Letter 806: "I ask for Arcadia — a great thing I ask.

To Maximus. (363) I ask for Arcadius, and I ask for something great. But, transposing the very end of my appeal, I will say that you will grant it; for indeed you have already granted many other things greater than Arcadius, when you released as free men so many and so many of the Armenians who for no short time had been led under the yoke. And now, accordingly, that this Leontius here may not get a taste of the yoke, I must exert myself and you must take counsel. This Leontius has long been a familiar of mine, and it is nothing to wonder at that some one of the Galatians should be a friend to me. So then, neither did it suit me well not to be eager to help; and if I should fail in my request, I shall earn a reputation for frivolity, if indeed I hoped to obtain such favors from you, though I am not yet of so great a standing. In order, then, that those whom you rule and those among whom you dwell may know the greatness of our friendship, preserve for us the man in the very station in which he now stands. And in doing this you will not be depriving the army under your command of anything that belongs to it, but you will be preventing it from acquiring something unjust. For my part, I would wish it to become great under your hand, but I see that everything which is not just is neither honorable nor lasting. And I hear that those who are dragging him into that toil have nothing to say as to why they must do this, except that they wish it. But do you teach them not to lay hold of everything, and do not compel where you cannot persuade. A secure deliverance would come about for Leontius, if, after hearing him speak, you should recognize that he in no way belongs to those who are dragging him; so that, if you do not do this, you have brought about not a release from his fears, but postponements of them, and this is the very thing that Tantalus dreads in the stone.

Μαξίμῳ. (363) Ἀρκαδίην δε αἰτῶ, μέγα αἰτῶ. τὸ δὲ ἀκροτελεύτιον μεταθεὶς ἐρῶ ὅτι δώσεις πολλὰ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἕτερα δέδωκας μείζω τῆς Ἀρκαδίας, ἡνίκα Ἀρμενίων τόσους καὶ τόσους ἀγο- μένους ὑπὸ ζυγὸν χρόνον οὐκ ὀλίγον ἀφῆκας ἐλευθέρους. καὶ νῦν τοίνυν ὅπως οὑτοσὶ Λεόντιος μὴ λάβῃ πεῖραν ζυγοῦ, σπουδαστέον τε ἐμοὶ καὶ σοὶ συμβυλευτέον. γέγονε δέ μοι πάλαι συνήθης ὁ Λεόντιος οὗτος καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν εἶναί τινα Γαλατῶν ἐμοὶ φίλον. οὔτ᾿ οὖν μὴ προθυμεῖσθαι βοηθεῖν εἶχε καλῶς κἂν μὴ τύχω δεηθείς δόξαν οἴσομαι κου- φότητος, εἰ καὶ τοιούτων ἤλπισα τεύξεσθαι παρὰ σοῦ μήπω τηλικοῦτος ὤν. ἵν’ οὖν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἡμετέρας γνῶσι φιλίας καὶ ὧν ἄρχεις καὶ παρ’ οἷς οἰκεῖς, τήρησον ἡμῖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐφ’ οὗπερ νῦν ἐστι σχήματος. τοῦτο δὲ ποιῶν οὐ τῶν αὑτῆς στερήσεις τὴν ὑπὸ σοὶ στρατείαν, ἀλλὰ κωλύσεις ἀδικοῦσαν προσλαβεῖν. ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὴν γίγνεσθαι μὲν ὑπὸ σοῦ μεγάλην βουλοίμην ἄν, ὁρῶ δὲ ὅτι πᾶν, ὃ μὴ δίκαιον, οὔτε καλὸν οὔτε μόνιμον. ἀκούω δὲ τοὺς ἕλκοντας αὐτὸν εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν πόνον οὐδὲν ἔχειν εἰπεῖν, δι’ ὃ δεῖ τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἢ ὅτι βούλονται. ἀλλὰ σύ γε αὐτοὺς δίδασκε μὴ πάντων ἅπτεσθαι, καὶ μὴ πείθων ἀνάγκαζε. γένοιτο δ’ ἂν ἀπαλλαγὴ τῷ Λεοντίῳ βεβαίως, εἰ λέγοντος ἀκούσας γνοίης αὐτὸν μηδαμόθεν τοῖς ἕλκουσι προσήκειν· ὡς μὴ τοῦτο ποιήσας οὐ λύσιν τῶν φόβωι, ἀλλ’ ἀναβολὰς εἰργάσω, τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὁ Τάνταλος δεδοικὼς τὸν λίθον.