Letter 620: While others asked those arriving from there all manner of questions — "What of the Arcadians?

To Priscianus. (361) While different men were asking different things of those who arrived from over there—what is the state of the Arcadians? what of the Amphictyons? where is Philip on the march?—I, since I am always concerned about your affairs, judged it worthwhile to learn this one thing: whether the magnitude of the crisis exposed your virtue as wanting. But while many men were making many tragedies of it, telling how those who came from you were like the Bacchae, for whom all things flow from the rocks, and recalling Ajax and the toils in which he was engaged, there was no one who said, "And Ajax no longer held his ground"; rather, that Priscianus carried everything along at a run, exhorting, obeying, providing supplies, persuading, contradicting, fulfilling the desires of the rulers while not driving the ruled into hardships. And they say that from these labors two things came to you, poverty and glory, so that good hopes blossom for us that the emperor will repay you his thanks, once, having done well by capturing the Persian, he returns. May God, then, bring this to pass. But this Seleucus here is a kinsman by marriage of Calliopius, who was reared in the discourses of Zenobius, and who lightens for me the burden concerning the young men. He has come because Elpidius is sending him to contribute something to the affairs. And, knowing that, unless you are gentle toward him, it is better for him to depart than to remain, he is working through these letters so that you may be gentle. For my part, I would wish to lay up a favor for Calliopius too, this man's father—a favor which I shall receive back in their zeal concerning my bastard son; for they are both molding the little Arabian.

Πρισκιανῷ. (361) Ἄλλων ἄλλα ἐρωτώντων τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν ἀφικνουμένους· τί τὰ τῶν Ἀρκάδων; τί τὰ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων; ποῖ πάρεισι Φίλιππος; ἐγώ, τῶν γὰρ σῶν ἀεὶ φροντίζω, τοῦθ ‘ὲν ἠξίουν μανθάνειν, εἰ μή σοι τὴν ἀρετὴν ἤλεγξε τὸ μέγε- θος τοῦ καιροῦ πολλῶν δὲ πολλὰ τραγῳδούντων καὶ ὡς ἦσαν οἱ παρὰ σοῦ ζητοῦντες τὰ τῶν Βακχῶν, αἷς ἐκ πετρῶν πάντα ῥεῖ, καὶ μεμνημένων τοῦ Αἴαντος καὶ τῶν πόνων, ἐν οἷς ἦν, οὐδεὶς ἦν ὁ λέγων· Αἴας δ’ οὐκέτ’ ἔμιμνεν, ἀλλ ὅτι πάντα πρισκιανὸς ἤνεγκε θέων, παρακελευόμενος ὑπα- κούων, ἐκπορίζων, πείθων, ἀντιλέγων, τοῖς μὲν ἄρχουσι πλη- ρῶν ἐπιθυμίας, τοὺς δ’ ἀρχομένους εἰς ἀνάγκας οὐκ ἄγων. καί σοί φασιν ἐκ τούτων δύο γενέσθαι, πενίαν καὶ δόξαν, ὥσθ’ ἡμῖν ἐλπίδας ἀνθεῖν ἀγαθὰς ὡς τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπο- δώσοντος χάριν, ἐπειδὰν εὖ ποιῶν τὸν. Πέρσην ἑλὼν ἀνα- στρέφῃ. τουτὶ μὲν οὖν τελοίη θεός, Σέλευκος δὲ οὑτοσὶ κηδεστὴς μέν ἐστι Καλλιοπίου τοῦ τραφέντος μὲν ἐν τοῖς Ζηνοβίου λόγοις, κουφίζοντος δὲ ἐμοὶ τὸ περὶ τοὺς νέους ἄχθος. ἥκει δὲ πέμποντος Ἐλπιδίου συνεισοίσων τι τοῖς ἔργοις. εἰδὼς δὲ ὡς, ἂν μὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡμέρως ἔχῃς, ἀπελ- θεῖν αὐτῷ κρεῖττον ἢ μένειν, ὅπως ἥμερος ἴσῃ, πράττει διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων. ἐγὼ δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν καὶ Καλλιοπίῳ κα τῷ τούτου πατρὶ καταθέσθαι χάριν, ἣν ἐν ταῖς περὶ τὸν νόθον τὸν ἐμὸν ἀπολήψομαι σπουδαῖς· πλάττουσι γὰρ τὸν Ἀρρά- βιον ἄμφω.