Letter 796: I was pleased that you urge me to do the very thing I urge you to do.

To Modestus. (363) I was pleased that you urge me to do the very thing I urge you to do. Clearly I have persuaded you to help, if, taking my role, you now encourage me to help Hyperechius. For my part, I shall neglect nothing that is possible and shall even attempt the impossible. Though it may prove futile, it befits one who cares. And something would already have been accomplished for the young man had his late arrival not hindered the effort. Yet it has not destroyed our hopes — they remain, and bright ones. I spit into my lap, obeying the proverb [a gesture to ward off the evil eye]. Some god seems to have arranged the matter well, wishing him to obtain both: what you have the power to give and what the master of all can give — since had he obtained the former first, he would have been deprived of the latter. As things stand, you will educate him and make him a great orator and great in all else — in marriage, reputation, and the proceedings of the council — and the second gifts will come when he is ready to receive them. But by the gods, whom you long admired and have now openly acknowledged — surpass the goodwill of Hyperechius's father and imitate mine. In doing so, you will outdo even his father's devotion.

Μοδέστῳ. (363) Ἥσθην ὅτι με παρακαλεῖς ἐφ’ ἅπερ ἐγὼ σέ· δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι σὲ πέπεικα βοηθεῖν, εἰ τὴν ἐμὴν τάξιν λαβὼν ἐμὲ προ- τρέπεις Ὑπερεχίῳ βοηθεῖν. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν οὔτε τῶν δυνα- τῶν τι παρήσω τοῖς τ’ ἀδυνάτοις ἐπιχειρήσω. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μά- ταιον, ἀλλὰ τῷ φιλοῦντι πρέπον, καὶ ἤδη γ’ ἂν ἐπέπρακτό τι περὶ τὸν νεανίσκον, εἰ μὴ τὸ βραδέως ἐλθεῖν ἐκώλυσε τὸ ἔργον. οὐ μὴν τάς γε ἐλπίδας ἀνεῖλεν, ἀλλ’ εἰσὶ καὶ λαμπραί. πτύω δὲ εἰς κόλπον τῇ παροιμίᾳ πειθόμενος. ἔοικε δέ τις δαίμων τὸ πρᾶγμα καλῶς διῳκηκέναι βουλόμενος αὐτὸν ἀμφοτέρων τυχεῖν, ὧν τε σὺ δοῦναι κύριος ὧν τε ὁ πάντων, ὡς ἐκείνων γε προτέρων τυχών, τῶν δ’ ἂν ἐστέρητο. νῦν δὲ σὺ μὲν αὐτὸν παιδεύσεις καὶ ποιήσεις ῥήτορά τε καὶ τἄλλα μέγαν γάμῳ τε καὶ δόξη καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ δρω- μένοις, ἥξει δὲ τὰ δεύτερα διδόμενα δέξασθαι δυναμένῳ. ἀλλά, πρὸς τῶν θεῶν, οὓς πάλαι θαυμάζων νῦν ὡμολόγη- σας, πάρελθε πάρελθε μὲν τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς Ὑπερέχιον εὔνοιαν, μησαι δὲ τὴν ἐμήν· ὃ ποιήσας τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς νικήσεις.