Letter 688: "Not without a god," as Homer says — and you did not write this without the hand of Asclepius.

To Acacius. (362) "Not without a god" did Homer compose, nor did you compose these things without the inclination of Asclepius, but he himself was precisely taking part in the writing. And it is likely that he, being the son of Apollo, has something of his father's music and dispenses it to whomever he wishes. And how was he not going to assist you in the words spoken on his own behalf? From there, from the first syllable to the last, the speech is a honeycomb of the Muses, gleaming with beauty and persuading by its arguments and accomplishing what it strives for, now showing the power of the god from the inscriptions that belonged to those who had been healed, now dramatizing in tragic fashion the war of the godless against the temple, the demolition, the fire, the altars insolently abused, the suppliants wronged, not allowed to be delivered from their evils. But indeed the better one, displayed in his judgment concerning the temples, has been moved by a supernatural art; and again greater than this is the one of the same name, who does not even permit the one who receives the exhortation to deliberate, but simply compels everything by his conceptions and bewitches by his words. And the speech's magnitude has become its beauty; for it comes together with the occasion. And you seem to me to have appeared now a better orator than you were before the disturbance. For having recovered, I think, your power of reasoning from the gods, you recovered something finer than what you had been deprived of, since they consoled the event by their addition; which I am persuaded happened also in the case of Pelops after the cauldron. For it was a more pleasing thing that the son was given back to Tantalus than the sort he had been when he was cut up for the gods' dinner. But indeed I received a fine letter about fine things, in plain truth a sister to those very matters about which it wished to give information. And what I experienced, hear: I received both in the middle of the gathering, and Titianus handed them over smiling, knowing what he was handing over. But having at once read through the letter, I resolved to put off the other for a quiet moment; yet I was not able, but I had not finished laying it down before I took it up again; then I divided myself between the young men and you. And this was a gain to the young men, for they flowed in greater number around the subject of you. Write, therefore, on behalf of the god, and act, and in your prayers do not be forgetful of my head [i.e., of me].

Ἀκακίῳ. (362) Οὐχ ἄνευθε θεοῦ Ὅμηρος οὐδὲ σὺ ταῦτα ἄνευ τῆς Ἀσκληπιοῦ ῥοπῆς, ἀλλ’ ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸς συνεφήπτετο τῆς γραφῆς. εἰκὸς δὲ αὐτὸν ὄντα Ἀπόλλωνος ἔχειν τι τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς μουσικῆς καὶ νέμειν οἷς ἂν ἐθέλῃ. σοὶ δὲ πῶς οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ συλλήψεσθαι λόγοις; ἐντεῦθεν ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης συλλαβῆς Μουσῶν ἀν- θρηνίον ὁ λόγος κάλλεΐ τε στίλβων καὶ πείθων ένθυ- μήμασι καὶ πράττων ὃ σπεύδει, νῦν μὲν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δύνα- μιν δεικνὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων ἃ ἦν τῶν ὑγιανάντων, νῦν δὲ τραγῳδῶν τὸν τῶν ἀθέων κατὰ τοῦ νεὼ πόλεμον, τὴν κατασκαφήν, τὸ πῦρ. τοὺς ὑβριζομένους βωμούς, τοὺς ἀδι- κουμένους ἱκέτας οὐκ ἐωμένους ἀπαλλαγῆναι κακῶν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅ γε βελτίων Ἀδριανοῦ τῇ περὶ τοὺς νεὼς δεικνύμενος γνώμη δαιμονίᾳ κεκίνηται τέχνῃ, τούτου δ’ αὖ μείζων ὁ ὁμώνυμος οὐδὲ βουλεύσασθαι τῷ δεχομένῳ τὴν παράκλησιν ἐπιτρέπων, ἁπλῶς δὲ πάντα ταῖς μὲν ἐννοίαις ἀναγκάζει, τοῖς δὲ ὀνόμασι θέλγει. καὶ γέγονε τῷ λόγῳ τὸ μέγεθος κάλλος· ἥκει γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ καιροῦ. καί μοι δοκεῖς ἀμείνων νῦν πεφηνέναι ῥήτωρ ἡ ἦσθα πρὸ τῆς ταραχῆς. ἀπολαβὼν γάρ, οἶμαι, τὸ λογίζεσθαι παρὰ τῶν θεῶν κάλλιον ἀπέλαβες ἢ ἀφῃρέθης παραμυθουμένων τῇ προσθήκῃ τὸ ουμβάν· ὃ καὶ περὶ τὸν Πέλοπα πείθομαι γενέσθαι μετὰ τὸν λέβητα · χαρι- έστερον γὰρ ἀποδοθῆναι τῷ Ταντάλῳ τὸν υἱὸν ἢ οἷος ἦν, ὅτε εἰς δεῖπνον τοῖς θεοῖς κατετέμνετο. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐπι- στολὴν καλὴν περὶ καλῶν ἔλαβον ἀδελφὴν ἀτεχνῶς ἐκείνων, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐβούλετο δηλοῦν. καὶ ὅ γε ἔπαθον, ἄκουσον· ἔλαβον μὲν ἄμφω μέσον τῆς συνουσίας, ἐδίδου δὲ Τιτιανὸς μειδιῶν εἰδὼς ἃ ἐδίδου τὴν ἐπιστολὴν δὲ εὐθὺς ἀναγνοὺς ἔγνων μὲν ἀναβαλέσθαι θάτερον εἰς ἡσυχίαν, οὐ μὴν ἐδυνήθην, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἔφθην καταθέμενος καὶ ἀνειλόμην εἷτ᾿ ἐμέριζον ἐμαυτὸν εἰς τε τοὺς νέους καὶ σέ. καὶ ἦν τοῦτο κέρδος τοῖς νέοις. μείζειν γὰρ ἔρρεον περὶ σοῦ. γράφε τοίνυν ὑπὲρ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πρᾶττε κἀν ταῖς εὐχαῖς μὴ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀμνημόνει κεφαλῆς.