Letter 749: Be such a man for me in the matter of what you are collecting from Basilicus: divide his payment so that he may put...

To Bacchius. (362) Attend to the sacred rites, my noble Bacchius, both by the multitude of sacrifices and by the exactness of the ceremonies and by raising up again what lies fallen. For you must both be pious toward the gods and gratify the emperor and make our fatherland more beautiful. Yet bestow favors too in your guarding of this zeal. For thus you will honor the Graces, who are goddesses, and at the same time it is possible neither to neglect those things nor to fail to be gentle. So show yourself such a man to me in the matters in which you exact payment, by apportioning to Basilicus his contribution, so that part may be laid down and part made ready. For no one has found fault with the ways of Aemilianus, and I for my part am even his praiser. For he was not among those who behave insolently, and that too when it was in his power, if indeed he had wished it. Let us, then, give him the wages of his nobility of character, by removing from the exaction not the pressing of it, but the excess.

Βακχίῳ. (362) Ἐπιμελοῦ τῶν ἱερῶν, ὦ καλὲ Βάκχιε, καὶ πλήθει θυσιῶν καὶ τελετῶν ἀκριβείᾳ καὶ τῷ τὰ κείμενα ἀνιστάναι. δεῖ γάρ σε καὶ περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσεβεῖν καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ χαρίζεσθαι καἰ τὴν πατρίδα καλλίω ποιεῖν. δίδου μέντοι καἰ χάριτας ἐν τῷ φυ- λάττειν τὴν σπουδήν. θεάς τε γὰρ οὔσας οὕτω τιμήσεις τὰς Χάριτας καὶ ἅμα ἔξεστι μήτ’ ἐκείνων ἀμελεῖν καὶ πρᾷον εἶναι. γενοῦ δή μοι τοιοῦτος ἐν οἶς εἰσπράττεις Βασιλικὸν με ρίσας αὐτῷ τὴν καταβολήν, ὥστε τὸ μὲν θεῖναι, τὸ δὲ εὐτρε- πίσαι. τῶν γὰρ Αἰμιλιανοῦ τρόπων ἐπελάβετο μὲν οὐδείς ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ ἐπαινέτης. οὐ γὰρ ἦν τῶν ὑβριζόντων καὶ ταῦτα ἐνόν, εἴπερ ἐβούλετο. δῶμεν δὴ μισθοὺς αὐτῷ τῆς καλο- κἀγαθίας ἀφελόντες τῆς εἰσπράξεως οὐ τὸ ἐπείγειν, ἀλλὰ τὸ λίαν.