Letter 727: But what did you expect me to do, by Athena herself, when Titianus was being sent elsewhere and your vote -- the...

To Acacius. (362) But what would you have had me do, by Athena herself, when Titianus was being sent elsewhere, and your vote, on the strength of which we earlier made our offering, was being overturned, or rather was not being overturned at all, but only seemed to be? Ought I to have applauded and crowned myself and hung up thank-offerings to the gods and done such things as I did when first the young man came to me? With justice indeed you would at that time have been despondent and would have brought a charge of insult, on the ground that your interests had been reckoned but a small thing by me; whereas now you would reasonably have rejoiced at my distress, in which, distressed though I was, I let fall not a single bitter word, but, reflecting that of the labors accomplished by the Phocians it was Philip who would have the glory, I did not pass my time pleasantly. This despondency, then, was first dissolved by a letter of Celsus reporting that the decree had been annulled, and I grew easier. Then someone else announced the like, and a third, and ten thousand; for great blessings have many messengers. And Rufinus the excellent set the crown upon it; for he said that the governor had been adorned with a speech by the youth. This meant that I too had been adorned-by the one through his deeds, by the other through his words; for both are my nurslings, both he who is praised and he who works the praise. Delighted by such tidings, I both saw the orator and read the letters when he gave them, and I rated the honor contained in both above the gold of Gyges; while indeed those Marathon-fighters in the bathhouses, who outdo every comedy, brought such laughter as cannot be told. In one thing only did you seem to me to be lying-in asserting that no faculty had come to you by which you might have been able to associate with the young. For it did come, and the charges did not hinder it, but you are both things at once, a good orator and a mighty spearman. But, I suppose, you dreaded the toils of the professorial chair. To this both what you write bears witness, and those speeches which will hide the works of the sophists when they are no longer hidden; and even while those works are hidden, by the ones already being sent out and made manifest you refute the whole of everyone's productions. And I hope that through the boy too you will refute for us many orators, since he sees so sharply and flows so freely; the boy whom I thought ought at once to strip and wrestle, that we might not be seeking the opportunity once it has passed by.

Ἀκακίῳ. (362) Ἀλλὰ τί με ἐβούλου ποιεῖν, πρὸς αὐτῆς τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, Τιτιανοῦ μὲν ἑτέρωσε πεμπομένου, τῆς δὲ σῆς ψήφου, δι’ ἣν ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεδώκαμεν, κινουμένης ἢ κινουμένης μὲν οὐδα- μῶς, δοκούσης δέ; κροτεῖν ἔδει με καὶ στεφανοῦσθαι καὶ χα- ριστήρια θεοῖς ἀνάπτειν κοὶ ποιεῖν οἷάπερ, ἡνίκα μοι τὸ πρῶτον ἧκεν ὁ νέος; δικαίως μέντ’ ἂν τότε ἠθύμεις καὶ γραφὴν ἀπέφερες ὕβρεως ὡς μικρῶν τῶν σῶν παρ’ ἐμοὶ κι- κριμένων, νῦν δ’ εἰκότως ἂν ἐκ τῆς ἐμῆς λύπης ἔχαιρες, ἣν ἐγὼ λυπούμενος ῥῆμα μὶν οὐδὲν ἐξέβαλον πικρόν, ἐννοῶν δ’ ὅτι τῶν Φωκεῦσι πεπονημένων Φίλιππος ἆν εἶχε τὴν δόξα οὐ διῆγον ἡδέως. ταύτην δὴ τὴν ἀθυμίαν πρώτου Κέλσου λύει γράμματα μηνύοντα λελύσθαι τὸ δόγμα καὶ ἐγεγόνειν ῥᾴων. ἔπειτ᾿ ἄλλος τις ἤγγειλεν ὅμοια καὶ τρίτος καὶ μυρίοι τὰ γὰρ μεγάλα τῶν ἀγαθῶν πολλοὺς ἔχει τοὺς ἀγγέλους. Ῥουφῖνός δὲ ὁ καλὸς τὸν κολοφῶνα ἐπέθηκε· κεκοσμῆσθαι γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ νεανίσκου λόγῳ τὸν ἄρχοντα ἔφησε. τοῦτο οἱ ἦν καὶ ἐμὲ κεκοσμῆσθαι τοῦ μὲν τοῖς ἔργοις, τοῦ δὲ τοῖς λόγοις· ἄμφω γὰρ ἐμὰ θρέμματα, ὅ τε ἐπαινούμενος ὅ τε τὸν ἔπαινον ἐργαζόμενος τοιαύταις τερπόμενος ἀκοαῖς εἶδόν τε τὸν ῥήτορα καὶ τὰς ἐπιστολὰς δόντος ἀνέγνων καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀμφοτέραις τιμὴν ὑπὲρ τὸν Γύγου χρυσὸν ἦγον οἱ γε μὴν ἐν τοῖς βαλανείοις Μαραθωνομάχαι πᾶσαν παριόντες κωμῳ- δίαν οὐδὲ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὁπόσον ἤνεγκαν γέλωτος. ἓν μόνον ἐδόκεις μοι ψεύδεσθαι τὸ φάσκειν οὐ γενέσθαι σοι δύναμιν, ἀφ’ ἧς ἂν εἶχες συνεῖναι νέοις. ἐγένετο γάρ, καὶ οὐκ ἐκώλυ- σαν αἱ γραφαί, ἀλλ’ ἀμφότερα σύγε, ῥήτωρ τ’ ἀγαθὸς κρατερός τ’ αἰχμητής. ἀλλ᾿ , οἶμαι, τοῦ θρόνου τοὺς πόνους ἔδεισας. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ ἃ γράφεις καὶ οἱ τὰ τῶν σοφι- στῶν κρύψοντες, ἡνίκα ἂν μηκέτι κρύπτωνται, λόγοι, καὶ κρυπτομένων δὲ ἐκείνων τοῖς ἤδη πεμπομένοις τε καὶ φαινο- μἐνοις πάντα τὰ πάντων ἐλέγχεις. ἐλπίζω δὲ ὅτι καὶ διὰ τοῦ παιδὸς πολλοὺς ἡμῖν ἐλέγξεις ῥήτορας οὕτως ὀξὺ βλέπον- τος καὶ ῥέοντος. ὃν ᾠήθην δεῖν εὐθὺς ἀποδύντα παλαίειν, ὅπως μὴ παρελθόντα καιρὸν ζητῶμεν.