To Themistius. (359/360)
Someone came and reported that you had let fall some disparaging remark about me. I did not believe it. Then a second person brought the same story, and I remained unmoved. A third claimed he had actually gotten into a fight defending me against you. This one I took for a lunatic, and his boast about the fight only undermined the story of the slander. For who is so bold as to look Zeus in the face?
Apart from all that, it was simply unlikely. At a time when you are doing good to people who were previously hostile, why would you hurt someone you counted among your closest friends -- especially someone who, after the calamities that befell his circle, is little better than a dead man?
Just as I refused to believe any of them, let my writing to you be the proof. For I would not have thought it right to bother you if I had become a different kind of man. I do not think you have done any of these things, but I do think you have diminished a great part of the favor you once gave me.
For you, who had the power to remove me from my homeland, graciously allowed me to stay -- a very great kindness. But what happened regarding my standing with you has reduced that favor to something small. Priscianus means everything to me, as much as all my household...
**To Themistius** (359/360)
Someone came reporting that you had let slip some rather disparaging remark about me. I did not believe it. Then a second person brought the same story, and I remained unchanged. A third claimed he had even come to blows defending me against you. This man I now considered deranged, and I took his boasting about the fight to refute the charge of slander. For who is so bold as to look Zeus in the face?
Besides all that, it was not even plausible that you, at a time when you are doing good to those who were formerly hostile, would cause pain to one you counted among your foremost friends — and one who, at that, is scarcely distinguishable from the dead after the misfortunes that have befallen my companions.
But since I believed none of those men, let the very fact that I am writing persuade you: for I would never have presumed to trouble a man who had become a stranger. Now, I do not think any of those matters have moved you, but I do think you are taking away the greater part of the favor you granted me.
For you, though you had the power to remove me from my homeland, graciously allowed me to stay — and that was the greatest of my blessings here. But you arranged for what mattered most to me to be established among you in Constantinople, and so the favor shrank to a small thing. For Priscianus is everything to me, as much as all my family combined. And this you yourself learned — through messengers when absent, through experience when present.
Having resolved, then, to transfer him there, you must have reasoned something like this with yourself: "That great rhetorician must be given to the Great City. But simply ordering him to come running would be crude and heavy-handed — some art is needed. What art, then? Let him be made one of the emperor's circle, and he is caught. For he will walk the road that leads to the noble Senate, and so Themistius shall have his man."
Well then — have him and enjoy him, and see to it that he is placed where he deserves and that the soldier does not disgrace his weapons. For he himself has no desire for greater station — it is enough for him to be good. But it would not reflect well on you if you appeared not to recognize his worth.
If he should meet the emperor first in your city, you will attend to everything in person. But if he travels to the emperor through your good offices, you will give him letters — and these are no less powerful than your presence.
As for me, if anyone should summon me — for the gods' sake, prevent it. My body is not up to it, and my spirit is full of the inertia into which I have fallen, like the beloved of Apollo, who preferred a mortal to the god — Idas over Apollo.
Someone came and reported that you had let fall some disparaging remark about me. I did not believe it. Then a second person brought the same story, and I remained unmoved. A third claimed he had actually gotten into a fight defending me against you. This one I took for a lunatic, and his boast about the fight only undermined the story of the slander. For who is so bold as to look Zeus in the face?
Apart from all that, it was simply unlikely. At a time when you are doing good to people who were previously hostile, why would you hurt someone you counted among your closest friends -- especially someone who, after the calamities that befell his circle, is little better than a dead man?
Just as I refused to believe any of them, let my writing to you be the proof. For I would not have thought it right to bother you if I had become a different kind of man. I do not think you have done any of these things, but I do think you have diminished a great part of the favor you once gave me.
For you, who had the power to remove me from my homeland, graciously allowed me to stay -- a very great kindness. But what happened regarding my standing with you has reduced that favor to something small. Priscianus means everything to me, as much as all my household...
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.