Letter 762: At last you have taken hold of what is truly yours and become the overseer of work suited to your nature.

To Seleucus. At last you have laid hold of your own affairs and become master of what befits your nature. Before this, like Heracles at the loom, you were forced to concern yourself with drudgery and to settle quarrels among people on whom you would gladly have made war. But those troubles have departed, and may they stay gone. Now it is altars and temples and sacred precincts and statues — adorned by you, and in turn adorning you and your family. With such great allies, consider the weapons of the impious to be harmless, and bring to tears those who have long been laughing at their betters. You owe a debt of gratitude to the gods for having become a father, and you ought to repay it by coming to the aid of their fallen sanctuaries. This I know you will do, so that the works accomplished through you will be far finer than those elsewhere. As for my own affairs, my head nearly did me in this summer, the trouble having been aggravated by a fraudulent oracle. Being sick in body, how could I be what I once was in my devotion to letters? I neither wish to speak nor hear of anything except my head. I have indeed composed a hymn to my noble emperor, but in a rather short speech. They say it is fine, but I am not persuaded, and for that reason I keep it hidden. If the cloud should pass and I am freed from this Etna and recover some of my powers, I shall write something worthy of sending — and no one will receive it before you.

Σελεύκῳ. (362) Μόλις ἥψω τῶν σαυτοῦ καὶ γέγονας ἐπιστάτης τῶν τῇ σῇ πρεπόντων φύσει. πρότερον δὲ ἄρα Ἡρακλῆς ταλασίας ἠναγκάζου φροντίζειν κοὶ λύειν στάσεις ἀνθρώπων, οἶς ἡδέως ἂν προσέθηκας πολέμους. ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνα μὲν εὖ ποιοῦντα οὄχε- ται, τὰ δὲ νῦν βωμοὶ καὶ νεῴ καὶ τεμένη καὶ ἀγάλματα κο- σμούμενα μὲν ὑπὸ σοῦ, κοσμοῦντα δὲ σὲ καὶ γένος. ἔχων δὴ τηλικούτους συμμάχους κωφὰ μὲν ἡγοῦ τὰ τῶν ἀνοσίων βέλη, κάθιζε δὲ κλάοντας τοὺς καταγελάσαντας πολὺν δὴ χρό- νον τῶν βελτιόνων. ὀφείλεις δὲ χάριν τοῖς θεοῖς πατὴρ γε- γονώς. ἣν ἀποδοῦναί σε χρὴ βοηθοῦντα τῶν ἱερῶν τοῖς κει- μένοις. ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν οἶδ᾿ ὅτι ποιήσεις, ὥστ’ εἶναι πολὺ τὰ διὰ σοῦ τῶν ἑτέρωθι καλλίω· τὰ δ’ ἡμέτερα, μικροῦ με τοῦ θέρους ἡ κεφαλὴ κατηνάγκασεν αὐξηθέντος τοῦ κακοῦ χρησμῷ κιβδήλῳ. νοσῶν δὴ τὸ σῶμα πῶς ἂν δυναίμην οἶος πρὶν εἶναι περὶ τοὺς λόγους, ὃς οὐδὲν οὔτε λέγειν οὔτ ἀκούειν βούλομαι πλὴν περὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς; ὕμνηται μὲν οὖν ὁ γενναῖός μοι βασιλεύς, βραχεῖ δέ τινι μάλα λόγῳ· φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν εἶναι καλόν, ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ οὐ πείθομαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κρύψας ἔχω ἢν οὗν παρέλθῃ τὸ νέφος καὶ τῆς Αἴτνης ἀπ- αλλαγῶ καὶ κομίσωμαί τινας δυνάμεις, καὶ γράψω τι τοῦ πέμ- πειν ἄξιον, ὃ πρὸ ὑμῶν ληψόμενος οὐκ ἔσται.