Letter 652

To Acacius. (361 AD) You acted, noble friend, using wisdom on behalf of truth. The wisdom lay in acting swiftly and not delaying, since delays in such matters can breed many opportunities for opposition. You seem to me the sort who, if I asked for Arcadia itself, would not say "I will not give it" when it was in your power to give. So eager are you to give, and you clearly take no less pleasure in giving than the recipient does in receiving. So you will also grant the rest when the young man arrives, and by the same acts you will do a kindness to me in my absence. The "rest" is continued goodwill and showing that you are glad when he comes to you and reproachful when he holds back. This and similar treatment will make him great among his fellow citizens and great in his parents' eyes. For I would wish him to seem to his father capable of offering help rather than needing his father's. And this too is sweet to a father — one of the things he prays for — to be able to take refuge in a son's strength. You will be advancing no ordinary man, but one possessed of intelligence who knows how to remember a favor. Once you have tested him, you will say to others about him what you now hear from me, and you will not say I showed all this zeal without reason. I think when you look at him you will recognize the young man. He was conspicuous among the audience whenever I gave declamations. You yourself sat in silence admiring — since applause aloud was not permitted — and perhaps more than once you saw Hyperechius filling out his praises with dignity. Remembering those times, then, and reflecting on what you have now done, and thinking it right to be consistent with yourself, be to him what I myself would have been, had I been governor of Galatia.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (361) Ἔπραξας, ὦ γενναῖε, σοφίᾳ χρησάμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς ὰλη- θείας· τὸ σοφὸν δὲ ἦν ἐν τῷ συντέμνειν καὶ μὴ διατρίβειν, ὡς τά γε ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις μήκη πολλὰς δύναται τίκτειν λαβάς. δοκεῖς δέ μοι σὺ καὶ τὴν Ἀρκαδίαν αἰτηθεὶς παρ’ ἐμοῦ μὴ ἂν εἰπεῖν· οὔτοι δώσω δοῦναι κύριος ὤν· οὕτω πάντα ἐθέλεις διδόναι καὶ δῆλος εἶ χαίρων ὁ διδοὺς τοῦ λαμβάνον- τος οὐχ ἧττον. οὐκοῦν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ δώσεις ἥκοντι τῷ νεανίσκῳ, τοῖς αὐτοῖς δὲ καὶ ἐμὲ τὸν ἀπόντα εὖ ποιήσεις. ἔστι δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ συνεχὴς εὔνοια καὶ τὸ δεικνύειν ὡς εἰσιόντι μὲν παρὰ σὲ χαίροις, ὀκνοῦντι δὲ μέμφοιο. ποιήσει δὲ αὐτὸν τοῦτό τε καὶ τὰ τούτῳ παραπλήσια μέγαν μὲν ἐν τοῖς πολί- ταις, μέγαν δὲ παρὰ τοῖς γονεῦσι. βουλοίμην γὰρ ἂν αὐτὸν δοκεῖν τῷ πατρὶ δύνασθαι βοηθεῖν μᾶλλον ἢ ’κείνου χρῄζειν. ἡδὺ δὲ ἄρα καὶ τοῦτο πατρὶ καὶ ἕν τι τῶν ἐν εὐχαῖς καταφεύγειν ἔχειν εἰς παιδὸς δύναμιν. αὐξήσεις δὲ οὐ φαῦλον ἄνθρω- πον, ἀλλ’ ἔχοντα σύνεσιν καὶ χάριτος εἰδότα μεμνῆσθαι. πει- ρώμενος δὲ φήσεις περὶ αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἄλλους ἃ νῦν ἀκούεις καὶ οὐ φήσεις με τὴν πολλὴν ταύτην σπουδὴν ἄνευ νοῦ πε- ποιῆσθαι. νομίζω δέ σε βλέψαντα εἰς αὐτὸν γνωριεῖν τὸν νεανίσκον. ἦν γὰρ δὴ περιφανὴς ἐν τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις, ὁπότε ἡμῖν ἐπιδείξεις εἴησαν. ἐκάθου δὲ ἄρα καὶ αὐτὸς σιγῇ θαυμάζων, οὐ γὰρ ἐξῆν σὺν βοῇ, καὶ ἴσως οὐκ ὀλιγάκις Ὑπερέχιον εἶδες σὺν κόσμῳ τοὺς ἐπαίνους πληροῦντα. ἐκεί- νων τε οὖν μνησθεὶς καὶ ἃ νῦν πεποίηκας ἐνθυμηθεὶς καὶ νομίσας δεῖν ἀκολουθεῖν σαυτῷ γίγνου τοιοῦτος εἰς αὐτόν, οἷος ἂν αὐτὸς ἐγενόμην, εἰ Γαλατῶν ἦρχον.