Letter 756: I have never seen Phrygia, but I honor it greatly — not so much for having raised the excellent Aesop as because the...

To Caesarius. (362) I myself have never seen Phrygia, yet I honor it greatly, not so much because it fed that excellent man Aesop as because it keeps its gratitude undying toward noble governors. For though they reckon up many governors since the worthy Julian, this one they call their benefactor. And the length of time has not dulled their affection, but at home they sing of him together, and to those who come here he appears like some god, and every Phrygian who arrives among us would gladly gather the city into the theater and recount that man's deeds to them. For this reason they still even now find him eager toward them, helping them in whatever way his present station permits. The present help, then, consists of many letters that ask you to consider this Theudianus a fair-minded man and worthy to prosper. Of these letters, some are from the friend himself, from the Phrygians, and from you; others are from us, at his bidding -- not as if without us he would fail to persuade you, but he has felt something of a lover's longing, wishing all to breathe in unison on behalf of his favorites. And here is your gain: if, giving now nothing more than you would have given then, you lay up gratitude with gray-haired men in place of one.

Καισαρίῳ. (362) Ἐγὼ Φρυγίαν μὲν οὐκ εἶδον, τιμῶ δὲ λίαν, οὐ μᾶλλον διὰ τὸ βεβοσκηκέναι τὸν βέλτιστον Αἴσωπον ἢ ὅτι τοῖς γεν- ναίοις ἄρχουσιν ἀθανάτους τηροῦσι τὰς χάριτας. πολλούς γε μετὰ τὸν χρηστὸν Ἰουλιανὸν ἡγεμόνας ἀριθμοῦντες τοῦτον εὐεργέτην καλοῦσι. καὶ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ μῆκος οὐκ ἤμβλυνε τὸ φίλτρον, ἀλλ’ οἴκοι τε αὐτὸν ᾄδουσι κοινῇ καὶ τοῖς δεῦρο ἰοῦσιν ὥσπερ τις θεὸς ὁρᾶται Φρύξ τε ἅπας ὡς ἡμᾶς ἥκων ἡδέως ἂν ἀγείρας εἰς τὸ θέατρον τὴν πόλιν τὰ τοῦδε πρὸς αὐτοὺς διέλθοι. διὸ καὶ τοῦτον πρόθυμον ἔτι καὶ νῦν εἰς αὑ- τοὺς ἔχουσι βοηθοῦντά σφισιν ὅσα ἔξεστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ παρόντος σχήματος. ἡ τοίνυν παροῦσα βοήθεια γράμματά ἐστι πολλὰ δεόμενα σοῦ Θευδιανὸν τοῦτον ἐπιεικῆ τε νομίζειν καὶ ἄξιον εὖ πράττειν. τούτων δὲ τῶν γραμμάτων τὰ μὲν αὐτοῦ τοῦ φίλου Φρύγων τε καὶ σοῦ, τὰ δ’ ἡμῶν αὐτοῦ κελεύοντος, οὐχ ὡς οὐ πείσοντος ἄνευ ἡμῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐρωτικόν τι πέπονθε πάν- τας συμπνεῖν ἐθέλων ὑπὲρ τῶν αὑτοῦ παιδικῶν. ταυτὶ δέ σοι τὸ κέρδος, εἰ μηδὲν πλέον ὧν τότ’ ἂν ἔδωκας νῦν διδοὺς πολιοῖς ἀνθ’ ἑνὸς καταθήσῃ τὴν χάριν.