Letter 248

To Themistius. (358/359?) If you wish to consider Olympius an excellent man, you will be right. But if you rank him among the wealthy, you will be wrong about the facts. The Romans knew this: they enrolled him among themselves but exempted him from tax obligations. I mention this not to ask that he receive the same exemption from your city -- your city has not yet learned such practices, though a city in which you live and hold citizenship certainly should have. Rather, it is simply that a man who pays nothing there should not be forced to bear more than his means here. And yet he is being compelled to bear not only more than his means, but also what another man owes -- all because he and that other man are both called Olympius. The fear of Mantitheus [from Lysias's famous defense speech] was not, it turns out, unfounded, nor was he wasting his words over a trivial matter -- since this Olympius, who is not even the son of the same father, is suffering trouble just because he shares a name. They say he has also been nominated to sponsor the most expensive festival. But he could not bear even the first rank of sponsorship, let alone the second, and I would say not even the third without hardship -- and this if someone called on him according to the law. That, however, will come in due time. The new members your city has received from the mother city -- for that is the polite way you speak of Rome -- have been granted a postponement by the emperor. If anyone tries to strip Olympius of that postponement, do not let it stand. You cannot say you do not care for him, and since you do, it is only natural to come to his aid.

Θεμιστίῳ. (358/59?) Ἄριστον μὲν δρῶν εἰ βούλει νομίζειν Ὀλύμπιον, ὀρθῶς οἰήσῃ· τῶν πλουτούντων δὲ αὐτὸν εἰ τιθείης, οὐ τὰ ὄντα δο- ξάσεις. καὶ ταῦτα εἰδότες Ῥωμαῖοι κατέλεξαν μὲν εἰς αὑ- τούς, ἀφῆκαν δὲ ἀτελῆ. λέγω δὲ τοῦτο οὐ τοῦ καὶ παρ’ ὑμῶν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι νῆν ἀτέλειαν, οὔπω γὰρ τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑμῖν ἡ πό- λις πεπαίδευται, καίτοι χρῆν ἐν ᾗ σὺ ζῇς καὶ πολιτεύῃ, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τὸν μηδὲν ἐκεῖ τιθέντα δίκαιον παρ’ ὑμῖν μήτοι μείζω τῆς δυνάμεως φέρειν. ὁ δὲ οὐ μείζω μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὧν ἕτε- ρος ὀφειλέτης, ταῦτα ἀναγκάζεται φέρειν, διότι τούτῳ τε Ὀλύμ- πιος ὄνομα κἀκείνῳ, δι’ ὃν οὗτος ἕλκεται. καὶ οὐκ ἄρα μά- ταιος ἦν ὁ τοῦ Μαντιθέου φόβος οὐδ’ ὑπὲρ φαύλου λόγον ἀνήλισκεν, εἰ δὴ οὗτος οὐκ ὢν ταὐτοῦ πατρός, ὅτι ταὐτὸν ὄνο- μὰ ἔχει πράγματα ὑπομένει. φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ χορηγὸν ἐνηνέχθαι τῆς τὰ μέγιστα δαπανώσης, ὁ δὲ οὔτε ταύτην οὔθ’ ἣν δευτέραν νομίζετε δύναιτ’ ἂν ἄρασθαι, φαίην δ’ ἂν ὡς οὐδὲ τὴν τρίτην ἄνευ πόνου, καὶ ταῦτ’, ἤν τις αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν νόμον καλῇ. τοῦτο δὲ έ·σται χρόνοις ὕστερον. οὓς γὰρ νῦν προσειλήφατε παρὰ τῆς μητρός, οὕτω γὰρ εὖ ποιοῦντες καλεῖτε τὴν Ῥώμην, τούτους ἀναβολῇ δεδώρηται βασιλεύς. ἧς εἴ τις Ὀλύμπιον ἀποστερεῖ, μὴ ποιοῦ φορητόν. οὔτε γὰρ αὐ- τὸν εἴποις ἂν μὴ φιλεῖν φιλοῦντί τε βοηθεῖν αὐτὸν εἰκός.