Letter 567: I was not upset when the imperial stipend was transferred to others.

To Gymnasius. I was not aggrieved that the maintenance from the Emperor passed over to others. For it was fitting that I be released from that source entirely; and this came about through the transfer of the maintenance. The one who took it away I therefore consider a benefactor; but concerning the money which those who received it in the time before did not pay back, I spoke to the governor, and adding that I was more pained at being treated with contempt than at the loss, I spoke in vain; for he answered nothing, but it was plain that he was not blaming those who were defrauding me, and was finding fault instead with those who were demanding their due. But let that man be counted among the wrongdoers; while Iamblichus, whom you admired among us, you will gladly see among yourselves, and you will teach the Great City who the man is and from what stock, and how he is worthy of honor in the eyes of the sons of the Greeks. For this is an ornament to both: to him, to be praised by your voice, and to you, to praise such a man.

Γυμνασίῳ. (357) Οὐκ ἠχθέσθην τῆς ἐκ βασιλέως τροφῆς ἐπ’ ἄλλους μετα- στάσης. ἴδει γάρ με τελέως ἐκεῖθεν λελύσθαι· τοῦτο δὲ ὑπῆρξε τῇ τῆς τροφῆς μεταστάσει. τὸν μὲν οὖν ἀφελόμενον εὐερ- γέτην ἡγοῦμαι, περὶ δὲ τῶν χρημάτων, ἃ τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον οἱ λαβόντες οὐκ ἀπέδωκαν, εἶπον πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ προσ- θεὶς ὡς τῷ καταφρονεῖσθαι πλέον ἀλγοίην ἢ τῇ ζημίᾳ, μά- την ἔλεγον· ἀπεκρίνατο μὲν γὰρ οὐδέν, δῆλος δὲ ἦν τοὺς μὲν ἀποστεροῦντας οὐκ αἰτιώμενος, τοῖς δὲ ἀπαιτοῦσι μεμφόμενος ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἔστω τῶν ἀδικούντων, Ἰάμβλιχον δέ, ὃν ἐθαύμαζες παρ’ ἡμῖν, ἡδέως ὄψει παρ’ ὑμῖν καὶ διδάξεις γε τὴν Μεγάλην πόλιν, τίς τε καὶ ἐκ τίνων ἁνὴρ καὶ ὡς ἄξιος τιμῆς Ἑλλήνων παισίν. ἀμφοτέροις γὰρ τοῦτο κόσμος, τῷ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς σῆς ἐπαινεῖσθαι φωνῆς, σοὶ δὲ τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐπαινεῖν.