Letter 578: What am I to do? You say you want complaints, but everything you do deserves praise.

To Anatolios. (357 AD) What am I to do? You say you want complaints, but everything you do deserves praise. You are harsh toward anyone who praises you, yet you give no grounds for blame. How much praise, then, do you think this deserves? Dometios has been called to share in your responsibilities — a man hardly useless, serving a governor hardly wicked. I could say much, if I wished, about his virtues, but I am afraid that telling you what you already know well enough to have summoned him would only give you an opening for mockery — for you did not call him in ignorance. But here is something you don't know, so learn it now: he assisted others with their speeches, but admired mine — the first from respect for friendship, the second from true knowledge of rhetoric. So he proved himself good to us on both counts: not disturbing the one, and honoring the other.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (357) Τέ χρή με ποιῆσαι; φῂς μὲν γὰρ αἰτιῶν ἐπιθυμεῖν, πράτ- τεις δὲ ἐπαίνων ἄξια. καὶ πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἐπαινοῦντα χαλεπὸς εἶ, ψέγειν δὲ οὐ δίδως. τοῦτο τοίνυν πόσης εὐφημίας οἴει κέκληται Δομέτιος ἐπὶ τῷ συνεφάψασθαι τῶν φροντί- δων ἀνὴρ ἄχρηστος ἄρχοντι πονηρῷ. καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἔστι μοι λέγειν, εἰ λέγειν ἐθέλοιμι περὶ τῶν τοῦδε καλῶν· φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή σοι γένηται σκώμματος ἀφορμὴ τὸ πρὸς σὲ λέγειν, ἃ καλῶς εἰδὼς κέκληκας οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοῶν ἐκάλεις. ὅ. ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνό γε οὐκ οἶσθα· μάνθανε δή· λόγοις τοῖς μὲν ἄλλων ἐβοήθησε, τοὺς δὲ ἡμετέρους ἐθαύμασε, τὸ μὲν αἰδοῖ φιλίας ποιῶν, τὸ δὲ ἐπιστήμῃ λόγων, ὥσθ’ ἡμῖν αὐτὸν ἀμφοτέροις ἀγαθὸν φανῆναι τὴν μὲν οὐ κινήσαντα, τοὺς δὲ τιμήσαντα.