Letter 708: Your office gave you the advantage of meeting the admirable Fortunatianus before I did.

Your office gave you the advantage of meeting the admirable Fortunatianus before I did. While we were still making predictions, each naming a different day for his likely arrival, you already had the man and were entertaining him. And he returned the favor, as one would expect, with a finer feast -- news about the emperor, including that the emperor loves you and has not forgotten me. I have been accused of not writing -- both by Fortunatianus and earlier by the ambassadors (you know what I said to each). Yet I still cannot bring myself to condemn my own silence or be persuaded that I would have been better off having written. The charge that would have resulted then would have been harsher than the present one, and would not have let the defendant look the prosecutor in the eye. Before, the sheer grandeur of the imperial office made me hesitate to write. Now the beauty of the emperor's own letters doubles my fear. For even if everything else is on our side, we lack the light that blazes in his writing. More than anyone I know, the man has blended power with clarity.

Τῷ αὐτῷ. (362) Ἔδωκεν ἡ ἀρχή σοι πλεονεκτῆσαι ἡμῶν καὶ προεντυχεῖν τῷ καλῷ Φουρτουνατιανῷ. ἡμῶν γὰρ ἴτ’ ἐν μαντείαις ὅντων καὶ ἄλλην ἄλλου λέγοντος ἡμέραν, εἰς ἣν αὐτὸν εἰκὸς φα- νεῖσθαι, σὺ τὸν ἄνδρα εἶχές τε καὶ εἱστίας, ἀνθειστία δὲ σὲ κἀκεῖνος, ὡς εἰκός, οἷς εἶχε, καλλίονι θοίνῃ, τοῖς πιρὶ τοῦ βασιλέως λόγοις, ἐν οἷς ἦν ὅτι καὶ σὲ φιλεῖ καὶ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀμνημονεῖ. κατηγορούμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ γράψαι καὶ παρὰ τούτῳ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον παρὰ τοῖς πρέσβεσιν, οἶσθα γὰρ ἃ πρὸς ἑκατέρους εἶπεν, οὔπω δύναμαι καταγνῶναι τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ σιωπῆς οὐδ’ ὡς ἦν μοι κάλλιον ἐπεσταλκότα εἶναι πεισθῆναι τῆς γὰρ νῦν οὔσης αἰτίας ἡ τότ’ ἂν γενομένη χαλεπωτέρα τ’ ἂν ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἐῶσα τὸν φεύγοντα ἀντιβλέπειν τῷ διώκοντι. πρότερον μὲν οὖν τὸ τῆς βασιλείας μέγεθος ὀκνεῖν ἐποίει γράφειν· νῦν δὲ δὴ καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῶν βασιλέως ἐπιστολῶν διπλοῦν ποιεῖ τὸν φόβον. καὶ γὰρ εἰ τὰ ἄλλα παρ’ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ’ οὐ τό γε φῶς ὅσον ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνου μάλιστα γὰρ ὧν ἴσμεν ἰσχὺν ἁνὴρ συνεκέρασε σαφηνείᾳ.