Letter 179: I knew perfectly well that you would welcome the admirable Palladius with great warmth, even without a letter from me.

To Andronicus. (360) That you were going to behold the worthy Palladius with the greatest pleasure, even though I wrote nothing, I knew well. For both the laws under which you govern and the learning in which you live you will find by seeking them with him. But these things one may find with others too; whereas the charm of his character, and the sociable quality of his ways, and his drawing to himself at once those whose company he keeps, and his being, when no festival is at hand, a festival all by himself, and his making one greater when it is present—these things are perhaps not in any other man, and certainly not in many. For these reasons, then, you would pursue him even were he fleeing, and far from thrusting him away when he approaches. So that there was no need at all of a letter to make a friendship; but since you will both make use of him once he appears, and, making use of him, will praise the man, I lend a hand in the matter, so that you may feel gratitude to me whenever you praise him.

Ἀνδρονίκῳ. (360) Ὅτι μὲν ἔμελλες ὡς ἥδιστα τὸν χρηστὸν ὄψεσθαι Παλ- λάδιον καὶ μηδὲν ἐμοῦ γράφοντος, εὖ ᾔδειν. τούς τε γὰρ νό- μους μεθ’ ὧν ἄρχεις καὶ τοὺς λόγους ἐν οἷς ζῇς παρ’ αὐτῷ ζητῶν εὑρήσεις. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν καὶ παρ’ ἄλλοις, ἡ δέ γε τῶν ἠθῶν χάρις καἰ τὸ τῶν τρόπων ὁμιλητικὸν καὶ τὸ οἷς συγγένοιτο, τούτους εὐθὺς ἕλκειν καὶ τὸ ἀπούσης μὲν ἑορτῆς αὐτὸν ἑορτὴν εἶναι καὶ μόνον, παροῦσαν δὲ μείζω ποιεῖν, ταῦτα ἴσως μὲν οὐκ ἐν ἄλλῳ, πάντως δὲ οὐκ ἐν πολλοῖς. διὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα καὶ φεύγοντα ἂν διώκοις καὶ οὐχ ὅπως προσ- ιόντα ἀπωθοίης. ὥστ’ οὐδὲν ἴδει γραμμάτων τῶν ποιησόντων φιλίαν, ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ καὶ χρήσῃ φανέντι καὶ χρώμενος ἑπαινέ- σεῖς τὸν ἄνδρα, συνεφάπτομαι τοῦ πράγματος, ὅπως μοι χάριν εἰδῇς, ὅταν αὐτὸν ἐπαινῇς.