Letter 731: May your sacrifices go well, and may you find favor with the gods -- with the leader of the Muses and with the god...

To Anatolius. (362) May it be granted to you to obtain favorable omens and to meet with the gods, both the leader of the Muses [Apollo] and the one to whom the mountain has been allotted [Pan, or the mountain's tutelary deity], for the emperor is indeed said to be about to ascend even there, reckoning that difficult road an easy one if it should procure him an altar. As for me, I ought to have shared in both the journey and the prayers and the sacrifices, and to have looked upon the emperor's beard, with which he adorns the purple; but to Fortune these things did not seem good, and instead she struck me such a blow as she had not struck before. And I would have related the whole of it, were it not that, to tell the better part of the letter, you have the worthy Olympius, who was present with us and wept along with us and stretched out his hand and knows everything. This is that very man whom, when I praised him, you were ready to enroll among your friends, and you bade me bring the man to you. These things the vine also knows, beneath which we used to walk while making our discourses, having from it as much shade as one might have from a roof. Olympius, then, kept pressing upon me, shouting that I should introduce him; but I was held back by countless troubles. And since he cannot bear to hear of the loss—namely, that the man who has spent even a little time with you departs the wiser—he sought the second-best voyage: my letter in place of myself; and I was surely not going to refuse to give it. It would be your task to render this second voyage for him no worse than the better one, so that he too may rejoice and my letter may be held in honor.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (362) Ὑμῖν μὲν εἵη καλλιερεῖσθαι καὶ τυγχάνειν τῶν θεῶν, τοῦ τε τῶν Μουσῶν ἡγεμόνος καὶ τοῦ τὸ ὄρος λαχόντος, λέ- γεται γὰρ δὴ βασιλεὺς ἀναβήσεσθαι κἀκεῖσε τὴν χαλεπὴν ὁδὸν ῥᾳδίαν ἡγούμενος, εἰ προξενοίη βωμόν· ἐμὲ δὲ ἔδει μὲν κοι- νωνεῖν καὶ ὁδοῦ καὶ εὐχῶν καὶ ἱερῶν καὶ βλέπειν εἰς τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως γένειον, ᾧ κοσμεῖ τὴν πορφύραν, τῇ Τύχῃ δὲ οὐ ταῦτα ἔδοξεν, ἀλλά με πληγὴν οἴαν οὐ πρότερον ἔπληξε. καὶ διῆλθον ἂν περὶ αὐτῆς, εἰ μὴ τὸν ἄμεινον τῆς ἐπιστο- λῆς ἐροῦντα τὸν χρηστὸν εἶχες Ὀλύμπιον, ὃς καὶ παρῆν ἡμῖν καὶ συνεδάκρυε καὶ χεῖρα ὤρεγε καὶ πάντα οἶδεν. οὗτος δέ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ἐπαινοῦντος ἐμοῦ ἐγγράφειν ἕτοιμος εἰς τοὺς φίλους ἦσθα, καὶ προσάγειν τὸν ἄνδρα ἐκέλευσας. καὶ ταῦτα οἶδε καὶ ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑφ’ ἣν περιπατοῦντες ἐποιούμεθα τοὺς λόγους ἔχοντες παρ’ αὐτῆς ὁπόσον ἄν τις ἐξ ὀροφῆς. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ὀλύμπιος ἐνέκειτό μοι βοῶν εἰσάγειν αὑτόν, ἐγὼ δὲ ὑπὸ κακῶν μυρίων εἰργόμην. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐ φέρει τὴν ζημίαν ἀκούων, ὡς ὁ μικρά σοι συγγενόμενος ἀπέρχεται φρονιμώτερος, τὸν δεύτερον ἐζήτησε πλοῦν, γράμματα ἐμὰ ἀντ’ ἐμοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔμελλον δήπου μὴ δώσειν. σὸν δ’ ἂν εἴη τὸν δεύτερον αὐτῷ τοῦ κρείττονος μὴ χείρω καταστῆσαι πλοῦν, ὅπως οὗτός τε χαίροι καὶ τὰ γράμματά μου τιμῷτο.