Letter 377: Obodianus fulfilled toward us everything a son should, and his father fulfilled everything a father should, so that...

To Aristaenetus. Obodianus has fulfilled toward us the obligations of children, and his father fulfilled toward us the obligations of fathers, so that the uncle too has often said to me that I ought to honor that household, after the gods. And those who have been everything to me cannot fail to be worthy of zealous attention from you as well. Recall too the wonder with which the young man filled you by the things he said, when he was serving as an envoy. For I know that, on leaving the court and falling in with me, you called our city the mother of orators, making the envoy's tongue your proof of it. This man's son, then, imitating his father, though he has not yet taken up rhetoric, has taken up the performance of public services. For that man too, while still of such an age, was already spending on such things out of love of honor, anticipating the obligations imposed by the laws. Now, then, our Argyrius (for the grandson bears the same name as the grandfather) is tending his body with baths, but, being about to bestow horse races as a favor upon the city, he has been honored with an imperial gift. The gift is two four-horse chariot teams, and the horses are being trained in Bithynia. That the best horses should therefore come to us rests for the most part with you, or rather, the whole of it rests upon your influence. Therefore, looking to the one who delivers this letter, employ a gentle eagerness about the matter.

Ἀρισταινέτῳ. (358) Τὰ παίδων πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπλήρωσεν Ὀβοδιανός, ὁ δὲ ἐκεί- νου πατὴρ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὰ πατέρων, ὥστε καὶ τὸν θεῖον πρός με πολλάκις εἰπεῖν ὅτι μοι τὴν οἰκίαν ἐκείνην μετὰ τοὺς θεοὺς τιμητέον. τοὺς δὲ ἐμοὶ πάντα γεγενημένους οὐκ ἔστι μὴ καὶ σοὶ σπουδῆς ἀξίους εἶναι. ἀναμιμνήσκου δὲ καὶ τοῦ θαύματος οὗ σε ἐνέπλησεν ὁ νεανίσκος ἐξ ὧν εἶπεν, ἡνίκα ἐπρέσβευεν. οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι τοῦ δικαστηρίου μὲν ἀπελθών, ἐμοὶ δὲ συμβαλὼν ῥητόρων μητέρα τὴν πόλιν ἡμῖν ἐκάλεις τεκμή- ῥίον ποιούμενος τοῦ πρεσβευτοῦ τὴν γλῶτταν. ὁ δὴ τούτου παῖς τὸν τοκέα μιμούμενος οὔπω ῥητορικῆς ἡμμένος ἧπται τοῦ λειτουργεῖν. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τηλικοῦτος ὢν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀνήλισκε φιλοτιμίᾳ φθάνων τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν νόμων ἀνάγκας. νῦν μὲν οὖν Ἀργύριος ἡμῖν, ὁμώνυμος γὰρ ὁ υἱδοῦς τῷ πάππῳ, θεραπεύει λουτροῖς τὰ σώματα, μέλλων δὲ ἵππων ἁμίλλας χαρίζεσθαι τῇ πόλει δώρῳ βασιλικῷ τετίμηται. δύο τέθριππα τὸ δῶρον, οἱ δὲ ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ παιδεύονται. τοῦ γε οὖν ἡμῖν ἀρίστους ἵππους ἐλθεῖν ἐν σοὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, μᾶλ- λον δέ, ὅλον ἡ σὴ ῥοπή. βλέψας οὖν εἰς τὸν διδόντα τὴν ἐπι- στολὴν ἥμερον χρῆσαι προθυμίᾳ περὶ τὸ ἔργον.