ἀγαθὸς μίαν ψῆφον ὑπὲρ ἀμφοῖν θέμενος. ὁ γὰρ σὲ καλῶν ἐπὶ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν πόνων τοῦτον οὗτος ἐπὶ τοῖς ἴσοις. ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν οὐδὲ μελετήσας καθῆ- σθαι μένεις, ὁ δὲ ἔρχεται κουφιῶν τὸν ἄρχοντα, μακάριος μέν, ὑφ’ οἴου κέκληται, ποιήσων δὲ κἀκεῖνον εὐδαίμονα τῇ παρ’ αὑτοῦ φορᾷ. ἔστι δὲ ἡ φορὰ νόμων ἐμπειρία, λόγων δεινότης, δικαιοσύνη τρόπων. σὺ τοίνυν τῷ μὲν συνηδό- μένος, οἷον λήψεται, τῷ παρ’ οἷον ἔρχεται, τὸν ἄνδρα ποιοῦ φίλον, ὥστε καὶ σοὶ συνησθῆναι τοῦ κτήματος.