Letter 739: Word has already reached us that your governorship is worthy of the speeches you were composing before you took office.

Word has already reached us that your governorship is worthy of the speeches you were composing before you took office. This means that the entire sophist class prospers alongside the man who governs -- proof that our skills are not limited to words alone, and that if someone puts them to the test of action, he will find we are no failures there either. Keep on the same road. Make the cities prosperous and us happier. Uphold the laws for all, but look more gently on the families of your friends. Gaudentius the rhetorician is your friend just as he is mine, and you would not be ashamed to proclaim that you honor this man through your kindnesses to his family. Even if earlier governors had neglected them, they would justly deserve better fortune now. But they already have a history of benefiting from governors -- including those who exchanged the sword for the bench. Such is the power of Gaudentius and his character. Now it falls to Leontius and Dorymene to receive your help, so that in this too you may be seen to surpass your predecessors.

Βηὶαίῳ. (362) Ἤδη λόγος ὡς ἡμᾶς ὰφι-κmι τῆς σῆς ἀρχῆς ἄξιος τῶι- λόγων ὧν πρὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς εἰργάζου. τοῦτο δ’ ἐστὶ μετὰ τοῦ πράττοντος ἅπαν τὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν γένος εὺδοmμ.ι-ν, ὡς οὐκ ἄρα ἐν ῥήμασι τὰ ἡμέτερα μόνον, ἀλλὰ κἂν εἰς ἔργα τις ἄγῃ κἀνταῦθα οὐ κακοὺς εὑρήσει. χώρει δὴ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν καὶ ποίει τὰς μὲν πόλεις εὐδαίμονας, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἡδίους, καὶ πᾶσι μὲν βεβαίου τοὺς νόμους, τοὺς δὲ τῶν φίλων συγγενεῖς ἡμε- ρώτερον ὅρα. φίλος δὲ σοὶ Γαυδέντιος ὁ ῥήτωρ ὥσπερ ἐμοί, καὶ οὐκ ἂν αἰσχύνοιο κηρύττων ὅτι τοῦτον μέντοι τὸν ἄνδρα τιμᾷς ταῖς εἰς τὸ τούτου γένος εὐεργεσίαις. μάλιστα μὲν γάρ, εἰ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐτύγχανον ἠμελημένοι, νῦν γε δικαίως ἂν βελτίονος ἐγεύοντο τῆς τύχης· ὑπάρχει δὲ αὐτοῖς πάλαι τῶν ἀρχόντων ἀπολελαυκέναι καὶ ὅσοι τὰ ὅπλα καταθέμενοι πρὸς τὸν θρόνον ἧκον. τοσοῦτόν ἐστι Γαυ- δέντιος καὶ οἱ τούτου τρόποι. δεῖ δὴ νῦν Λεόντιόν τε καὶ Δορυμένην τυχεῖν, ὅπως καὶ ταύτῃ νικῶν τοὺς πρότι- ρον φανείης.