Letter 599

To Mussonius. (357) I believe my letter has reached you and that yours will reach me, and even before receiving it I take pleasure in my confidence that it will come. So don't be surprised that without yet knowing your reaction to my first letter, I've sent a second. I've convinced myself of what I most wish for, and perhaps my prediction isn't far off. I reckon you are a gentle man, a lover and practitioner of eloquence. You have labored greatly in helping many people, especially those devoted to letters. The talented among them you honored; the less gifted you pitied — the first from sound judgment, the second from natural kindness. What reason, then, could a man so mild, so ready in speech, so prompt in action have for refusing a letter to someone who approached him boldly — especially when the excellent Mygdonius was nearby encouraging him, or rather not spurring him on but applauding one already in motion? This is what has made me a prophet regarding the letter from your end. And what I would naturally have done upon receiving it, I presume to do now on the strength of expectation. I am already undertaking to secure your influence for others. The first to benefit will be Olympius — for it's better to put it that way. This Olympius is my fellow citizen among many, but my friend before most. The same school received us as boys. Then, pushed out of rhetoric by some misfortune, he became a soldier — and not a fortunate one at that. To this day he has tasted none of the profits that quickly make a soldier prosperous, so that if he didn't know how to endure poverty, he might well have made use of our river [the Orontes]. He lingered here, wasting time, adding delay to delay out of fear. I roused him, encouraged him, and declared publicly that he would suffer no penalty but would receive something good. You, then, have the power to enroll me in the company of prophets.

Μουσωνίῳ. (357) Καὶ σοὶ δεδόσθαι νομίζω τὴν ἐμὴν ἐπιστολὴν καὶ σὴν ἀφίξεσθαί μοι, καὶ πρὶν λαβεῖν ὅτι λήψομαι πιστεύων ἥδο- μαι. μὴ οὖν θαυμαστὸν ποιοῦ εἰ μήπω μαθὼν ἣν ἔσχες ἐπὶ τῇ πρώτη γνώμην, ἐπέθηκα δευτέραν. πέπεικα γὰρ ἐμαυτὸν ἃ μάλιστα βούλομαι, καὶ ἴσως γε οὐ κακῶς μαντεύομαι. λο- γίζομαι γὰρ ὡς εἴης μὲν ἥμερος, εἴης δὲ λόγων ἐραστής τε καὶ ποιητής. πολλὰ δή σοι πεπόνηται βοηθοῦντι πολλοῖς ἄλλοις τε καὶ μάλιστά γε δὴ τοῖς περὶ τοὺς λόγους· ὧν τοὺς μὲν ἀγαθοὺς εὑρὼν ἐτίμησας, τοὺς δ’ οὐ τοιούτους ἠλέησας, τὸ μὲν κρίσει ποιήσας ὀρθῇ, τὸ δὲ φύσεως χρηστότητι. τὸν οὖν πρᾷόν τε καὶ λέγειν ἕτοιμον καὶ πράττειν ἄοκνον τίνα εἶχε λόγον ἀνδρὶ θαρρήσαντι μὴ μεταδοῦναι γραμμάτων, ἄλ- λως τε καὶ Μυγδονίου τοῦ καλοῦ παρακαλοῦντος ἐγγύθεν, μᾶλλον δέ, οὐ κινοῦντος, ἀλλ’ ἐπαινοῦντος ὡρμημένον; ταῦτά με πεποίηκε μαντικὸν εἰς τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπιστολήν. καὶ ἃ λαβὼν ἔπραττον ἂν εἰκότως, ἐλπίζων ἀξιῶ ποιεῖν. ἄλλοις ἤδη προξενεῖν ἐπιχειρῶ τὴν σὴν ῥοπήν· ἧς πρῶτος Ὀλύμπιος ἀπολαύσεται, λέγειν γὰρ οὕτω βέλτιον. ὁ δ’ Ὀλύμπιος οὗτος μετὰ μὲν πολλῶν πολίτης ἐμός, πρὸ πολλῶν δὲ φίλος. καὶ ἐδέξατο ταὐτὸ διδασκαλεῖον ἡμᾶς παῖδας ὄντας ἔπειτα τύχη τινὶ τῶν λόγων ἐξωσθεὶς γίγνεται στρατιώτης οὐδὲ οὕτως εὐτυχής. οὔκουν εἰς τήνδε τὴν ἡμέραν γέγευται κέρδους τούτων δὴ τῶν ὀξέως ποιούντων τὸν στρατιώτην εὐδαίμονα· ὥστ᾿, εἰ μὴ ἠπίστατο πενίαν φέρειν, κἂν ἴσως ἐχρήσατο τῷ παρ’ ἡμῖν ποταμῷ. διατρίψας δὲ τῇδε καὶ χρόνον ἀνηλωκὼς φοβούμενος προσετίθει τῇ μελλήσει. ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν ἀνέ- στησα θαρρύνας τε καὶ βοήσας ἐν μέσῳ ὡς δίκην μὲν οὐ δώσει, λήψεται δέ τι καλόν. σὺ τοίνυν κύριος ἐμὲ τελεῖν εἰς συμμορίαν μάντεων.