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. (362) At last you have taken hold of what is your own and have become overseer of the things that befit your nature. For before this, like Heracles, you were compelled to busy yourself with wool-spinning and to settle the quarrels of men, to whom you would gladly have added wars. But those tasks, fortunately, are gone; and now there are altars and temples and sacred precincts and statues, adorned by you, and adorning you and your family in return. Having, then, such mighty allies, consider deaf the missiles of the impious, and make those who for so long a time mocked the better men sit down in lamentation. And you owe gratitude to the gods, since you have become a father; and this gratitude you must repay by coming to the aid of the sanctuaries that lie in ruins. These things, then, I know that you will do, so that what is accomplished through you will be far fairer than what is done elsewhere. As for my own affairs, the growing of the malady this summer all but crushed my head with a counterfeit oracle. For, being sick in body, how could I be the same as before with regard to oratory, I who wish neither to say nor to hear anything except about my head? Now indeed the noble emperor has been celebrated by me, but in a very brief discourse; they say that he is handsome, but I am not persuaded of it, and for this reason I keep it hidden. If, then, the cloud should pass and I should be rid of my Etna and recover some strength, I will also write something worth the sending, which, once I have received it before you, will not be lacking.

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.