Letter 360: Your letter made Nikentios a friend to us; Modestos, who was already a friend, your letter made more of a friend...

To Aristaenetus. (358) Your letter made Nicentius a friend to us, and Modestus, who was a friend even before, your letter made still more a friend than before. So it gladdened our city by its zeal concerning me, and gladdened me by its remembrance of you. For the very thing that is sung of you by those who know you well, he too kept declaring: "I have never yet seen such a man." And he ran through many of your qualities, adding to them, so that he could not say everything. Then he was called by the evening to the baths, but he was held back by the pleasure he took in the conversation. And while he kept praising your affairs, Fortunatianus kept praising him, because he was praising what he ought. What then of me? Keeping silent, I blushed, as though I myself were the one being praised. So I bring the man into the council chamber, where our contests of speeches take place. And perhaps I did not displease in speaking. Having received from you two magistrates as friends, I repay your gift with one man laden with wisdom. For this Harpocration here is both a good poet and a still better teacher, formidable at implanting the works of the ancients in the young, and formidable at making them equal to those ancients; and having lived continually among books, he has the least share of affectation, being a man simple and noble, one who could never be caught thinking one thing and saying another. This man, who shared with Eudaemon both his upbringing and his schooling -- long ago in attending the lessons, and now in teaching -- and who had all but grown together with his friend, has been torn away by your authority [as governors]. And now, having been parted, he himself journeys with tears, while the other sits behind. [7.] Eudaemon, then, I shall console; but do you become to Harpocration that very thing which we are to Eudaemon.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (358) Νικέντιον μὲν τὰ σὰ γράμματα φίλον ἡμῖν ἐποίει, Μό- δεστον δὲ ὄντα καὶ πρὸ τοῦ φίλον μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον ἐποίει τὰ γράμματα. τὴν μὲν οὖν πόλιν ἡμὶν εὔφρανε τῇ περὶ ἐμὲ σπουδῇ, ἐμὲ δὲ τῇ περὶ σοῦ μνήμῃ. τὸ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν καλῶς σε εἰδότων ᾀδόμενον καὶ αὐτὸς ἐφθέγγετο· οὔπω τοιοῦτον εἶδον. καὶ διεξῄει πολλὰ τῶν σῶν προστιθείς, ὡς οὐκ ἂν πάντα εἰπεῖν ἔχοι. εἶτ’ ἐκαλεῖτο μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας ἐπὶ λουτρά, κατείχετο δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπῄνει τὰ σά, Φουρτουνατιανὸς δὲ ἐκεῖνον, ὅτι ἃ χρῆν ἐπῄνει. τί οὖν ἐγώ; σιγῶν ἠρυθρίων ὡς ἂν αὐτὸς ἐπαινούμενος. εἰσάγω δὴ τὸν ἄνδρα εἰς τὸ βουλευτήριον, οὗ λόγων ἀγῶνες ἡμῖν. καὶ ἴσως οὐκ ἠνίασα λέγων. λαβὼν δὴ παρὰ σοῦ δύο ἄρχοντας φίλους ἑνὶ γέμοντι σοφίας ἀμεί- βομαί σου τὸ δῶρον. Ἁρποκρατίων γὰρ οὑτοσὶ καὶ ποιητὴς ἀγαθὸς καὶ παιδευτὴς ἀμείνων, δεινὸς μὲν ἐνθεῖναι τὰ τῶν παλαιῶν νέοις, δεινὸς δὲ ἐκείνοις παρισωθῆναι, βεβιωκὼς δὲ συνεχῶς ἐν βιβλίοις ἤκιστα μετέχει κομψείας ἁπλοῦς τις ὢν καὶ γενναῖος καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἁλοίη φρονῶν μὲν ἕτερα, λέγων δὲ ἄλλα. οὗτος Εὐδαίμονι κοινωνήσας καὶ τροφῆς καὶ μου- σείων πάλαι μὲν ἐν τῷ φοιτᾶν, νῦν δὲ ἐν τῷ παιδεύειν καὶ μικροῦ τῷ φίλῳ συμπεφυκὼς ὑπὸ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀπερράγη δυ- ναστείας. καὶ νῦν διακριθέντες, μετὰ δακρύων πορεύεται μὲν αὐτός, κάθηται δὲ ἐκεῖνος. 7, Εὐδαίμονα μὲν οὖν ἐγὼ παραμυθήσομαι, σὺ δ’ Ἁρποκρατίωνι γίγνου τοῦθ’ ὅπερ ἡμεῖς Εὐδαίμονι.