Letter 795: You were good to write, but I was unlucky not to receive the letters — and the scoundrels who mishandled the gift...

To Constantius. (363) You for your part acted well in writing to me, but I was unlucky in not receiving it, and the villains who interfered with the gift were betrayers of us both. Yet to me the very abundance of the letters that were written was no small comfort, even if it did not make its way as far as my own hands. And you do nothing strange, if you write while absent to the man in whose company you took pleasure when present. For call to mind how, in the evening, you grew more agreeable as I approached, and you would prolong our conversations into the middle of the night; in those talks I admired your eloquence no less than your good sense, and found fault with one thing only: that you had forced into a soldier's life a nature that belonged to Hermes. But while both these things were admirable, and so were the matters you took thought for, in which a deliberation was set before us as to how Hyperechius [might escape] the net, what was being carried along in ignorance, [and again] in ignorance toward a most dangerous pit, was a still greater thing, when one had all but braced his hand against his chest to hold himself back. Now the pit was this: that man held those in the philosopher's cloak to be charlatans, the very man who held even the gods to be nonsense. You saw, then, how, if he should catch sight of me, he would straightway be harsh, and you were afraid lest something arising from anger should come about. And this is not to be wondered at, that, knowing the man, you were not ignorant of these things; but that other matter, your bidding me to go away and entrusting to me some of your secrets [is the marvel]. This I continue to remember, and on account of it I record you as my savior, telling all the rest what benefactions I have received, and leaving not even the emperor without hearing of this favor.

Κωνσταντίῳ. (363) Σὺ μὲν ἀγαθὸς ἐπιστείλας, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀτυχὴς οὐ λαβών, προδόται δὲ ἀμφοῖν οἱ κακοὶ περὶ τὸ δῶρον. ἀλλ’ ἔμοιγε οὐ μικρὸν εἰς εὐθυμίαν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γενομένων γραμμάτων, εἰ καὶ μὴ μέχρι τῶν ἐμῶν προῆλθε χειρῶν πράττεις δὲ οὐδὲν καινόν, εἰ ᾧ παρὼν ἔχαιρες, τούτῳ γράφεις ἀπών. ἀναμιμνήσκου γάρ, ὅπως ἑσπέρας ἡδίων ἐγίγνου προσιόντος ἐμοῦ καὶ προῆγες τοὺς λόγους εἰς μέσας νύκτας, ἐν οἷς ἐθαύ- μαζον οὐχ ἧττον τῶν φρενῶν τὴν εὐγλωττίαν ἓν αἰτιώμενος μόνου, ὅτι δὴ φύσιν Ἑρμῇ προσήκουσαν ἐνεβίβασας εἰς στρα- τιώτου βίον. καλῶν δὲ ὄντων κοὶ τούτων καὶ ὧν ἐφρόν- τίσας, ἐν οἷ; προὔκειτο βουλή, πῶς ἂν 'Υπερέχιος τὸ δίκτυον, ἔτι μεῖζον ἦν τὸ φερόμενον ἀγνοίᾳ ἀγνοίᾳ πρὸς ὄρυγμα χαλεπώτατον μονονοὺ τὴν χεῖρα ἐρείσαντα πρὸς τὸ στῆθος ἀνασχεῖν. ἦν δὲ τὸ ὄρυγμα γόητας ἡγεῖτο τοὺς ἐν τοῖς τρίβωσιν ἐκεῖνος ὃς καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἡγεῖτο εἶναι φλήνα- φον. εἶδες οὖν ὡς, εἰ με ἴδοι, χαλεπὸς εὐθὺ; ἔσται, καἰ ἔδεισας μὴ γένηταί τι τῶν ἀπ’ ὀργῆς. καὶ τοῦτο μὶν οὐ θαυμαστόν, εἰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἰδὼς ταῦτα οὐκ ἠγνόησας· ἐκεῖνο δὲ τὸ κελεῦσαί με ἀπελθεῖν καὶ πιστεῦσαί τι τῶν ἀπορ- ῥήτων. ὃ διατελῶ μεμνημένος καὶ δι’ σωτῆρά σε γράφομαι τούς τε ἄλλους Λάσκων οἷα εὐεργέτημαι καὶ οὐδὲ τὸν βασι- λέα τῆς χάριτος ταύτης ἀφιεὶς ἀνήκοον.