Letter 659: If I did not know you as a man who understands friendship — one who has often worried and labored so that some good...

To Italicianus. (361 AD) If I did not know you as a man who understands friendship — one who has often worried and labored so that some good might come to his companions — I would be quite afraid that the volume of my letters might annoy you. But since you yourself are among those who praise Achilles [for loyalty to friends], I trust you will think me a decent fellow for never ceasing to cry out and plead. So I say again: Severus was a fellow student of ours, learning lesser subjects with us, and he proved capable of advancing to greater ones. If you look, you will find philosophy in him — Maximus planted that noble thing in his soul. Honor Maximus in death as you would have honored him in life. And you would honor him more greatly by helping Severus than if you went and laid wreaths on his tomb. But do not let the military cloak and the absence of a beard make you doubt his possession of the higher learning. This man, in the words of Aeschylus, prefers to be rather than to seem, and so he wears the one instead of the other. Just as wisdom does not necessarily accompany the philosopher's cloak and long hair, so a man can be serious and worthy without them.

Ἰταλικιανῷ (361) Εἰ μή σε ᾔδειν φιλεῖν ἐπιστάμενον καὶ πολλὰ πολλάκις καὶ μεριμνήσαντα καὶ πονήσαντα τοῦ τοῖς ἑταίροις ἀγαθόν τι γενέσθαι, πάνυ ἂν ἔδεισα μή σοι προσστῇ τὸ πλῆθος γραμ- μάτων· νῦν δέ, τῶν γὰρ ἐπαινούντων εἶ καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν Ἀχιλ- λέα, πιστεύω δόξειν εἶναι χρηστός, ὅτι βοῶν καὶ δεόμενος οὐ παύομαι. λέγω δὴ πάλιν ὡς Σευῆρος συνεχόρευσεν ἡμῖν τὰ μὲν ἐλάττω μεθ’ ἡμῶν μανθάνων, δυνηθεὶς δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ μείζω προβῆναι καὶ νῦν, ἂν ζητῇς, ἐν αὐτῷ φιλοσοφίαν εὑρήσεις Μαξίμου φυτευσαμένου τουτὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐν τῇ τοῦδε ψυχῇ. Μάξιμον δὲ ὥσπερ ἆν ἐτίμας ζῶντα, τίμα καὶ με- ταστάντα. τιμῴης δ’ ἂν μειζόνως Σευήρῳ βοηθεῖν ἀξιῶν ἢ εἰ προσιὼν ἐστεφάνους αὐτῷ τὸν τάφον. ἀλλ’ ὅπως μή σε ἡ χλαμὺς καὶ ὁ πώγων ἀπὼν εἰς ἀπιστίαν ἐμβάλῃ περὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ λόγων τῶν σεμνοτέρων. οὗτος γὰρ κατ’ Αἰσχύλον εἶναι ἐθέλων μᾶλλον ἢ δοκεῖν τούτοις ἀντ’ ἐκείνων χρῆται ὥσπερ οὖν οὐ πάντως μετὰ τοῦ τρίβωνος καὶ τῶν τριχῶν ἡ σοφία, οὕτω γένοιτ’ ἂν ἄνευ τούτων εἶναι σπουδαῖον.