Letter 653: We remain the same in both our affection and our admiration.

To Italicianus. (361 AD) We remain the same in both our affection and our admiration. But you seem — well, I will not say it yet, though the facts press me to say something rather harsh. Let that wait for now. As proof that we have not changed, take the fact that we are asking favors, just as before — favors that will make your existing reputation still greater. Severus the Lycian — a scoundrel, as the envious would say, but a fine man, as I maintain, and I am perhaps no worse a judge than his habitual slanderers — this Severus, even if he was persecuted before, ought now reasonably to live in security since you hold the governorship, which is to say the laws are in force. But as things stand, the situation is so reversed that he risks losing the very security he enjoyed under less worthy governors, now that the most just of men administers affairs there. And yet if Severus suffers injustice, wrong is done to the city of Athens, which raised him; wrong is done to Maximus [of Ephesus], thanks to whom the art of rhetoric did not wither, and who regarded Severus as a son. We too share in these wrongs, as fellow students who have championed his cause all along — not because we have power, but because we have standing with those who do. I could not desert my post, and it would be shameful if, having hoped to wield greater influence now that you are in charge, I should prove powerless. The man I am trying to rescue is no Midas, no Rhampsinitus, no one whom vast estates keep confined at home — but one who will find his necessary sustenance anywhere, yet clings to Lycia still out of reverence for his ancestral tombs.

Ἰταλικιανῷ. (361) Ἡμεῖς οἱ αὐτοὶ καὶ τῷ φιλεῖν καὶ τῷ θαυμάζειν, σὺ δὲ ἔοικας — ἀλλ’ οὔπω γε ἐρῶ, καίτοι τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ δυσ- χερέσrερόν τι βιαζομένων λέγειν, ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἀναβεβλήσθω τὸ νῦν—τοῦ δ᾿ ἡμᾶς οὐχ ἑτέρους γεγονέναι σύμβολον ἔστω σοι τὸ χάριτας, ὥσπερ ἔμπροσθεν, αἰτεῖν καὶ χάριτας, αἰ τὴν οὖσάν σοι δόξαν καταστήσουσι μείζω. Σευῆρος ὁ Λύκιος ὁ πονη- ρὸς μέν, ὡς ἂν οἱ φθονοῦντες φαῖεν, γενναῖος δέ, ὡς οὑμὸς λόγος ἀνδρὸς ἴσως οὐ φαυλοτέρου τῶν διαβάλλειν εἰωθότων, οὗτος δὴ ὁ Σευῆρος, εἰ καὶ τὸν πρὶν ἠλαύνετο χρόνον, νῦν γε εἰκότως ἂν ἐπ’ ἀδείας ἦν εἰς σὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἡκούσης, τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ἰσχυόντων τῶν νόμων. νῦν δ’ οὕτω τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀνέστραπται, ὥσθ’ ἧς ἀπέλαυεν ἀσφαλείας τῶν ἧττον ἀγαθῶν ἀρχόντων, ταύτης ἐκπεσεῖν κινδυνεύει τοῦ δικαιοτάτου τἀκεῖ διοικοῦντος. καίτοι Σευήρου πάσχοντος κακῶς ἀδικεῖται μὲν ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πόλις, ἣ τοῦτον ἐξέθρεψεν, ἀδικεῖται δὲ Μάξιμος, δι’ ὃν οὐκ ἐμαράνθη τὸ χρῆμα τῶν λόγων, ὃς τοῦτον ἀνθ’ υἱέος ἑώρα. κοινωνοῦμεν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς τῶν κακῶν συμφοιτηταί τε ὄντες καὶ παρὰ πάντα τὸν χρόνον τὰ τοῦδε θεραπεύσαντες οὐχ ἡμῖν οὔσης δυνάμεως, ἀλλ’ αἰδοῦς παρὰ τοῖς δυνατοῖς. οὔτ᾿ οὖν λιπεῖν τὴν τάξιν ἦν μοι αἰσχύνη τε, εἰ μεῖζον ἐλπίσας ἰσχύσειν, Μῆν σὺ κρατεῖς, ἀσθενὴς φανείην. ἐξαιροῦμαι δὲ ἄνθρωπον οὐ Μίδαν οὐδὲ Ῥαμψίνιτον οὐδ’ ὃν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γεωργιῶν οἴκοι δύναται κατέχειν, ἀλλ’ ὃς πανταχοῦ μὲν εὑρήσει τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τρο- φὴν, τιμῇ δὲ πατρῴων μνημάτων ἔτι τῆς Λυκίας έχεται.