Letter 234: I was just praising your character -- we happened to be discussing the virtues of governors, and naturally you took...

To Italicianus. (360?) While I was praising your nature--for it happened that we were having a discussion about the virtue of governors, and surely the prize of victory was yours--while we, then, were debating and casting our votes on such matters, the best son of the best father, as Plato would have said, Olympius son of Pompeianus, placed in my hand your letter. And at the very moment I was reading it, I leaped up along with the others; so wonderful did the thought appear, and the words no worse than the sentiments. But you in deed, though you are on our side, give yourself to the Italians; yet the letter at least holds you back, raining down as it does with the laws of Attica. See to it, then, that for the future you may be said to be our associate, as indeed you are. This you will do, or else we shall indict you before the Muses for desertion of your post. When, therefore, we had had our fill of the writing, looking at one another we said: ought this man now to be managing his own affairs instead of the common ones? Not as though you had need of office, but as though public affairs, in that you do not govern, had been wronged. Then one of us recalled your guardianship of the laws, another the continuity of your labors, another your speed in reaching verdicts, another your not being in love with money, while to another it seemed a fine thing to know how to grant a favor--and to grant the favor that ought to be granted, but not to grant the one that ought not. To me nothing of your qualities appeared small, but it seemed a very great thing not to court the powerful by the ruin of the cities. For it was plain that there were angers and dangers and missiles, yet to you nothing was more fearful than to do anything shameful. Gladly would I have inquired of those people what they had in mind that they brought charges against you, yet punished us, and gave to you what you would even have bought, but exacted a penalty from us. But for them there could be no seemly account; whereas concerning you among us there are such accounts as these. And we console ourselves for no longer having by speaking of what we once had; and you too, as far as is possible, console us by writing and by exhorting us to write. Let this, then, be plentiful on your part; and in any case you also rouse those who are eager not to keep silent.

Ἰταλικιανῷ. (360?) Ἐπαινοῦντί μοι τὴν σὴν φύσιν, καὶ γὰρ ἐτύγχανεν ἡμῖν λόγος τις ὢν ὑπὲρ ἀρχόντων ἀρετῆς καὶ ἦν δήπου σὰ τὰ νι- κητήρια, — τοιαῦτα δὴ ἡμῶν διαλεγομένων καὶ ψηφιζομένων 15 ἐνέθηκε τῇ χειρὶ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν βέλτιστος βελτίστου πατρός, εἶ- πεν ἂν Πλατῶν, Ὀλύμπιος Πομπηιανοῦ. καὶ ἅμα τε ἀνεγί- νωσκον καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπήδων· οὕτως ὅ τε νοῦς ἐφαί- νετο θαυμαστὸς τά τε ὀνόματα τῶν φρενῶν οὐ χείρω. σὺ δὲ ἔργῳ μεθ’ ἡμῶν ὢν τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς σαυτὸν δίδως, ἀλλ’ ἥ γε ἐπιστολὴ κωλύει νόμων ὑομένη τῶν Ἀττικῶν. ὅπως οὖν τοῦ λοιποῦ κοινωνὸς ἡμῖν εἶναι λέγῃς, ὥσπερ εἶ. τουτὶ μὲν οὖν ποιήσεις ἢ γραψόμεθά σε παρὰ ταῖς Μούσαις λειποταξίου. τῶν δ’ οὖν γραμμάτων ὡς ἄδην εἴχομεν, βλέψαντες εἰς ἀλ- λήλους τουτονὶ δέ, ἔφαμεν, νῦν τὰ αὑτοῦ διοικεῖν ἀντὶ τῶν κοινῶν ἐχρῆν; οὐχ ὡς σοῦ χρῄζοντος ἀρχῆς, ἀλλ’ ὡς τῶν πραγμάτων, ὅτι μὴ ἄρχεις, ἠδικημένων. εἶθ’ ὁ μὲν ἐμέ- μνητο τῆς τῶν νόμων φυλακῆς, ὁ δὲ τῆς συνεχείας τῶν πό- νων, ὁ δὲ τοῦ περὶ τὰς διαγνώσεις τάχους, ὁ δὲ τοῦ μὴ χρη- μάτων ἐρᾶν, τῷ δὲ ἐδόκει καλὸν τὸ χάριν δοῦναι εἰδέναι, καὶ δοῦναι μὲν ἣν δεῖ, μὴ δοῦναι δὲ ἣν μὴ δεῖ. ἐμοὶ δὲ τῶν σῶν μικρὸν μὲν οὐδὲν ἐφαίνετο, πάμμεγα δὲ τὸ μὴ τῇ φθορᾷ τῶν πόλεων θεραπεῦσαι τοὺς δυνατούς. ἦν μὲν γὰρ δῆλον ὡς ὀργαὶ καὶ κίνδυνοι καὶ βέλη, σοὶ δὲ οὐδὲν τοῦ ποιῆσαί τι τῶν αἰσχρῶν φοβερώτερον. ἡδέως δ’ ἂν αὐτῶν ἐπυθόμην τί μαθόντες σοὶ μὲν ἐνεκάλουν, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἐκόλασαν, καὶ σοὶ μὲν ἔδοσαν ὃ κἂν ἐπρίω, παρ’ ἡμῶν δὲ ἔλαβον δίκην. ἀλλ’ ἐκείνοις μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἴη λόγος εὐσχήμων, περὶ δὲ σοῦ παρ’ ἡμῖν τοιΜυ τοι λόγοι. καὶ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ἔτι τῷ λέγειν ἅ ποτε εἴχομεν παραμυθούμεθΑ καὶ σὺ δέ, ὡς ἔνι, παραμυθοῦ γράφων τε καὶ γράφειν παρακαλῶν. ἔστω δὴ παρὰ σοῦ τοῦτο πολύ, πάντως δὲ καὶ οὓς κινεῖς οὐ σιγᾶν ἐπιθυμοῦντας ἐγείρεις.