Letter 1035: An encouragement to Bonus, whose education, teaching, and office all deserve praise.

If even you keep silent from fear and do not write, who should write with confidence? In you are all poets, all rhetoricians, and every kind of speech. No one can say that you were good at learning but not such a teacher. Instead, you received everything easily and quickly, and you passed it on. Many people now adorn the world because they have come to this point through your company. Do not hesitate to write, then, and do not flee what belongs to you. Speaking is yours, and so is honoring those who speak, just as with the wonderful sophist near you, in whom you rejoice. Anyone praising you has material both in your education and in your office, which made Arabia greater by enlarging each household. Be the same in what follows: delight wise Aburgius with your voice, and me with your letters.

κιλε΄. Ἃ 96 Βόνῳ. (893, ΡΥ ΑΥΤΩ τάς τς ΚΠ, σελ τ , Ψ 1. Εἰ δὲ σὺ φόβῳ σιγᾷς καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστέλλεις, τίνα δεῖ ϑαρ- 30 ρούντως τοῦτο ποιεῖν; ἐν σοὶ γὰρ δὴ πάντες μὲν ποιηταί, πάντες δὲ ῥήτορες καὶ λόγων εἴδη πάντα. Ὡ. καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὡς μαϑεῖν μὲν ἦσϑα ἀγαϑός, διδάσκαλος δὲ οὐ τοι- ᾿ ἩΣΥ ΚΣ Τ τ ΕΣ Στ " οὗτος, ἀλλὰ πάντα ῥᾳδίως καὶ ταχέως ἔλαβές τε καὶ μετέδωκας. καὶ πολλοὶ νῦν κοσμοῦσι τὴν γῆν ἀπὸ τῆς σῆς εἰς τοῦϑ᾽ ἥκοντες συνουσίας. 38. μὴ τοίνυν ὄκνει γράφειν μηδὲ τὰ ὁ σαυτοῦ φεῦγε. σὸν δὲ τό τε λέγειν τό τε τοὺς λέγοντας περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖσϑαι, ὥσπερ αὖ τὸν δαιμόνιον σοφιστήν, ὃν ἐγ- γὺς ἔχων ἀγάλλῃ. ὃ δὲ σὲ ἐγκωμιάξων ἔχει μὲν ἀφορμὴν τὴν παιδείαν, ἔχει δὲ τὴν ἀρχήν, ἣ μείξω τὴν ᾿Δραβίαν ἐποίησεν οἶκον αὐξήσασα ἕκαστον. 4. γίγνου δὴ κἀν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα τοιοῦτος καὶ τὸν μὲν σοφὸν ᾿Αβούργιον εὔφραινε τῇ φωνῇ, τοῖς γράμμασι δὲ ἐμέ.