Letter 288

To Eutherius. (357-358) I would not beg you to do well by Heraclides -- I command you. For you seem to me to prefer commands to pleas. The reason? You know how to love no less than how to govern. He would have won some good from you even without a letter, if he had simply stood before you and done what he usually does. And what he usually does is praise me -- you will see for yourself. So for both reasons -- the praise and the letter -- or rather, for these reasons and for his own eloquence and still further out of respect for Memphis: let the man's requests be small.

Εὐθηρίῳ. (357—358) Σοῦ δὲ οὐκ ἂν δεηθείην εὖ ποιεῖν Ἡρακλείδην, ἀλλ’ ἐπιτάττω. δοκεῖς γάρ μοι τοῦθ’ ἥδιον ἢ τὰς δεήσεις δέχεσθαι. τὸ δὲ αἴτιον, οἶσθα φιλεῖν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ ἄρχειν. ἔτυχε δ’ ἄν τινος ἀγαθοῦ παρὰ σοῦ καὶ γραμμάτων ἄνευ, εἰ παραστάς σοι τοῦτ’ ἐποίησεν, ὅπερ εἴωθεν. εἴωθε δὲ ἐπαινεῖν ἐμὲ καὶ λήψῃ πεῖραν τοῦ πράγματος. ἀμφοτέρων οὖν εἴνεκα, καὶ τῶν ἐπαίνων καὶ τῶν γραμμάτων, μᾶλλον δέ, καὶ τούτων ἕνεκα καὶ τῶν λόγων, οὓς ἔχει, καὶ ἔτι τιμῶν τὴν Μέμφιν μικρὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἔα δεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα.