Letter 610: Ascholius brought us news both most terrible and most heartening: having spoken of the fall — at which he himself...

To Demetrius. (361) Ascholius reported to us the most dreadful and the most pleasant of all things. For after he had spoken about the fall, in which I too was struck and fell down, he immediately added that the gods nevertheless held up with their hand the girl as she was being carried along, until they set her upon the ground as though upon a bed. And just as in this case I rejoiced that nothing untoward had happened, so I grieved that the servant had been crushed and could not be saved [...]. After Ascholius had discoursed of such matters, and had praised the farms and exhorted me to keep them and not to sell them, he departed. And now where on earth he is, I do not know. For you and your children may there be salvation from the gods, and may the seasons bring forth their own fruits, and may all things run on with a favorable wind, and may you send us both letters and the produce of the countryside. As for me, I have sent two speeches, in one of which, that against Herodotus, and in the other, that against Aristides, I do battle. These must at once come into the possession of Palladius, for indeed he asked for them while he was present; and it is not unclear that he will do this and that the speeches will be yours too.

Δημητρίῳ. (361) Ὁ μὲν Ἀσχόλιος τὰ πάντων δεινότατά τε καὶ ἥδιστα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀγγείλας — εἰπὼν γὰρ περὶ τοῦ πτώματος, ἐφ’ ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸς πληγεὶς ἔπεσον, εὐθὺς ἐπέθηκεν ὅτι ἀλλὰ θεῶν μέν ἀνέσχε τῇ χειρὶ φερομένην τὴν παρθένον, ἕως εἰς τὴν γῆν κατέστησεν ὥσπερ εἰς εὐνήν. ὥσπερ δὲ ἐνταῦθα τῷ μηδὲν συμβῆναι δυσχερὲς ἡδόμην, οὕτω τῷ τὸν οἰκέτην συντριβῆναι καὶ μὴ ἂν σωθῆ- νᾶι δύνασθαι . . . . . . . — τοιαῦτα διαλεχθεὶς Ἀσχόλιος καὶ τοὺς ἀγροὺς ἐπαινέσας καὶ παραινέσας ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ πωλεῖν ἀπῆλθε. καὶ νῦν ὅπου γῆς ἐστιν, οὐκ οἴδα. σοὶ δὲ καὶ παισὶ τοῖς σοῖς εἴη μὲν ἐκ θεῶν σωτηρία, φέροιεν δὲ αἱ ὧραι τὰ αὑτῶν, πάντα δὲ ἐξ οὐρίων θέοι, πέμποις δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ γράμματα καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῆς χώρας. ἐγὼ δὲ δύο λόγους, ὧν ἐν μὲν τῷ πρὸς Ἡρόδοτον, ἐν δὲ τῷ πρὸς Ἀριστείδην μάχομαι, πέπομφα. τούτους εὐθὺς δεῖ γενέσθαι Παλλαδίου, καὶ γὰρ ᾔτησε παρών, οὐκ ἄδηλον δὲ ὡς τοῦτο ποιήσει καὶ σοὺς εἶναι τοὺς λόγους.